Kendra S. Horn: “Mr. Speaker, each year the Federal Government wastes countless billions of dollars on improper payments. I say…”

“Mr. Speaker, each year the Federal Government wastes countless billions of dollars on improper payments. I say ``countless billions'' because we do not know the magnitude of the problem. Incredible as it might seem, Federal agencies are not required by law to calculate how much money they spend improperly. What we do know is that improper payments are a very serious problem in the Federal Government, based on the few voluntary estimates that some agencies submit for a handful of programs. The General Accounting Office... says that there is $20 billion in improper payments annually. The Office of Management and Budget recently updated the annual figure to about $33 billion of improper payments. Staggering as these amounts are, they likely represent only the tip of a very enormous iceberg. For example, the Department of Health and Human Services reported making improper payments of more than $12 billion in its Medicare fee-for-service program last year, but the Department does not even attempt to estimate improper payments made in the Medicaid program. The obvious first step toward reducing this outrageous waste of taxpayers' money is to understand the extent of the problem.”