U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) spoke on the Senate floor about the increasing problem of fraud in the United States, referencing a Government Accountability Office estimate that fraud costs Americans up to $521 billion each year. Blackburn has introduced the Fraud Accountability Act, which would change the Immigration and Nationality Act to allow for deportation and denaturalization of individuals who commit fraud against U.S. citizens.
In her remarks, Blackburn said, “Tennesseans are learning a whole lot more about what is happening in this country with fraud… and the calls that are coming into our office, the emails that we are getting show that this is an issue that has really grabbed the attention of Tennesseans.”
She described how people have seen fraud locally: “One of the reasons is because people have seen fraud play out in their local communities. They’ve seen title theft… They all know of contractors who take deposits… They know senior citizens who are being defrauded out of life savings. They’ve seen kickback schemes in their local counties and cities where local officials go hire a friend and make a contract there at these enormous rates.”
Blackburn also mentioned events in Minnesota as drawing national attention to taxpayer dollars lost through fraudulent activity: “What has happened in Minnesota has caused the American people to look more closely at what is happening with their hard-earned taxpayer dollars and how these are being stolen through fraud.”
Citing figures from federal oversight agencies, she said, “The Government Accountability Office… estimates that each year… our government is losing between 233 and 521 billion dollars to fraud.” She added, “We learned even more about the fraud occurring in blue state Medicaid programs and Obamacare during the Schumer Shutdown.”
She pointed to recent findings by federal auditors: “Last month, the GAO released findings that show just how easy it is to commit fraud with the Biden bonus credits under Obamacare.” Blackburn criticized efforts by Democratic lawmakers regarding insurance regulations: “Despite all this fraud, the Democrats this week demanded a vote to overturn the Trump administration’s marketplace integrity rule, which protects consumers from the fraud that plagued the system under President Biden and his administration.”
“The American people expect the government to work for law-abiding citizens, not criminals,” Blackburn said.
On her legislative response, she stated: “I recently introduced the Fraud Accountability Act. This legislation would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to explicitly make clear that fraud is a deportable offense. This will provide another tool for the President to deport or denaturalize scammers who have come to our country to steal from the American people.”
Blackburn represents Tennessee in Congress and serves on several committees including finance, commerce, veterans’ affairs and judiciary matters. Her work includes supporting policies such as limited government, lower taxes, border security and online protections for children. She was elected as Tennessee’s first female senator in 2018 and maintains offices throughout Tennessee.
