S. 68, Complete COVID Collections Act

Bill Summary

S. 68 would extend the statute of limitations from 5 years to 10 years for federal criminal and civil enforcement of fraud related to programs of the Federal Reserve and the Small Business Administration (SBA) that were created in response to the coronavirus public health emergency. Under current law, the statute of limitations expires in 2025 for the Federal Reserve’s Main Street Loan Program (MSLP) and in 2026 for the SBA’s pandemic-related grant programs. The bill also would reauthorize the office of the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery (SIGPR) through the end of September 2030 to investigate fraud related to MSLP loans and would expand the inspector general’s jurisdiction to include fraud associated with the SBA’s programs. SIGPR’s authority to operate ended in March 2025. Finally, S. 68 would require the SBA to refer delinquent pandemic-related loans with balances below $100,000 to the Department of the Treasury for collection.

Estimated Federal Cost

The estimated budgetary effect of S. 68 is shown in Table 1. The costs of the legislation fall within budget function 370 (commerce and housing credit).

Basis of Estimate

CBO assumes that S. 68 will be enacted in the first few months of calendar year 2026.

Background

In 2020, the Federal Reserve established the MSLP to facilitate lending during the pandemic by purchasing 85 percent to 95 percent of each eligible loan extended by a private bank or other federally regulated and supervised lender to certain businesses and nonprofits. The program supported more than 1,800 loans totaling $17.5 billion.

In 2020 and 2021, in response to the public health emergency, the Congress provided about $1 trillion in funding for the SBA to provide loans and grants to small businesses. The agency’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) provided low-interest loans to cover payroll costs and certain other expenses; most of those loans were later forgiven. Funds also were made available through the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program and emergency EIDL advances, the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF), and the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) program.

The SIGPR was established by the Congress in 2020 to monitor the MSLP, conduct audits and investigations, and prepare quarterly reports. Those responsibilities focused on identifying instances of fraud within the MSLP loan program. Under current law, that authority expired in March 2025.

Direct Spending and Revenues

CBO estimates that enacting S. 68 would decrease direct spending by $6 million over the 2026-2035 period and that the bill would increase revenues by less than $500,000 over the same period.

Statutes of Limitations. S. 68 would extend the statutes of limitations from 5 years to 10 years for criminal and civil fraud enforcement related to the MSLP, RRF, and SVOG. Under current law, the statute of limitations expires in 2025 for the MSLP and in 2026 for the RRF and SVOG programs, although the federal government can continue to recover improper payments under a separate statute.[1] Under the bill, the statutes of limitations for criminal and civil fraud enforcement actions for those programs would be extended through 2030 and 2031, respectively.

Based on recoveries in recent years of fraudulently paid amounts under those programs, CBO expects that under the bill the agencies would prevail in about 30 additional cases stemming mostly from SBA’s RRF and SVOG programs and would recover about $200,000 from each case, or about 50 percent of the average grant amount. That expectation takes into account various factors including that the fraud cases that are easiest to resolve have already been settled and that the more time that elapses from when the fraud was committed, the more difficult it is for the federal government to recover those funds. On that basis, CBO estimates that those recoveries, which are recorded as reductions in direct spending, would total $6 million over the 2026-2035 period.

Additionally, individuals who received fraudulent amounts could be subject to civil monetary penalties, which are recorded as revenues. Because only small amounts of civil monetary penalties have been collected as a result of prosecutions related to the pandemic-related programs in the bill, CBO anticipates that any increases in the future collections of penalties resulting from the longer statutes of limitations would be insignificant. On that basis, CBO estimates that enacting the bill would increase revenues by less than $500,000 over the 2026‑2035 period.

Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery. S. 68 would extend the operations of the SIGPR until 2030, allowing investigations of fraud involving loans made by the Department of the Treasury to continue. Under the bill, the SIGPR also would be directed to pursue fraud cases for SBA’s pandemic-related loan and grant programs. CBO expects that those provisions would result in increased assessments of penalties and larger amounts recovered.

Under scorekeeping guidelines agreed to by the executive and legislative branches, CBO does not attribute any changes in direct spending or revenues that result from provisions of additional administrative or program management activities to the costs associated with a piece of legislation.[2] Although extending the authority of the SIGPR under the bill would result in decreases in direct spending and increases in revenue from recoveries and collections of civil monetary penalties, CBO has not estimated those effects.

Collections on Delinquent Loans. Section 5 would require the SBA to refer delinquent EIDL and PPP loans with balances below $100,000 to the Department of the Treasury for collection. Under current law, the SBA is already referring such loans according to timelines and procedures outlined in the Debt Collection Improvement Act.

Using information from the SBA and the department, CBO expects that the transfer required by S. 68 would not result in any change in collection procedures relative to current law and therefore would not affect the magnitude or timing of amounts recovered.

Spending Subject to Appropriation

CBO estimates that implementing the bill’s provisions would cost $16 million over the 2026-2030 period; any related spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.

The bulk of those costs would be for the SIGPR to pursue fraud cases related to Treasury lending and the SBA’s pandemic-related programs over the 2026-2030 period. Over the past five years, costs for the SIGPR’s operations have averaged about $12 million annually. Those costs include overhead and employment costs averaging $600,000 each for 20 full-time SIGPR employees. CBO estimates that in future years SIGPR’s caseload would be 85 percent lower on average because many cases have already been resolved and fewer cases remain. As such, it would need 3 full-time employees to carry out the work. After accounting for anticipated inflation, CBO estimates that reauthorizing the SIGPR until 2030 would cost $10 million over the 2026-2030 period.

Using information from the SBA, CBO expects that the agency would incur annual costs of $750,000, on average, to implement the bill’s provisions. Those costs include those for three full-time employees, averaging $185,000 each, to coordinate and share data with the SIGPR and $200,000 for other costs. After accounting for anticipated inflation, CBO estimates that SBA’s costs to implement the bill would total $4 million over the 2026-2030 period.

CBO also expects that the Department of Justice (DOJ) would incur costs to investigate and prosecute new fraud cases and that the Department of the Treasury would incur costs to pursue and collect payments on delinquent loans. The bill also would require DOJ to report monthly on the number of fraud prosecutions and on amounts recovered. CBO estimates that the cost for those activities would total $2 million over the 2026-2030 period.

Uncertainty

CBO’s estimate of S. 68 is subject to uncertainty. The additional recoveries and civil monetary penalties that would be collected under the bill depend on actions related to cases of fraud identified for the MSLP and the SBA’s pandemic-related programs. The number of cases that will be prosecuted under current law or under the bill is uncertain, as is the share of recoveries and ordered penalties that the government will actually collect. Finally, the amounts recovered could be larger or smaller than CBO estimates. The actual total would depend on the number of actions attributable to extending the statute of limitations and the amounts collected as a result.

Pay-As-You-Go Considerations

The Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 establishes budget-reporting and enforcement procedures for legislation affecting direct spending or revenues. The net changes in the deficit that are subject to those pay-as-you-go procedures are shown in Table 1.

Increase in Long-Term Net Direct Spending and Deficits

CBO estimates that enacting S. 68 would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2036.

Mandates

The bill contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.

Estimate Prepared By

Federal Costs: Jon Sperl and Aurora Swanson

Revenues: 
Nathaniel Frentz
Ellen Steele

Mandates: Rachel Austin

Estimate Reviewed By

Justin Humphrey
Chief, Finance, Housing, and Education Cost Estimates Unit

Joshua Shakin
Chief, Revenue Projections Unit

Kathleen FitzGerald 
Chief, Public and Private Mandates Unit

H. Samuel Papenfuss 
Deputy Director of Budget Analysis

Estimate Approved By