Legislative Blog
J.B. Williams, J.D.
SBA quarterly report
A Blog about Transparency COVID19 Spending
A Bit of Background
The following backgrounds help summarize the author's views on both the general topic: Federal and more specifically Transparency COVID19 Spending as it relates to that topic.
Brief Summary of Federal
This should be a fairly limited bills area for management the overall structures like highways, military, federal buildings, federal laws, and the like. However it has become the micro manager of all micro managers. They get involved in areas that no federal government should be involved in, and shift more power upward. This has led to each party trying to run over the other party in the eyes of the voters, all the while doing everything possible to maintain their power. They do this by holding onto all of the money, and claiming they know best how it should be spent. But they run debts so badly that no one should be looking to them as an example of anything other than the way to overspend and go further into debt.
Summary of Transparency COVID19 Spending
Requiring audits concerning funds spent on COVID-19 relief.
Blog Summary
Reports on fraud in COVID-19 loans so that, perhaps, Congress and the American people can remember that no safe guards before handing out money is always a bad idea.
118HR4666
Introduced in 9/1/23.
Passed in House on __________.
Passed in Senate __________.
Signed into law __________.
6 pages
Sponsors:
Kweisi Mfume, D, Maryland, In Congress 2020 to Present
Nick LaLota, R, New York, In Congress 2023 to Present
Dean Phillips, D, Minnesota, In Congress 2019 to Present
SBA quarterly report
Published: 2024-01-10
Within 60 days of enactment, and every 3 months thereafter, IG of SBA to submit a report on the number of borrowers engaged in fraud with respect to a covered loan. The report shall include the following:
- number and total dollar amount of all covered loans made;
- number of new cases of fraud and suspected fraud;
- number of fraud cases resolved; and
- types of fraud cases involved.
This only applies to certain loans under SBA act and COVID-19 under CARES Act. It specifically states that no additional funding will be appropriated for this.
Of course there should be no additional funding. Finding and dealing with the fraud is something that they should already be doing. The only additional thing they are asking for is a report that tells the amount of money, and the number of cases. Honestly I sincerely believe that they should have the number of fraud cases from the volume of them they are working to resolve/prosecute. And the details of the name of the business and those involved in the business should be readily available. In fact, that information should be placed in a database for future reference. Now they could also notate in the database whether the fraud matter was resolved, how it was resolved. So that those that did not purposefully commit fraud and are more than willing to make it right, that information would also be available. But a detailed database with the information could be maintained and used in the future before issuing loans. I mean in the instance of the COVID-19 loans we didn't bother to check the information we had (HUGE ERROR on the part of the government), but in the future all of this should be reviewed prior to issuing a loan. I believe this is especially true when they were issuing COVID-19 loans. Every bank, landlord, everyone was in the same position; and a multitude of businesses were waiving late fees, working around payments, etc. Most worked around things for more than 30 days, so a short delay before issuing a loan would not be that difficult. Plus while I understand people needing to pay rent, mortgages, etc. - everyone should have some kind of emergency fund.
Yes I am aware that some people do not make a ton of money. I actually had a time when I was barely able to pay bills. When money was extremely tight. So tight I did not have cable, internet service (pre-cell phones but I can guarantee I would not have had one), etc. I didn't spend $5 or $10 on something because it was so little because I didn't have the money with which to do so. Instead I worked on saving money to have an emergency fund. Since landlords were not forcing payments, and every place I logged into to pay a bill had a clickable link to get assistance if you needed to delay payments, I short delay of 48 hours could have been taken before issuing loans. In the end this could have saved BILLIONS of taxpayer dollars from being released to those that will never re-pay or only re-pay a portion after we've spent more money to make them pay at all. (I'm not saying to let it go because in the end, we should come out a net to the positive. And not doing so merely encourages this behavior again in the future.) And the BILLIONS in fraud will cost taxpayers for many, many years to come in the form of more BILLIONS of dollars.
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