Rep. Stansbury Takes on GOP Lies on Pandemic Aid in Inaugural Oversight Committee Hearing

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WASHINGTON—During this morning’s first full House Committee on Oversight and Accountability hearing, U.S. Representative Melanie Stansbury (N.M.-01) revealed how the House Republican majority sought to mislead the American people by downplaying lifesaving federal pandemic assistance.

“As a New Mexican and as an American, I am deeply proud to serve our country and to serve under the leadership of our Ranking Member in particular, Mr. Jamie Raskin, who is a hero and a scholar here in the House. Our job on this committee is to defend our democracy and our basic institutions and to protect our rights as Americans,” said Rep. Stansbury in her opening statement. “As a member of the ‘Truth Squad’ on this side of the aisle, our job is to hold our government accountable and counter the lies, conspiracy theories and extremism that we're going to hear on this committee this Congress.

“I'm grateful for this discussion today, because as a native New Mexican and as somebody who grew up in a working family that struggled to make ends meet with a single mother, I personally know what it means to live on the edge and why critical relief programs like the programs that we're talking about here today.... literally saved lives,” said Rep. Stansbury.

Rep. Stansbury directed her question to Gene L. Dodaro, Comptroller General of the U.S. Government Accountability Office. “Can you tell us how many convictions and guilty pleas come from federal charges regarding fraud with these COVID programs?”

“According to the Department of Justice system, there have been over a thousand people [who] either pled guilty or have been convicted. There's another 600 people where charges are pending. There are hundreds of investigations underway now,” replied Mr. Dodaro.

“I want to clarify that we're talking about…millions of Americans whose lives were impacted by these programs—and fewer than 3,000 cases of fraud and abuse,” said Rep. Stansbury. “Now, we need to hold those who committed crimes accountable. And that's exactly what we're going to do on this Committee.”

Federal pandemic aid successfully prevented hundreds of thousands of deaths and kept the United States from sliding into recession as the COVID-19 pandemic ground the economy to a halt. In New Mexico, over 92,920 people received Pandemic Unemployment Assistance when they needed it the most to help families put food on the table and keep the lights on during desperate circumstances.

During the hearing, Democrats on the committee highlighted how the bulk of the waste, fraud, and abuse of government funding occurred during the Trump administration’sdisbursal of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The PPP program mismanagement under the Trump White House opened the door to prioritizing well-connected business owners over small businesses, including GOP members of the Committee. 

Rep. Stansbury’s full remarks as delivered are below.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member, members of the committee. And of course, gentlemen on the panel. Thank you for your time today. I want to take this opportunity at the start of this Congress and this Committee's first hearing, to say how honored I am to serve on this Committee and to join in the oversight of this Committee's work.

As a New Mexican and as an American, I am deeply proud to serve our country and to serve our communities and to serve under the leadership of our Ranking Member in particular, Mr. Jamie Raskin, who is a hero and a Scholar here in the House. Our job on this committee is to defend our democracy and our basic institutions, to protect our rights as Americans, and as a member of the “Truth Squad” on this side of the aisle—to hold our government accountable and counter the lies, conspiracy theories and extremism that we're going to hear on this Committee this Congress.

In a couple of words, we're here to fight for the American people and for the people of New Mexico, which is where I was born and raised and in fact, I'm grateful for this discussion today because as a native New Mexican and as somebody who grew up in a working family that struggled to make ends meet with a single mother. I personally know what it means to live on the edge and why critical relief programs like the programs that we're talking about here today and this committee were passed by this body to help millions of Americans who would have fallen through the cracks, as we saw in previous economic disruptions. In fact, the early relief programs whether that's the insurance, the PPP program, and the subsequent American Recovery Plan, literally saved lives.

I mean, think about again, these programs saved lives. In fact, in New Mexico, almost 93,000 New Mexicans received unemployment insurance. When the pandemic began, I was serving in the State Legislature. We called thousands of New Mexicans in my district to find out how they were doing as welfare checks. Elders who were stranded in their homes without access to health care, people whose family members had died. People who were unable to get food and water, especially in our rural and Tribal communities.

These programs were designed to save lives and to keep individuals from falling into the freefall of economic disaster during a pandemic. We know there's fraud and abuse. There is fraud and abuse wherever there are humans who take advantage of systems that do not have proper oversight.

I know a lot about oversight. I used to work in the Office of Management and Budget in this government. I was a Senate staffer I conducted financial oversight. I know what that looks like. And I have never seen more financial fraud and abuse of this system than I saw in the previous administration under Donald Trump in which financial systems were abused, including by his cronies and fraudsters who were involved in his administration and his friends across the country. And our job is to make sure that they are held accountable and that we are looking out for the people in our communities.

So, let's get the story straight. I know gentlemen, you've been here a long time today, many, many hours. I know you're ready, probably to go take a break and rest and thank you for your time this morning for serving our country and the roles that you all play in doing that oversight. But I want to just ask a couple of questions to clarify what is going on. So Mr. Dodaro, I know you've talked a lot this morning and probably answered this question multiple ways. But I want to be very specific. Can you tell us how many convictions and guilty pleas come from federal charges regarding fraud with these COVID programs?

Dodaro: Yes, so far, according to the Department of Justice system, there have been over 1,000 people either pled guilty or have been convicted. There's another 600 people where charges are pending. There are hundreds of investigations underway now.

Mr. Dodaro, I want to just clarify. So we're talking about millions of Americans whose lives were impacted by these programs, 93,000 New Mexicans, and less than 3000 cases of fraud and abuse. Now we need to hold those who committed crimes accountable. And that's exactly what we're going to do on this committee through the oversight of our federal programs, who are tasked with that role and our law enforcement and our job is to make sure that the American people are represented, and we keep this government accountable. And with that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.