Biden’s supercharged federal contracting pipeline targeted for freeze after bribery bust, undercover sting

By Fox News · Fox News

EXCLUSIVE: Republican Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, who chairs the Senate Small Business Committee, is urging 24 federal agencies to halt funding for a Biden-expanded program for "socially and economically disadvantaged" business owners now under fire for alleged fraud and corruption, Fox News Digital has learned. "Despite concerns with the 8(a) program, Joe Biden opened the floodgates to fraud," Ernst told Fox News Digital about the program. "I have found evidence of alarming, potentially fraudulent 8(a) awards made across government that need to be investigated. The program must be halted at every agency while a thorough review is conducted to ensure taxpayers are not being ripped off by con artists. Tax dollars designed to help small businesses must actually benefit all small businesses." The federal government's 8(a) program is an initiative under the Small Business Administration (SBA) to assist "socially and economically disadvantaged" small businesses, according to the agency's website, including training and counseling, and exclusive access to federal contracting opportunities. Ernst sent letters to the chiefs of 24 federal agencies that have established 8(a) programs — stretching from Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem — calling on them to halt funding amid fraud concerns. FEDERAL PROBE TARGETS ALLEGED MINNESOTA SOMALI FRAUD ‘NETWORK’ AS COVID-AID CRIME RINGS PERSIST "The SBA’s 8(a) program is the largest set-aside program at the agency, which dished out $40+ billion in contract awards during fiscal year 2024 (FY 24) alone," Ernst wrote in the letters. "Yet decades of Government Accountability Office (GAO), SBA’s Office of Inspector General, and DOJ probes expose the same rot. Sloppy oversight and weak enforcement measures allow 8(a) participants to act as pass-through entities, snagging unlimited no-bid deals with little transparency.4 Every loophole guts public trust and rigs the system against honest com…