COVID Fraud Transparency Act of 2026
Key claim: The COVID Fraud Transparency Act of 2026 would require the Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General to report quarterly to Congress for two years on the number, dollar amount, and disposition of fraud and suspected fraud cases involving COVID-19 relief loans such as Paycheck Protection Program loans.
Abstract
(HR826 · 119th Congress) COVID Fraud Transparency Act of 2026 This bill requires the Small Business Administration’s Office of Inspector General to report quarterly to Congress about fraud cases involving certain COVID-19 loans (e.g., Paycheck Protection Program loans). The report must include the number and total dollar amount of such loans, number of new cases of fraud and suspected fraud, number of fraud cases resolved, and types of such cases of fraud. The reporting requirements terminate two years after this bill is enacted. Latest action (2026-06-24): Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.
Why this matters
COVID-19 relief programs, especially PPP, generated an unprecedented volume of fraud referrals, and Congress has been layering oversight tools (statute-of-limitations extensions, assistance bars, unemployment-fraud recoveries) onto the SBA response. Time-limited quarterly OIG reporting would give Congress and the public a running scorecard on how many cases are being pursued, how much money is at stake, and how they are being resolved. For lenders and borrowers, the practical effect is heightened visibility into enforcement trends rather than any new substantive rule.