Akron Reporter

WASHINGTON, D.C. — On May 11, U.S. Representative Emilia Strong Sykes (OH-13) voted ‘no’ on House Republicans’ H.R. 1163,the “Surprise Billing Our Workers Act.” H.R. 1163 will allow states to send surprise bills to workers for unemployment benefits overpayments during the pandemic for as long as 10 years after an accidental overpayment occurred. The legislation also outsources American public service jobs and undermines current attempts to detect and prevent fraud.  

“Congress must combat fraud and ensure our taxpayer dollars are spent wisely. But the “Surprise Billing Our Workers Act” does not fight fraud — it unfairly criminalizes Americans who did nothing wrong during an unprecedented global pandemic. Our seniors, veterans, farmers, and families should not be unjustly penalized for a mistake made by a state agency,” said Rep. Sykes. “We have an obligation as public servants to ensure government programs can efficiently and effectively support Americans in their times of need. Instead of undermining efforts to detect and deter fraud and improve identity verification and cybersecurity, Congress should act on bipartisan solutions that would allow states to accurately deliver benefits to eligible workers.”

During House session, Rep. Sykes offered a motion to recommit on H.R. 1163, the “Surprise Billing Our Workers Act.” Watch her full remarks here.

From March 2020 to May 2020, 1.1 million Ohioans filed for unemployment benefits. This record was more than the combined total unemployment claims from 2017-2019.

H.R. 1163would eliminate $2 billion in American Rescue Plan funding for unemployment insurance (UI) fraud prevention and equitable access and timely payment to eligible workers. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has already utilized this funding to “detect and prevent future fraud in state UI programs, modernize state IT systems and improve efficiency and accuracy of payments to increase the overall integrity of the program.”

In 2020, administrative funding for supporting core UI program operations was at thelowest levelin at least 30 years.  The lack of long-term investment for modernizing the state and territory unemployment systems was a major contributor to the fraud and benefits accessibility crisis experienced at the beginning of the pandemic.

H.R. 1136 passed the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday and awaits consideration in the U.S. Senate.

Original source can be found here.