Stop Unemployment Fraud Act

This bill would require states to verify the identity of people applying for unemployment benefits, including requiring one valid government-issued ID and at least one supporting document. It would bar states from paying weekly benefits before a claimant is found eligible, and a claimant's own self-certification alone could not prove eligibility. Claimants would have to keep a weekly record of employers contacted and submit it to the state, which must verify it. The Secretary of Labor could withhold 5 percent of certain funds from states that do not comply with the identity or payment-timing rules. States that certify use of data-matching tools, such as checks against new-hire, prison, and death records, could keep up to 5 percent of recovered overpayments for fraud prevention and system upgrades.

Full text and official record on Congress.gov

Sponsors

• James Lankford Republican sponsor
• 4 cosponsors