Prosecutors need more time to deal with pandemic fraud. A top senator says Democrats are blocking a bill to give it to them.

• The deadline is approaching for prosecutors to file fraud charges related to $43 billion in pandemic aid spending. • Senator Joni Ernst says her Democratic counterpart is blocking a bill to give them five more years. • Watchdogs previously flagged the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant and a restaurant bailout fund.

The top Republican on the Senate Small Business Committee said Democrats are blocking a measure to give federal prosecutors more time to investigate bailouts for restaurants and the live-entertainment industry.

Senator Joni Ernst said Senator Ed Markey is holding up her bill that would give investigators until at least 2031 to file charges for defrauding the $28.6 billion Restaurant Revitalization Fund or the $14.5 billion Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program.

"We are