You were the victim of a crime over the past five years. We all were. And today, the person who committed that crime is about to get away with it.

That’s because this March, the five-year statute of limitations on COVID-era fraud prosecution is set to expire. Criminals are about to walk away with hundreds of billions of dollars, and Congress has just weeks to make a simple fix to demand accountability.

Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) has introduced legislation to extend the statute of limitations on these crimes from five years to 10. This same extension was already passed in 2022 for fraud in two other COVID programs, and allowing this reform to cover unemployment fraud already has the support of prosecutors and senior Republicans.

But if Congress fails to act, criminals will walk away with as much as $135 billion in government checks the recipients aren’t eligible for. That’s more than the entire budgets of 48 states, and twice the annual spending of the State Department. It’s more money than Bank of America, Target or AT&T make in a year.

State unemployment programs have

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