{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.ernst.senate.gov/news/press-releases/ernst-joins-vice-president-vance-white-house-task-force-to-wage-war-on-fraud", "Ernst Joins Vice President Vance, White House Task Force to Wage War on Fraud", "2026-08-05", "2026", "2026-08", "Republican", "Senate", "IA", "Joni Ernst", "E000295", "www.ernst.senate.gov", "ernst", "https://www.ernst.senate.gov/news/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 Today, Senate DOGE Caucus Chair Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) joined Vice President J.D. Vance and the White House Task Force to discuss how Republicans are putting fraudsters out of business.\n\nDownload more photos of Senator Ernst HERE\n\nDuring the roundtable, Ernst applauded Vice President Vance\u2019s leadership and how the Task Force has successfully clawed back billions of dollars:\n\n$22 billion in suspected fraudulent pandemic-era loans\n\n$6.3 billion in suspected fraudulent government contracts\n\n$600 million in suspected fraud by 447 hospice providers and 23 home health agencies\n\n$51.6 million in suspected avoided customs duties on gold alone\n\nErnst also highlighted her leadership of a comprehensive anti-fraud package, the Protecting American Taxpayers Act, which would return over $240 billion to taxpayers.\n\n\u201cBad actors have been scamming American taxpayers for far too long,\u201d said Ernst. \u201cFrom fake child care centers in Minnesota to incarcerated convicts collecting unemployment checks, fraud has become so pervasive that, if it were a government agency, the \u2018Department of Fraud\u2019 would rank as the fifth-largest federal department by spending. I\u2019m grateful for the leadership of Vice President Vance and the Trump administration for cracking down on fraud across the country and sending scammers to the slammer. Now, Congress must pass my anti-fraud package to protect taxpayers. Every single day we delay, fraudsters steal more than $1.4 billion.\u201d\n\nBackground:\n\nErnst has long led efforts to eliminate government waste and ensure taxpayer dollars are used responsibly. As chair of the Senate DOGE Caucus, she has continued her decades-long mission to expose waste, fraud, and abuse and advance reforms that hold Washington accountable.\n\nFor over a decade, Ernst has exposed wasteful government spending through her monthly \u201csqueal\u201d awards, highlighting examples of taxpayer dollars being misused and pushing for accountability across the federal government.\n\nOver the past year, Ernst has heard testimony from independent investigative journalist Nick Shirley about fraudulent child care services provided by Minnesota\u2019s Quality Learing Center and from investigative reporter Luke Rosiak about Ohio personal care companies that received financial support from the Small Business Administration.\n\n###", 1, "2026-08-06T07:37:31Z", "2026-08-06T07:38:34Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.ernst.senate.gov/news/press-releases/ernst-joins-vice-president-vance-white-house-task-force-to-wage-war-on-fraud"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4557563699781895, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}