Since 2003, improper payments across the federal government have totaled more than $1.5 trillion
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Representatives Peter Meijer (R-MI) and Angie Craig (D-MN) today introduced bipartisan legislation to prevent wasteful and improper payments to deceased Americans. The bill orders the Social Security Administration (SSA) to rapidly and permanently shares its death data with the federal government’s “Do Not Pay” system.
The SS maintains detailed death records to prevent wasteful payments to deceased Americans who were previously enrolled as Social Security beneficiaries. However, the SSA has not historically shared this data across the federal government, which has resulted in tens of billions of dollars in improper payments each year.
In Fiscal Year 2019, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimated that improper payments throughout the federal government totaled $175 billion. Since 2003, when agencies were first directed to begin reporting improper payments, cumulative improper payment estimates across governments have totaled more than $1.5 trillion.
“Americans deserve accountability from their government agencies,” said Rep. Meijer. “Improper payments from the SSA result in a cost to taxpayers and erode the confidence we have in our federal programs. The GAO recommendations to help reduce improper payments are commonsense and would ensure proper stewardship of Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars. West Michiganders expect better from our federal agencies, and this bill takes a necessary step to reduce waste.”
“Every year, the federal government distributes billions of dollars in unnecessary and improper payments to Americans who have long since passed away – a staggering oversight that must be addressed,” said Rep. Craig. “Working families in Minnesota deserve to know that their hard-earned tax dollars are being used effectively and efficiently in Washington – not squandered to careless and wasteful mismanagement. I’m proud to introduce this legislation which would help to rapidly resolved this senseless oversight and save the American people tens of billions of dollars.”
In 2020, GAO recommended that Congress “provide the Department of the Treasury with access to the Social Security Administration's full set of death records, and to require that the Department of the Treasury consistently use it” to prevent improper payments – which cost the federal government an estimated $175 billion in Fiscal Year 2019. In 2020, Congress took a significant step toward addressing this oversight by passing legislation requiring the SSA to share its data. However, the bill’s enforcement was delayed until December 27, 2023 – and only mandated data sharing for a 3-year period. Rep. Meijer’s legislation seeks to strengthen that historic reform by ordering SSA to permanently share its full death data across the federal government before the end of 2022.
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