Recover COVID Unemployment Fraud in Banks Act
Sponsored By: Representative Van Duyne, Beth [R-TX-24]
Passed House
Summary
Recover pandemic-era unemployment compensation held in banks and state unclaimed property programs. The bill would create a National Recovery Coordinator and a Recover Pandemic Unemployment Funds in Banks Task Force to find improper CARES-era payments, issue model recovery processes and guidance, and return funds while following State law.
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- Individuals whose identities were fraudulently used would receive a model notice and information on resources and legal pathways to challenge or recover improper payments.
- State unemployment agencies would get coordinated guidance and model procedures to identify and return improper payments and would be reimbursed for administrative costs they incur under CARES Act sections 2102, 2104, and 2107.
- Banks and State unclaimed property offices would receive guidance, developed with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, on how to return improper pandemic unemployment payments to the appropriate State agency.
- A federally led task force including Justice, Labor, Treasury, the FDIC, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau would set cost-effectiveness thresholds, standards for proving improper payments, and a framework to extend statute-of-limitations rules for CARES-funded unemployment fraud and improper payments.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
2 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 0 costs, 1 mixed.
New push to recover wrong jobless pay
If enacted, the Labor Department would name a National Recovery Coordinator and convene a federal task force within 30 days. The task force would work with states and banks to find pandemic unemployment payments on prepaid debit cards or in state unclaimed property. It would treat PUA, FPUC, MEUC, and PEUC as covered payments and define an improper payment as money you were not entitled to. The task force would issue guidance to banks and state unclaimed property offices on how to return improper payments, following state law. It would set model, cost‑effective review steps and fraud actions, and create a model notice with resources for identity‑theft victims. This would help identity‑theft victims, but it would also lead to more repayment actions for people found to have been overpaid.
States reimbursed for task force costs
If enacted, the Labor Department would repay states for administrative costs caused by working with the task force. Reimbursement would only cover work tied to CARES Act pandemic unemployment programs (PUA, FPUC/MEUC, and PEUC). This would help states handle paperwork and coordination costs.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Van Duyne, Beth [R-TX-24]
TX • R
Cosponsors
Rep. Suozzi, Thomas R. [D-NY-3]
NY • D
Sponsored 5/19/2026
Rep. Feenstra, Randy [R-IA-4]
IA • R
Sponsored 5/21/2026
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
View on Congress.gov