{"id":4892,"date":"2026-09-07T20:38:58","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T20:38:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/?p=4892"},"modified":"2026-09-07T20:38:58","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T20:38:58","slug":"house-passes-bill-to-curb-fraudulent-federal-payments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/?p=4892","title":{"rendered":"House Passes Bill to Curb Fraudulent Federal Payments"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation this week aimed at strengthening safeguards against improper and fraudulent federal payments, approving the Stopping Fraudulent Payments Act by a 218-200 vote.<\/em>\u00a0The measure, introduced by House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.), seeks to reform the longstanding \u201cpay and chase\u201d system in which agencies issue payments before verifying eligibility, often resulting in costly and incomplete recovery efforts. Under the bill, federal agencies would gain authority to pause, condition, or segment suspicious payments when data indicates elevated risk of fraud or error. The U.S. Treasury Department would also be empowered to return flagged requests for additional review using tools such as the Do Not Pay database.<\/p>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-2\">\n<div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"2006183\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cCongress must take further action to stop fraud before it happens,\u201d Chairman Comer said on the House floor. \u201cThe Stopping Fraudulent Payments Act adds critical safeguards to ensure federal payments go to the right recipient in the right amount before funds are awarded or disbursed.\u201d Government Accountability Office estimates place improper payments at $186 billion in fiscal year 2025, a $24 billion increase from the previous year. Cumulative improper payments since 2003 have approached $3 trillion, according to oversight findings.<\/p>\n<h2>Impact on Federal Programs<\/h2>\n<p>These losses affect taxpayer-funded programs including Social Security, Medicare, and various welfare initiatives. House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-Texas), an original cosponsor, emphasized the need for accountability as large sums flow to state and local governments. \u201cEvery dollar must be safeguarded against waste, fraud, and abuse,\u201d he stated. The legislation builds on oversight investigations that have highlighted vulnerabilities in federal programs.<\/p>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-3\">\n<div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"2006187\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>It forms part of a broader package of 11 Oversight Committee bills addressing issues ranging from student aid fraud to improper payments across agencies. Democrats largely opposed the measure, with nearly all voting against it and only a small number crossing party lines. The bill now advances to the Senate.<\/p>\n<h2>Path Forward<\/h2>\n<p>Supporters frame the effort as consistent with broader initiatives to improve government efficiency, including the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud and the Department of Government Efficiency. The legislation aims to shift from reactive recovery to proactive prevention, directing limited resources toward eligible recipients while reducing losses to fraudsters and ineligible claimants.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation this week aimed at strengthening safeguards against improper and fraudulent federal payments, approving the Stopping Fraudulent Payments Act by a 218-200 vote.\u00a0The &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4893,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4892"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4894,"href":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4892\/revisions\/4894"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}