A Republican senator dropped a serious truth bomb when she told reporters that leftist bureaucrats allowed COVID-19 “fraudsters” to take advantage of federal aid, explaining that the government was far from careful in its vetting process, which led to a reported $79 billion in fraud.
For context, in an exclusive interview with Breitbart News on June 6, 2025, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) explained that under the Biden Administration, grifters and scammers were able to trick the federal government into paying out billions in undeserved financial aid during the COVID-19 pandemic. The senator explained that because this level of fraud went unchecked, the work of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was absolutely essential.
Speaking to Breitbart’s Sean Moran, Sen. Ernst said that Biden-era bureaucrats were “asleep at the wheel” when bad actors began taking advantage of COVID-19 relief programs, adding that the government “let COVID fraudsters take taxpayers for a very expensive ride, while small businesses were left out in the cold.”
In addition, Sen. Ernst pointed to a June 2025 Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC) report that revealed that programs issued through the Small Business Administration (SBA), the Department of Labor (DOL), and other agencies had had woefully insufficient vetting processes for their applicants, with “over 1.4 million potentially stolen or invalid SSNs” being used to apply for aid. The report explained that an estimated “$79.41 billion to $79.54 billion was disbursed to applicants using these potentially stolen or invalid SSNs.”
Furthermore, the report noted that in tens of thousands of cases, “The codes provided by SSA indicated that the identifying information (SSN, name, DOB) provided by applicants” were inaccurate and “did not fully match the information in SSA’s records, indicating potential fraud.”
Reflecting on the findings of the PRAC and the failure of the previous administration, Sen. Ernst said that if there had been more oversight, taxpayers could have saved billions. She argued that “if anyone had checked whether applicants had the correct name, birthday, or even were alive,” the entire situation could have been avoided, going on to add, “We cannot allow this to happen.”
In response to the scandal, Sen. Ernst told Breitbart that she was leading “the DOGE in Spending Act,” which the senator said would “put basic safeguards in place” that would stop bureaucrats from allowing “improper and fraudulent payments in Washington.” Sen. Ernst explained that the proposed act would ensure that all government agencies vetted applicants for financial aid by asking simple questions such as, “Is the SSN valid?”
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Sen. Ernst’s comments to Breitbart about her proposed federal aid vetting system came shortly after the senator came under fire for saying, “We all are going to die,” in response to critiques of the “Big, Beautiful Bill” and speculation that it would lead to unwarranted deaths. Speaking to CBS News on June 2, 2025, Sen. Ernst defended her statement, saying, “I made an incorrect assumption that everyone in the auditorium understood that, yes, we are all going to perish from this Earth. So, I apologize.”
Featured image credit: Sen. Joni Ernst via X