Sessions & Mfume Request GAO Examine $2.7 Trillion in Improper Payments and Provide Anti-Fraud Recommendations

WASHINGTON—Subcommittee on Government Operations and the Federal Workforce Chairman Pete Sessions (R-Texas) and Ranking Member Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.) are advancing bipartisan oversight to tackle improper payments and fraud in federal government programs. In a letter to the Comptroller General at the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) Gene Dodaro, they request information on how federal agencies are identifying root causes of improper payments and implementing corrective actions and ask GAO to provide recommendations to help reduce improper payments across federal agencies.

“The Subcommittee on Government Operations and the Federal Workforce recently held its third hearing related to improper payments and fraud in the federal government. The goal of that hearing was to discuss agencies’ progress preventing improper payments and fraud in the federal government’s lifesaving programs,” wrote the lawmakers. “The Subcommittee seeks to continuously evaluate whether agencies are getting better or worse at ensuring the levels of fraud seen during the pandemic will “never happen again.”  Unfortunately, because of limited or unreliable information maintained by federal agencies, the Subcommittee has been unable to adequately assess agencies’ progress.”

The Subcommittee on Government Operations and the Federal Workforce recently held a hearing where the GAO highlighted improper payments and fraud across government, totaling $2.7 trillion in improper payments since 2003. Witness testimonies at prior hearings made clear that continuing to do the same things to address improper payments is not fully addressing a long-term problem. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has identified a list of high priority programs, which are those with the highest dollar value or rate of improper payments or those with the highest risk of improper payments. 

“Federal law requires [high priority] programs report information such as the root causes of their improper payments, mitigation strategies, and corrective action measures. However, the amount of improper payments within these programs continues to grow,” continued the lawmakers. “We ask that GAO regularly update Subcommittee staff on the progress of this review and provide periodic briefings on known practices that have helped prevent improper payments and fraud.”

Read the letter to Comptroller Dodaro here.