Politics

(WASHINGTON) — House Republicans on Thursday voted to kick Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar off the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

They said it was because of antisemitic comments and statements on Israel she later apologized for in 2019.

The vote on the resolution was 218-211 — with one Republican — Rep. David Joyce of Ohio — voting “present.”

Omar defended herself in an impassioned floor speech Thursday immediately ahead of the vote and displayed a photo of her younger self on a poster board beside her.

“I am Muslim. I am an immigrant. And interestingly, from Africa. Is anyone surprised that I am being targeted?” she said.

“I am an American — an American who was sent here by her constituents to represent them in Congress, a refugee who survived the horrors of a civil war. Someone who spent her childhood in a refugee camp, someone who knows what it means to have a shot at a better life here in the United States, and someone who believes in the American dream,” she said.

“There is an idea out there that I am not, that I do not have, objective decision making because of who I am, where I come from and my perspective — but I would check that we say there is nothing objective about policy. We all inject our perspectives, our points of view, our lived experiences, and the voices of our constituents,” she continued. “That’s what democracy is about.”

“I will continue to speak up because representation matters. I will continue to speak up for little kids who wonder who’s speaking up for them. I will continue to speak up for families around the world towards seeking justice, whether they are displaced in refugee camps, or they are hiding under their beds — somewhere like I was — waiting for the bullets to stop — because this child survivor of war would have wanted, that the nine-year-old me, would be disappointed if I didn’t talk about the victims of conflict those that are experiencing unjust wars, atrocities, ethnic cleansing occupation or displacement like I did,” Omar said.

The Minnesota congresswoman concluded by saying she would not let the vote silence her.

“I came to Congress to be their voice, and my leadership and voice will not be diminished,” she said. “If I am not on this committee for one term, my voice will get louder and stronger, and my leadership will be celebrated around the world as it has been.”

Earlier Thursday, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said the vote was “all about political revenge” and called the resolution written to remove Omar “phony, fake and fraudulent.”

“This type of poisonous toxic double standard is going to complicate the relationship moving forward between House Democrats and help Republicans,” Jeffries told ABC News Senior Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott at his weekly press conference.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy had repeatedly vowed to remove Omar and two other Democrats, California Reps. Eric Swalwell and Adam Schiff, once Republicans regained power.

The House Rules Committee voted along party lines on Tuesday night, 9-4, to advance a resolution to effectively block Omar from the panel — by removing her once she is seated.

On Wednesday, the chamber voted to move forward with a vote on the resolution, which was introduced by Republican Rep. Max Miller of Ohio. It cites some of Omar’s previous controversial statements to argue she doesn’t have an “objective mindset.”

Miller said it wasn’t about a “tit-for-tat,” given that Democrats and some Republicans had removed two GOP lawmakers — Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar — from committees in the last Congress.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee wants more information about investigations overseen by the former head of the FBI New York Field Office Charles McGonigal.

McGonigal, who was the special agent in charge of counterintelligence in the FBI’s New York Field Office, was arrested last month over his alleged ties to Oleg Deripaska, a Russian billionaire who has been sanctioned by the United States and criminally charged last year with violating those sanctions.

“These allegations are extremely disturbing and raise concerns about the potential impact this misconduct may have had on the FBI’s counterintelligence matters and criminal investigations,” Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, writes to FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland. “As a SAC for the New York Field Office, Mr. McGonigal oversaw many sensitive counterintelligence investigations, including investigations involving individuals he has now been accused of working to benefit.”

Durbin points out U.S. officials have said Deripaska was a close associate of former Trump Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort and also on the U.S. sanctions list.

Noting the indictment alleges that McGonigal concealed his receipt of $225,000 cash from a former Albanian intelligence agency employee, Durbin writes, “Both indictments include alleged conduct that occurred while Mr. McGonigal served as the Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of FBI’s Counterintelligence Division in the New York Field Office from 2016 to 2018 and after his retirement.”

Durbin is wanting to know if any investigations were impacted and how many investigations that he oversaw were potentially compromised.

Durbin is asking for a response by Feb 15.

“Mr. McGonigal’s alleged misconduct may have impacted these highly sensitive matters, including whether he compromised sensitive sources, methods, and analysis,” Durbin writes. “Whether his alleged misconduct materially impacted the outcome of any investigations or further compromised our national security also remains unknown at this time.”

Previously, FBI Director Christopher Wray said McGonigal’s actions don’t represent his agency.

McGonigal, who retired from the FBI in 2018, has pleaded not guilty to the four-count indictment unsealed Monday in Manhattan.

ABC News’ Aaron Katersky contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Justice is in contact with former Vice President Mike Pence’s lawyers about scheduling a potential search of his home in Indiana, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.

The discussions come after classified documents were found in Pence’s Indiana home and turned over to the FBI for review. A lawyer for Pence conducted the search of Pence’s home in Indiana last week and found the documents.

The search was done proactively and in the wake of news that classified documents from before he was president were found in Joe Biden’s home and old office at the Penn Biden Center.

The Wall Street Journal first reported that the Department of Justice and Pence’s legal team were in discussions about scheduling a search.

Pence’s team believes an additional search by federal investigators won’t reveal any additional classified documents but intends to comply fully with the DOJ review of the matter, including any search of his home.

The Justice Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — The Trump Organization’s controller is expected to testify Thursday before a grand jury in New York that is investigating whether former President Donald Trump played a role in the hush payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.

Jeffrey McConney has worked at the Trump Organization for more than three decades and was a subordinate to its former chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg, who is now serving jail time after he pleaded guilty to tax fraud.

McConney appeared more than a half-dozen times before a grand jury about illegal practices at the Trump Organization and he testified at the company’s trial late last year that resulted in a conviction on charges it paid certain executives as independent contractors and through under-the-table perks.

McConney is expected to appear before the new grand jury convened to hear evidence by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office about the payment to Daniels meant to keep quiet about her long-denied affair with Trump, the sources said.

A spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office declined to comment. An attorney for McConney also declined to comment.

McConney’s anticipated grand jury appearance was first reported by CNN.

The former publisher of the National Enquirer, David Pecker, appeared before the grand jury earlier this week, the sources said. Pecker helped broker a $150,000 payment to Daniels, according to federal prosecutors who previously investigated the arrangement and reached a non-prosecution agreement with Pecker’s employer, AMI.

Pecker interviewed Daniels about her alleged affair in June 2016 and agreed to acquire the story for the purposes of burying it, a practice known in the tabloid industry as “catch and kill.”

Prosecutors believe the payment violated campaign finance laws governing expenditures made for purposes of influencing an election and in coordination with a candidate or his campaign.

Trump has denied knowing about the payment that was arranged through his former personal attorney, Michael Cohen.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office is investigating whether the Trump Organization falsified business records in the way it recorded a reimbursement payment to Cohen, sources familiar with the investigation have told ABC News.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — Arizona Republican Rep. Andy Biggs on Wednesday rolled out new impeachment articles against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, saying the top Biden administration official has “violated his oath of office, wreaking havoc on this country and he must be impeached.”

“He must be impeached because he is a public official who has lost public trust and is an imminent threat to the United States of America,” Biggs said at a Capitol Hill news conference.

Biggs, who previously introduced articles in 2021, said he would be filing the articles while standing alongside fellow conservative GOP members, including Reps. Lauren Boebert, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Bob Good and others. The presser began as House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s first in-person meeting with President Joe Biden since winning the gavel was slated to begin.

“Secretary Mayorkas has failed to faithfully uphold his oath and has instead presided over a reckless abandonment of border security and immigration enforcement, the expense of the Constitution and the security of the United States,” the articles read.

Biggs did not provide a hard timeline for when the articles would be moved forward in committee.

When asked if Speaker McCarthy supported the effort to impeach Mayorkas, Biggs didn’t answer directly, but said he was hopeful, adding, “We start this hopefully at the Judiciary Committee.”

Greene made it clear she intends to target President Biden, once again calling to impeach him as well: “It’s also President Biden’s responsibility. I’ve called for his impeachment because of his failure to protect our country as well. And I’ll continue to call to impeach President Biden for that reason as well.”

The articles also come as Republicans held their first hearing on the border crisis, highlighting the issue at the House Judiciary Committee earlier on Wednesday.

The move follows months of conservative Republicans vowing to impeach Mayorkas and even with Speaker McCarthy holding an event on the border weeks back calling for an investigation into the DHS secretary.

Biggs’s announcement also comes weeks after Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, introduced his own impeachment articles against Mayorkas on Jan. 10. Fallon accused Mayorkas of failing to maintain operational control, providing false testimony to Congress and misleading the public. A DHS official said at the time they believed Fallon’s impeachment articles had no factual grounds.

Biggs said Wednesday he and Fallon will co-sponsor each other’s impeachment resolutions.

Mayorkas said in January, just after Republicans took control of the House, that he was ready for any congressional investigations and that he had no intention of resigning.

“I’ve got a lot of work to do, and we’re going to do it,” Mayorkas told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos on “This Week.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — The FBI has contacted a Navy veteran, Richard Osthoff, as part of an investigation into embattled Rep. George Santos and a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for Osthoff’s sick service dog.

Osthoff confirmed the call from the FBI, and sources familiar with the matter confirmed the nature of the investigation — which adds to the growing list of legal issues and controversies Santos, R-N.Y., is facing.

The freshman lawmaker insists he isn’t a “criminal” and has said he will leave office if he isn’t reelected. He has acknowledged and apologized for lying about parts of his background while maintaining that he was only embellishing his resume.

According to previous ABC News reporting, a source familiar said Santos, using the name Anthony Devolder, ran a GoFundMe account in 2016 under the auspices of a charity, Friends of Pets United, and raised some $3,000 to ostensibly help Osthoff pay for surgery to remove a tumor from his dog.

MORE: Investigations and complaints facing George Santos could bring serious penalties
Osthoff told ABC News that Santos did not come through with the money and ignored text messages about it. Osthoff says his dog, Sapphire, ultimately died from her condition.

“I don’t ever want to see another person, especially another veteran, go through this again,” Osthoff said.

Osthoff told ABC News that he was “glad to get the ball rolling with the big-wigs,” with the FBI involvement.

“I was worried that what happened to me was too long ago to be prosecuted,” he added.

A spokesperson for GoFundMe would not comment on any specifics but said the company will cooperate with any investigations.

Santos’ campaign previously described Friends of Pets United as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, but IRS records do not list a charity under that name.

Santos told ABC News on Wednesday that he was unaware of the FBI probe and said of Osthoff, “I have no recollection of ever meeting him.” Osthoff previously provided a local news outlet with texts that he said were between him and Santos.

When asked if he was worried about being prosecuted, Santos responded, “I have no clue, I don’t know what it’s about.”

He also told ABC News he had not been contacted by anyone regarding the investigation. “I haven’t been reached out by them. So I can’t comment,” he said.

Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn are investigating Santos, including the charity, which is also part of an investigation by the New York attorney general’s office, according to sources familiar with both investigations.

Spokespeople for both the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of New York and the FBI’s New York field office declined to comment on the ongoing investigation.

The FBI outreach to Osthoff was first reported by Politico.

In December, as reports emerged about Santos fabricating some of his life story, he told The New York Post that he was sorry for “embellishing” but said: “This [controversy] will not deter me from having good legislative success. I will be effective. I will be good.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy met in the Oval Office for more than hour Wednesday, and afterward McCarthy called it a “good meeting, suggesting the two men might find a compromise over spending.

The highly anticipated meeting, the first the two men have held since McCarthy narrowly won the speakership last month, comes amid an ongoing standoff over the national debt limit.

“I think, at the of the day, we can find common ground,” McCarthy told reporters in the White House driveway.

There was no immediate characterization of how things went from the White House.

The president told reporters Monday that his message for McCarthy would be “show me your budget,” showing specific cuts he’s proposing in exchange for Republican support to lift the debt ceiling — and avoid a catastrophic default.

The White House has repeatedly said it would not negotiate with Republicans — that the stakes for the U.S. economy were too high, and that the limit had been raised 74 times before, including with Republican support under then-President Donald Trump.

But on Tuesday, the president suggested he was open to talking. Asked if he would negotiate with the speaker during Wednesday’s meeting, Biden responded simply, “Show me his budget.”

The president has long cast himself as a dealmaker, eager to sit down with Republicans to reach bipartisan agreements. At a fundraiser in New York on Tuesday, Biden referred to McCarthy as “a decent man.”

But he has also lambasted congressional Republicans as “extreme” and said McCarthy had given in to that faction to take control.

“Look at what he had to do,” the president said Tuesday. “He had to make commitments that were just absolutely off the wall for a speaker of the House to make in terms of being able to become a leader.”

Responding to Biden’s comments at the fundraiser, McCarthy said, “apparently he doesn’t understand.”

“I’m looking forward to sitting down with the president negotiating for the American public — the people of America — on how we can find savings,” McCarthy said.

When asked if he planned to make Biden a specific offer, McCarthy said, “I think we’re gonna sit down and negotiate.”

That public posturing was only the latest salvo launched between the two men.

Earlier Tuesday, McCarthy told reporters that he was “willing to sit down” with Biden “and finally get this done long before the debt limit hits its point that we have to get something done.”

“Because why would you put the economics of America in jeopardy?” he said. “Why would you play political games?”

McCarthy has noted he and Biden had “met many times prior to him being president,” although “not as often as being president.”

He said Tuesday the White House should “say they’re willing to negotiate, because the only irresponsible way is to play a political game and say, we’re not going to talk about it. It sounds pretty childish to me.”

Earlier in the day, top White House officials wrote in a memo that Biden planned to pose two questions to McCarthy during the meeting.

The president is expected to ask McCarthy if he will “commit to the bedrock principle that the United States will never default on its financial obligations” and whether he agrees with “former presidents, including Presidents Trump and Reagan, that it is critical to avoid debt limit brinksmanship,” according to the memo, which was first obtained by ABC News.

The authors of the memo — the president’s top economic adviser, Brian Deese, and the director of the White House budget office, Shalanda Young – noted Biden planned to release a budget on March 9. They challenged McCarthy to do the same.

“It is essential,” they wrote, “that Speaker McCarthy likewise commit to releasing a budget, so that the American people can see how House Republicans plan to reduce the deficit – whether through Social Security cuts; cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Affordable Care Act (ACA) health coverage; and/or cuts to research, education, and public safety – as well as how much their Budget will add to the deficit with tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and large corporations, as in their first bill this year.”

In response, McCarthy wrote in a statement Tuesday: “Mr. President: I received your staff’s memo. I’m not interested in political games. I’m coming to negotiate for the American people.”

Republicans in the House have insisted on deep spending cuts in exchange for their cooperation on raising the debt ceiling.

The Republican Study Committee, which represents the largest group of Republicans in the House, previously called for revisions to Social Security and Medicare, including raising the age for Medicare to 67 and Social Security to the age of 70 for younger workers.

But McCarthy recently said any cuts to Social Security and Medicare would be “off the table.”

McCarthy pointed to the “Commitment to America” plan presented by Republicans before the midterms, which he said “strengthens” Medicare and Social Security. The White House has accused McCarthy of being “evasive” on his plan for government spending.

Pressed on what he meant by “strengthen” and whether he would seek to raise the retirement age — McCarthy said: “No, no, no. What I’m talking about Social Security, Medicare, you keep that to the side.”

“I want to find a reasonable and a responsible way that we can lift the debt ceiling but take control of this runaway spending,” McCarthy said.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has expressed support for McCarthy. “We’re all behind Kevin,” he said Tuesday. “Wishing him well in the negotiations.”

Meanwhile, the White House has repeatedly said Biden will not negotiate or compromise by tying a debt limit increase to spending cuts, with the administration pointing to the bipartisan history of the ceiling being increased by both parties over the years.

“Attempts to exploit the debt ceiling as leverage will not work,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters last month. “There will be no hostage taking.”

Earlier this month, McCarthy made it clear he was holding firm.

“For the president to say he wouldn’t even negotiate — that’s irresponsible. We’re going to be responsible. We’re going to be sensible, and we’re going to get this done together. So the longer he waits, the more he puts the fiscal jeopardy of America up for grabs,” McCarthy told ABC News Senior Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott last month. “We should sit down and get this done and stop playing politics,” he added.

The debt limit doesn’t allow government spending on new programs — instead it allows the U.S. to borrow any money it needs to pay for the nation’s existing bills.

The federal government hit the current debt ceiling, about $31.4 trillion earlier this month prompting the Treasury Department to step in with “extraordinary measures” which will allow the nation to avert a catastrophic default until June.

“President Biden will ask Speaker McCarthy to publicly assure the American people and the rest of the world that the United States will, as always, honor all of its financial obligations,” the memo stated.

ABC News’ Lauren Peller and Allison Pecorin contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — The Biden administration on Wednesday proposed a federal rule to “curb excessive credit card late fees” and plans to go after the Apple and Google app stores for what it says are “barriers to competition.”

The rule, proposed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, would reduce typical late fees from roughly $30 to $8, according to projections from the White House.

Regarding the app stores, according to reports from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration, “Consumers largely can’t get apps outside of the app store model, controlled by Apple and Google.”

The proposals come less than a week before President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Tuesday and originated from his Competition Council. The credit card fee proposal, in particular, is part of Biden’s push to reduce “junk fees.”

“Today’s rule proposes to cut those fees from $31 on average to $8,” Biden said Wednesday while meeting with the Competition Council. “That change is expected to save tens of millions of dollars for America. Roughly $9 billion a year in total savings.”

He said over the next few weeks his team will meet with state and local officials across the U.S. to find ways to “crack down on junk fees” in their jurisdictions, and is calling on Congress to pass a Junk Fee Prevention Act that would regulate a variety of fees, including entertainment ticket fees and certain airline fees.

“These unfair fees add up. It’s a basic question of fairness,” Biden said. “We’re gonna keep building an economy that’s fair, economy that’s competitive, and an economy that works for everyone.”

Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren tweeted in support of the proposed rule and said, “Congress should follow President Biden’s lead and crack down on junk fees on tickets, airfare, internet, hotels, and more.”

In addition to the limit on credit card late fees, the proposed rule would end the automatic annual inflation adjustment and cap late fees at 25% of the required minimum payment, according to the White House.

“Over a decade ago, Congress banned excessive credit card late fees, but companies have exploited a regulatory loophole that has allowed them to escape scrutiny for charging an otherwise illegal junk fee,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. “Today’s proposed rule seeks to save families billions of dollars and ensure the credit card market is fair and competitive.”

In recent years, late fees have surged to as much as $41 for a missed payment, Chopra said in a statement, with consumers being hit with $12 billion a year in late fees — in addition to the billions of dollars in interest they are paying.

Chopra said that the rule could go into effect as soon as 2024, the Associated Press reported.

Industry groups, including the American Bankers Association, worry the proposed rule will “harm consumers by reducing competition and increasing the cost of credit,” Rob Nichols, ABA president and CEO, said in a statement.

“It will result in more late payments, higher debt and lower credit scores, and is inconsistent with the CARD Act’s encouragement of responsible credit management,” Nichols said. “If the proposal is enacted, credit card issuers will be forced to adjust to the new risks by reducing credit lines, tightening standards for new accounts and raising APRs for all consumers, including the millions who pay on time.”

The Consumer Bankers Association released a similar statement following Wednesday’s announcement of the proposed rule.

“It is deeply unfortunate and puzzling that policymakers would take action that could ultimately limit consumers’ access to these valued financial products at a time when they are needed most,” Lindsey Johnson, the association’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “Continuing to conflate fees charged by well-regulated banks with those in other industries is not only disingenuous, it fails to reflect the fact that banks are required by law to provide clear and conspicuous disclosures.”

In addition to the administration’s push to limit credit card late fees, it also announced a plan to go after large app stores. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration released a report on Wednesday stating that, “The current mobile app store model is harmful to consumers and developers.”

“Apple and Google create hurdles for developers to compete for consumers by imposing technical limits, such as restricting how apps can function or requiring developers to go through slow and opaque review processes,” the NTIA said.

An Apple spokesperson told ABC News, “we respectfully disagree with a number of conclusions reached in the report, which ignore the investments we make in innovation, privacy and security – all of which contribute to why users love iPhone and create a level playing field for small developers to compete on a safe and trusted platform.”

A Google spokesperson said the firm also disagrees with the report, namely “how this report characterizes Android, which enables more choice and competition than any other mobile operating system,” The Associated Press reported.

The report, which was developed at the direction of President Biden’s 2021 Executive Order on Competition, says new legislation and antitrust enforcement actions are “likely necessary to boost competition in the app ecosystem.”

ABC News’ Ben Gittelson and Justin Gomez contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — Rep. Jamie Raskin, sporting a cap as he undergoes chemo, received applause from GOP colleagues.
In a moment of bipartisanship, Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin received words of encouragement from a Republican colleague as he undergoes cancer treatment.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., told Raskin “we’re all rooting for you” as he kicked off the panel’s meeting Tuesday to adopt its official rules for this Congress.

“We know that you’re gonna win this battle,” Comer said. “You’re in our thoughts and prayers, and it’s good to see you here today.”

Raskin, who was elected by his Democratic colleagues to serve as the committee’s ranking member, said the words meant a lot to him.

“I’ve been gratified to receive so many kind words of encouragement and sympathy from colleagues on both sides of the aisle,” he said. “I hope that these expressions of concern and solidarity will become seeds of friendship over the year.”

“I certainly plan on getting through this thing and beating it, and I thank you for your patience and indulgence,” he added, prompting a round of applause from committee members on both sides of the aisle.

Raskin announced in late December he’d been diagnosed with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, which he described as a “serious but curable form of cancer,” and said he was about to begin chemo-immunotherapy.

Raskin joked at the time he was advised the regimen will cause hair loss and weight gain, but that he was “still holding out hope for the kind that causes hair gain and weight loss.”

The Maryland Democrat wore a black-and-white bandana during Wednesday’s oversight meeting, and has been seen wearing other caps as he endures treatment.

House rules have generally long prohibited the wearing of hats on the floor, though Democrats amended the century-old rule in 2019 to allow for religious headwear.

Raskin rose to national prominence as he led two impeachments against former President Donald Trump, and was a leading member of the House Jan. 6 Select Committee tasked with investigating the U.S. Capitol attack.

He’s said he expects to continue working as he battles the disease, but was advised by his medical team to “to reduce unnecessary exposure” to COVID-19 or other viruses.

Raskin on Wednesday offered an amendment to allow members of the influential House Oversight Committee to participate remotely for certain situations, including medical circumstances.

“No one should be prevented from performing their duties on behalf of their constituents due to unavoidable and uncontrollable health conditions, whether it’s being immunocompromised or having COVID-19 or being injured in some way that prevents him or her from coming to work,” Raskin said.

The measure was rejected along party lines as House Republicans make good on their vow to end remote participation and proxy voting measures enacted by the Democrat-controlled chamber during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Comer and other Republicans on the panel voted against the amendment, calling it unnecessary as the chairman’s already pledged to work to with Raskin.

“I will do everything in my ability to work with you to make sure we can accommodate anything with respect to committee work while you’re undergoing treatment. I’m very sympathetic to what you’re going through,” Comer said.

Democrats on the panel, pushed back and described the amendment as a failsafe for both sides.

“Protecting individuals based on health outcome should be part of our workplace protections,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said during the hearing.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — Kicking off its investigations into the Biden administration, the Republican-led House Oversight Committee on Wednesday held a hearing on the billions of dollars that were apparently scammed from COVID-19 relief programs.

Republicans argued the programs were a “prescription for waste, fraud and abuse” and haven’t been investigated thoroughly enough by Democrats over the last two years of Biden’s administration, though much of the COVID relief money was also discharged under the Trump administration.

“We owe it to the American people to get to the bottom of the greatest theft of American taxpayer dollars in history,” Republican Chairman James Comer of Kentucky told the committee in his opening remarks.

“We must identify where this money went, how much ended up in the hands of fraudsters or ineligible participants and what should be done to ensure it never happens again,” Comer said.

A total of about $5 trillion was used for pandemic response and recovery under the Trump and Biden administrations, with nearly 90% of it spent by last November, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

The Oversight Committee intends to evaluate that money, which was given out largely as grants or loans to businesses who had to shut down during the pandemic and unemployment insurance to people who lost their jobs, so as “to ensure those funds were appropriately used to respond to the pandemic, and not wasted on ineligible payees or unrelated matters,” Comer said.

While Republicans argued that Democrats should’ve done more to wrangle the programs into better shape over the last two years while they had majority control in Congress, Democrats pushed back. They said longstanding bureaucratic problems within the Small Business Administration and the Department of Labor created the ripe opportunity for fraud because of understaffing and underinvestment.

And at one point, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Ortez, D-N.Y., also took a shot at Comer, charging that he was using the committee to specifically investigate pandemic-era fraud in blue states, pushing responsibility on Democrats, when his own state reportedly gave unemployment insurance to people who were employed with the state government itself.

The ranking member of the Oversight Committee, Maryland Democrat Jamie Raskin, also pushed back on the notion that fraud hasn’t been properly investigated over the last two years by citing multiple past hearings — while also acknowledging that more investigation, in a bipartisan fashion, was necessary.

“Democrats have systematically ferreted out fraud, waste and abuse in pandemic-relief programs, although we all certainly can do a more effective job and that’s what this hearing should be about,” Raskin said.

He noted that the programs were “by no means perfect” — an issue he largely blamed on “anachronistic government IT systems, many running obsolete software,” that were unable to efficiently respond when unemployment insurance claims ballooned by 30-fold over just three weeks in March 2020.

But he heralded their benefits, even with their flaws.

“Recall that, while the former president [Donald Trump] denied and trivialized and dismissed the COVID-19 pandemic, it was Congress which acted responsibly and swiftly and in bipartisan fashion to create and supercharge programs that saved countless businesses and families from bankruptcy and ruin throughout the pandemic,” Raskin said.

Three witnesses from nonpartisan groups that have been tracking COVID 19-era fraud testified before the committee on Wednesday. Each group found evidence indicating billions of dollars were stolen from programs intended to help people during the height of the pandemic.

One of those groups, the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC), reported on Monday that nearly $5.5 billion of pandemic aid that was supposed to reach small businesses suffering from COVID-19 shutdowns may have been eaten up by fraudsters instead.

The report found that in the rush to get assistance out the door, the Small Business Administration granted billions of dollars under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) to applicants who used Social Security numbers that ultimately didn’t match up with the person applying.

“We determined that 69,000 questionable [Social Security numbers] were used to obtain $5.4 billion in pandemic loans and that another 175,000 questionable [Social Security numbers] were used in applications that were not paid or approved,” Michael Horowitz, the PRAC chair, told the committee.

The proper checks and balances were not in place in time, PRAC found, but there was tremendous pressure to get massive amounts of money quickly to businesses that were on the brink of failure because of COVID-19 interruptions.

The result was that many pandemic aid programs were left open to fraud.

That conclusion was from David Smith, the assistant director of the Office of Investigations within the U.S. Secret Service, which has been overseeing criminal investigations into COVID-19 relief fraud.

“My colleagues and I have seen and countered the full spectrum of pandemic-related fraud to date,” Smith said.

“From N95 mask non-delivery schemes to synthetic accounts used in identity theft scams to apply for millions of dollars in loans. From medical facilities targeted with ransomware attacks at the height of the pandemic to prison inmates applying for unemployment benefits,” Smith said.

And while a “similar dynamic” has been seen with other major relief efforts and natural disasters, the money stolen amid COVID-19 “was and is substantial,” Smith said.

The Secret Service has clawed back more than $1.43 billion in funds that were wrongfully obtained, Smith said, with 2,300 investigations into unemployment insurance fraud and 2,900 investigations into loans and grants given to businesses.

Over 1,000 people have also been charged, forced to return money or convicted for defrauding the programs, though that work is ongoing, according to Comptroller General Gene Dodaro of the Government Accountability Office, another witness before the Oversight Committee on Wednesday.

But Dodaro also pointed to improvements that could be made to weed out fraud before it happened.

“We have found a range of internal control shortcomings across a wide range of programs and made many recommendations that agencies are in the process of implementing,” Dodaro said.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.