Sponsors (3)
The bill increases transparency and oversight of improper payments—helping taxpayers and Congress detect and target waste—but it imposes new reporting costs and risks diverting agency resources away from program delivery.
Taxpayers and the public will receive clearer, program-level reporting of improper payments (amounts, rates, and three-year trends), improving transparency about waste and misuse.
Congress, budget reviewers, and state governments will get better program-level narratives and trend data that improve oversight and enable more targeted audits and resource allocation.
Federal agencies and managers will face greater accountability due to required disclosure of incomplete corrective actions and planned steps to reduce improper payments.
Federal agencies will face added reporting burdens and higher administrative costs to compile the detailed narratives and disclosures, potentially reducing funds for other activities.
Agencies may shift staff and budget toward compliance and reporting, which could reduce resources available for direct program services and harm beneficiaries.
Publicly disclosing detailed corrective-action shortcomings could reveal operational weaknesses, creating security or operational risks and forcing diversion of staff/time from service delivery to remediation.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires the President’s budget to include program-level improper payment trends, causes, and disclosure of incomplete corrective actions and planned fixes.
Requires the President’s annual budget submission to include standardized, program-level improper payment information for every executive agency program required to report under current improper payment law. Agencies must explain why improper payment amounts and rates occurred or changed over the prior three years and disclose incomplete corrective actions and planned steps to address ongoing improper payment problems. The change is procedural and transparency-focused: it amends the law governing the contents of the President’s budget to add a new, detailed improper payments disclosure intended to improve visibility into improper payment trends and agency remediation efforts.
Official title: Amend title 31, United States Code, to include information on improper payments under Federal programs, and for other purposes.
Introduced February 26, 2025 by John Peter Ricketts · Last progress February 26, 2025