Breitbart News: Sen. Joni Ernst: $312 Million in COVID Aid Fraud to Children 11 Years Old and Under ‘Just the Tip of the Iceberg’

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) told Breitbart News that Congress should grant a special inspector general more authority to investigate the billions of dollars lost to coronavirus aid fraud.

A recent report from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) revealed that the Biden administration's Small Business Administration (SBA) approved 5,593 loans, totaling $312 million, for applicants where the sole listed owner was 11 years old or younger.

“While there are some legal business arrangements where this could be possible, it is highly improbable for all 5,593 cases—especially since each loan application also contained an SSN with a mismatched name,” DOGE stated. “@DOGE and @SBAgov are collaborating to resolve this issue within the week.”

From Breitbart News
Ernst, the chair of the Senate Small Business Committee and Senate DOGE chair, believes there is much more to uncover.

“As crazy as it sounds, hundreds of millions in COVID loans being awarded to kids under 11 with fake social security numbers is just the tip of the iceberg. My oversight efforts uncovered that $5.4 billion in COVID loans went to individuals using fraudulent social security numbers,” she said in a statement to Breitbart News.

SBA head Kelly Loeffler and Ernst have sought to uncover more than $200 billion in coronavirus aid fraud, which was revealed by a June 2023 SBA Office of Inspector General (SBA OIG) report.