National Park System Long-Term Lease Investment Act
Mr. President, while hard-working Americans are struggling to afford basic necessities, there is one class of people who have never had it better: fraudsters. Scammers are stealing more than $1.4 billion from taxpayers every day.…
Mr. President, while hard-working Americans are struggling to afford basic necessities, there is one class of people who have never had it better: fraudsters. Scammers are stealing more than $1.4 billion from taxpayers every day.
Yesterday, I released a list of con artists who each fraudulently billed government programs for $1 billion or more. These billionaire bandits looted programs for the elderly, poor, disabled, and veterans to lavish themselves with million-dollar mansions, Rolex watches, expensive jewelry, and luxury cars.
One fraudster brags:
I had everything. I had houses, I had cars, I had watches.
He ripped off Medicare for over a decade before getting turned in and said:
It's just so easy. It's unbelievable.
Based upon the numbers, he isn't lying. If grift were a government Agency, the ``Department of Fraud'' would be the fifth largest. The $521 billion going to fraud every year exceeds the individual annual budgets of the Departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Transportation, Homeland Security, State, and Justice.
That is right, folks--fraudsters are being better taken care of than our veterans and farmers.
Fraud is not a victimless crime, either. In fact, it has far-reaching consequences. We have learned that taxpayer dollars stolen from the U.S. Small Business Administration financed the assassination--yes, you heard it right--the assassination of Haiti's President in 2021. A team of Colombian mercenaries and their pistols, rifles, and tactical gear were all paid for with the support of $840,000 fraudulently obtained from the Small Business Administration. The political instability resulting from the assassination forced hundreds of thousands of Haitians to flee their nation, taking refuge in the United States. The Biden administration provided many of these migrants with food stamps and medical care--also paid for by American taxpayers.
The inability to safeguard small business assistance resulted in taxpayers footing the bills for both the crime and its consequences.
Many of these scams also involve identity theft that upends the lives of the unsuspecting Americans who then must suffer the consequences.
For example, the Medicare number of a woman in California was stolen by scammers who used it to fraudulently bill for hospice care. When she sought physical therapy for an injury, Medicare denied her coverage because she was listed as dying in hospice.
Think about that. The same government Agency that wouldn't provide her with the healthcare she was promised approved and paid for bogus medical bills submitted by scammers using her information.
Medicare exists to ensure folks like her receive medically necessary care, not to make billionaires out of fraudsters. Yet the identities and personal information of more than 1 million Americans have been stolen by Medicare mobsters to file phony healthcare claims.
One illegal alien submitted at least $1.3 billion in fraudulent claims to Medicare and other health insurers, over just 6 months, using stolen identities. He laundered millions of the stolen tax dollars overseas to the Russian mob before some of his victims alerted Medicare that they were receiving notices for care and items they did not receive prescribed by doctors they had not visited.
Another con artist orchestrated a billion-dollar fraud machine that used foreign call centers to submit bogus bills. He treated programs meant to care for the elderly, veterans, and servicemembers like his own personal cash register.
From fake daycare centers to phony small businesses, the examples are absolutely endless, but the public's patience is not. According to the latest Gallup poll, 9 out of 10 Americans say government corruption is widespread. That is a record high number.
I challenge you to find any other issue where Democrats, Republicans, and Independents agree with each other more strongly.
We owe it to all Americans to stop the government grift. My Protecting American Taxpayers Act would do just that by stopping government Agencies from handing out quick cash with no questions asked, triggering automatic investigations when there are sudden and suspicious spikes in payment claims, banning convicted fraudsters from receiving taxpayer dollars, taking back the money that was already stolen, and sending those darn scammers to the slammer.
If enacted, this bill could save $240 billion. That is billion with a ``b,'' folks.
The choice is quite simple. Give the money to the fraudsters or return it to the taxpayers. What would really be criminal is if the Senate left town today without passing this meaningful legislation to eliminate fraud.
As if in legislative session, and notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 452, S. 4952. I further ask that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
Mr. President, I am sorely disappointed today that we were not able to pass this commonsense legislation. And we have seen, time and time again, actual examples being put forth in this body to demonstrate the grift of these scammers.
And, unfortunately, we are not able to pass what is bipartisan legislation--a package of bills that has passed through many of the various committees here in the U.S. Senate--again, a bipartisan package that stops the grift and the scamming of the Federal Government.
We held a committee hearing, not too long ago, where I had in front of me, in the Small Business Committee, a woman that came from Minnesota. She started off her testimony by saying: I am a Democrat, but I can't stand by idly and watch as money is flowing out the door to the grifters.
She gave very powerful testimony. She worked for the State government, and she saw the rampant fraud that was happening in Minnesota. She raised it to her supervisor. She raised the issue to those in charge, and she was told to be quiet and not question what was going on. It eventually led to her firing. But the problem was--and she brought it forward.
She said: Every dollar that was being scammed that I identified, it was important to me that it get to the families that need it. Why? Because at one time, I had been part of one of those families.
She grew up in a family that was poverty-stricken and filled with abuse. Their family relied on those dollars for their support and yet, as a grown adult, she saw scammers taking advantage of those programs that are meant for the elderly, for the veterans, for those that are struggling to break free from poverty. And what happened to her? She was fired.
So this is commonsense legislation, checks and balances put on those programs. For everyone enrolling in those programs, we should check to make sure that they do qualify and meet Federal law and regulations.
So, again, I am very disappointed that the Democrats have rejected this, again, a bipartisan package of bills meant to save our taxpayer dollars for people that are truly vulnerable. I am sorely disappointed.
I yield the floor.