Protecting American Taxpayers Act

Key Points

• The bill cancels any leftover, unspent money from major pandemic relief laws including the CARES Act and American Rescue Plan, sending it to the Treasury to reduce the national debt. The President can waive specific rescissions within 60 days for national security reasons.
• It sets a 10-year window to prosecute fraud tied to pandemic programs and to SBA grants like Shuttered Venue and Restaurant Revitalization, giving investigators far more time to catch people who stole relief money.
• People applying for certain public assistance would have to sign a sworn pledge not to send money abroad through remittance transfers while getting benefits, with a $100,000 fine for breaking the pledge.
• The bill blocks U.S. financial assistance from going to any entity controlled by an agent of a covered foreign nation such as China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, and orders the suspension of aid to any country or NGO that supports the Taliban.
• It creates fraud-detection triggers across Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, and ACA exchanges, requiring notice to inspectors general when payments in a zip code jump more than 100 percent in a year. Child care providers would be paid based on recorded attendance, not just enrollment.
• Federal workers who spot surplus agency funds can earn cash awards, and contractors who report gross mismanagement or waste gain stronger whistleblower protections that cannot be signed away in arbitration agreements. The VA gets a new officer to help veterans avoid scams.