Jason Smith: “I rise in support of the Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act. This bipartisan bill continues a bipartisan…”

“I rise in support of the Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act. This bipartisan bill continues a bipartisan policy that has already enabled the Federal Government to identify, prevent, and recover hundreds of millions of dollars of improper payments made to dead people. Currently, the Social Security Administration has temporary authority to share its death data with the Treasury Department's Do Not Pay Portal to identify, prevent, and recover improper payments. In its first year alone, Treasury reported this data exchange saved American taxpayers over $108 million. Unfortunately, Social Security's authority to share its data with Treasury is temporary and lapses at the end of this year if Congress doesn't pass this bill. That would only increase the likelihood that more taxpayer money is erroneously sent to dead people. In 2023 alone, before this policy was implemented, the Office of Management and Budget found the Federal Government sent $1.3 billion to dead people. That is unacceptable. The American people expect Congress to safeguard their hard-earned tax money from waste, fraud, and abuse.”