FIRST ON FOX: One of the founding Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Caucus members, Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., is leading the introduction of a legislative package targeting government waste related to the COVID-19 pandemic on Tuesday ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s next term.
The Oklahoma Republican gave Fox News Digital an exclusive first look at two bills he will introduce Tuesday, one to address cases of unemployment fraud and another to extend the statute of limitations to prosecute COVID-19 recovery fund fraud.
“Making the government more efficient isn’t a partisan issue—it’s an American issue. Loopholes in the law let fraudsters get away with billions in COVID recovery and Unemployment Insurance payouts while forcing taxpayers to foot the bill. The decades of government waste must come to an end,” Lankford said in a statement.
The first measure would allow states to halt unemployment payments to claimants if they are deemed fraudulent, getting rid of a requirement for unemployment agencies to restart payments within two weeks if they are appealed, despite potential fraud.
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The latter bill would expand the extended statute of limitations for certain pandemic-era programs to all of them, including large and costly ones such as the Coronavirus Relief Fund, Economic Impact Payments and Unemployment insurance.
According to Lankford’s office, Government Accountability Office Comptroller Eugene Dodaro endorsed the bill addressing COVID relief fraud.
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“I am very pleased that this bill addresses the Inspector General community’s request to extend the statute of limitations for pandemic unemployment insurance program fraud,” he said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital by Lankford’s office.
“If enacted, this bill would give our oversight partners and law enforcement additional time to pursue federal fraud-related investigations in these programs and hold individuals accountable to the American people.”
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In November, Trump announced that billionaire Elon Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy would lead DOGE, a proposed advisory board tasked with eliminating government waste.
“Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies – Essential to the ‘Save America’ Movement,” he wrote in a statement at the time.
Afterward, caucuses were formed in both the House and Senate, led by Reps. Aaron Bean, R-Fla., and Pete Sessions, R-Texas, and Blake Moore, R-Utah, and Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, respectively.
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Ernst is a co-sponsor of Lankford’s COVID fraud bill.
Before Trump officially announced DOGE and his choice of Musk and Ramaswamy to lead it, the billionaire Tesla and SpaceX CEO said at an October rally that he believed it could cut trillions in government spending.
“I think we could do at least $2 trillion,” Musk said at the time.
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