Congress gives prosecutors more time to charge relief fraud.
S. 1199 — SBA Fraud Enforcement Extension Act · Filed by Joni Ernst (R-IA) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Mar 27, 2025 · Passed chamber
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What it does
This bill extends the time to charge fraud in two relief programs. One is the Shuttered Venue Operators grant program. The other is the Restaurant Revitalization grant program. The time limit goes from 5 years to 10 years. The Department of Justice must report to Congress every three months. These reports cover fraud cases for 5 years, broken down by state.
Who it affects
People who pay taxes gain stronger fraud enforcement. Prosecutors get more time to catch and punish people who stole relief money.
One thing to notice
The 10-year time limit applies to fraud that happened before the bill passed. Old cases may be reopened.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Republicans.
- Mar 27, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Mar 27, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship”
- Jul 16, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a…”
- Dec 10, 2025 — Hearing held · Congress.gov: “Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. Hearings held”
- Apr 29, 2026 — Passed the Senate · Congress.gov: “Passed Senate with an amendment by Unanimous Consent. (text of amendment in the nature of a substitute: CR…”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- Shuttered Venue Operators grant program — A relief program that gave money to theaters, concert halls, and other venues.
- Restaurant Revitalization grant program — A relief program that gave money to restaurants and bars.
- fraud — Lying or cheating to steal money or get something you should not have.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (2,761 characters) on Jul 25, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,358 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-19.
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