Morphing numerous bills into one giant legislative package is often a recipe for wasteful spending, but an anti-fraud measure from Senate DOGE Caucus Chairwoman Joni Ernst aims to save taxpayers $240 billion. In January, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., requested that Ernst, an Iowa Republican, draft a legislative package to prevent fraud cases similar to Minnesota’s $9 billion welfare scandal. This week, she released the Protecting American Taxpayers Act, which packages 17 anti-fraud bills introduced over the last year into one bill. Although overcoming a Democratic filibuster is a challenge to passing legislation, Ernst anticipates bipartisan support for her measure. “This is a package of a lot of different commonsense proposals,” Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, chairwoman of the Senate DOGE Caucus, told The Daily Signal. “Leader Thune wanted this package to include bills that had Democratic co-sponsors.” One specific bill included in the anti-fraud omnibus is legislation by Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., the ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which strengthens whistleblower protections for government contractors. While the welfare fraud scandal in Minnesota and hospice fraud in California have gained significant attention, fraud has been a longstanding problem in federal programs, according to the Government Accountability Office. The federal government loses between $233 billion and $521 billion per year to fraud, according to a GAO analysis of budget years 2018 through 2022. The GAO also found that since 2003, improper payments have totaled about $2.8 trillion. Earlier this year, President Donald Trump launched a Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, chaired by Vice President JD Vance. The task force aims to work with every agency to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within federal benefit programs. Republicans sponsored Peters’ measure and the 16 other bills rolled into Ernst’s package. Several bills also gained Democratic co-sponsors, including Ernst’s legislation from last year to claw back unused federal spending for the COVID-19 pandemic, which had reached more than $65 billion. About $1.4 billion in federal money is stolen through fraud, Ernst said. “I started my elected political career as a county auditor, and it’s still amazing to me that the federal government can’t adhere to basic accounting practices that state and local governments do,” Ernst said. Ernst’s package includes her bill requiring tax dollars hidden in budget line items listed as “Other Transaction Agreements” to be fully disclosed. Another proposal would extend statutes of limitations for COVID fraud cases to ensure criminals are caught and held accountable. The package would further prevent anyone convicted of defrauding the Small Business Administration from getting future SBA loans. There are also national security-related proposals in the package that could save money. The bill includes a provision banning federal funds from going to countries under U.S. travel bans or arms embargoes. It also prohibits cash assistance to Afghanistan to prevent Taliban access. Another provision in the bill would require individuals who want to conduct international wire transfers to certify that they do not receive public assistance. On Thursday, Republican Sens. Pete Ricketts of Nebraska, Roger Marshall of Kansas, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, John Cornyn of Texas, Jon Husted of Ohio, Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania, and James Lankford of Oklahoma issued statements in support of Ernst’s legislation. The White House Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, stopped making headlines after its efforts to trim the budget. But Ernst said the Senate DOGE Caucus is still very engaged in fighting waste, fraud, and abuse. She was also glad to see the White House take a whole-of-government approach to fighting fraud with the Vance-led task force. “We are thankful the vice president is the fraud czar,” Ernst said. She noted that, occasionally, the “star power” of Elon Musk or video footage from online figure Nick Shirley is needed to draw attention to the problem of fraud. “I’ve been working on fraud, waste, and abuse for 12 years since I was in the Senate. But sometimes we felt like we were spinning our wheels and the American people weren’t paying attention,” Ernst said. “Elon Musk gave star power to fighting waste, fraud, and abuse. Then Nick Shirley caught government waste on video, exposing what was happening to the American people.”