WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) delivered remarks on the Senate floor about the growing fraud crisis, which the Government Accountability Office estimates costs the American people up to $521 billion per year. Senator Blackburn recently introduced the Fraud Accountability Act, which would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to deport and denaturalize people who come to America to steal from law-abiding citizens.

Click here to download Senator Blackburn's remarks on the Senate floor.

EXCERPTS OF REMARKS

"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."

"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."

"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."

"The Government Accountability Office… estimates that each year… our government is losing between 233 and 521 billion dollars to fraud."

"We learned even more about the fraud occurring in blue state Medicaid programs and Obamacare during the Schumer Shutdown."

"Last month, the GAO released findings that show just how easy it is to commit fraud with the Biden bonus credits under Obamacare."

"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."

"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."