White House defends Small Business Administration anti-pandemic fraud efforts
Christian Datoc
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White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre discounted criticism raised by some Republicans that the Small Business Administration is not doing enough to modernize its practices and address pandemic-era fraud.
Watchdog groups have uncovered billions in fraudulent payments paid out to pandemic-era loan applicants, and Rep. Roger Williams (R-TX), the chairman of the House Small Business Committee, specifically raised the aforementioned complaints during a recent hearing with SBA Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman.
TOP WATCHDOG GROUP FINDS $5.4 BILLION IN COVID AID MAY HAVE BEEN AWARDED TO FRAUDULENT APPLICANTS
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, the SBA was asked to step up in ways that they never had to before. While they were able to get money out the door quickly, the after-action reports showed there were serious problems within the agency. A disorganized management structure and a lack of basic guardrails to prevent fraud led to unacceptable amounts of waste of taxpayer dollars,” Williams said in his opening statement at the Guzman hearing. “While there were many past findings that showed what could have been done to prevent fraud, there are other recommendations that were made in the last few months that could have remedied some of these crimes. Unfortunately, it looks like the SBA is not taking these recommendations seriously.”
“America’s small business economy is opening again. It’s growing, and a lot of it is because of the work that this president has done these first two years,” Jean-Pierre told the Washington Examiner when asked about Williams’s comments during Monday’s press briefing. “10.5 million applications that we have seen for small businesses. That’s because of the work that we have done, starting with the American Rescue Plan, and because of how we’ve handled COVID relief, making sure that we have an economy that grows from the middle of the bottom up and the middle out.”
Jean-Pierre claimed that SBA “has scaled up its use of technology and centered customer service and experience, increasing accessibility, streamlining processes, and delivering broad support across our programs.”
“Because of that, they’ve been able to deliver on historic outcomes,” she concluded. “The data shows that SBA has done the work because of this president’s leadership.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
You can watch Monday’s briefing in full below.
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