Sponsor
Joshua David Hawley
Senator · R-MO
Senator · R-MO
Official title: Establish the Office of the Special Inspector General for Program Fraud, and for other purposes.
Introduced January 14, 2026 by Joshua David Hawley · Last progress January 14, 2026
The bill creates a temporary oversight office to improve accountability, transparency, and recoveries in child-assistance programs—benefiting families, administrators, and taxpayers—while imposing new compliance burdens, modest federal costs, and some privacy and continuity risks.
Parents and children who rely on federally funded child assistance programs will see stronger oversight aimed at reducing waste, fraud, and abuse, helping preserve program dollars for direct services.
State, local, and nonprofit program administrators will get clearer accountability standards, regular audits, and reporting requirements that can improve program integrity and public trust.
Taxpayers, Congress, and the public will receive more timely transparency on obligations and expenditures and potential recoveries from identified overpayments or DOJ referrals could return misspent funds to the Treasury or child-serving programs.
State, local, and private program partners will face increased compliance and reporting burdens to respond to audits, information requests, and quarterly reviews, which could divert staff time and resources from direct services.
Families and children served by these programs risk exposure of sensitive information through public disclosure requirements if redactions fail or are incomplete.
Taxpayers will face modest increased federal spending to establish and operate the temporary office (authorized at $10 million for FY2026 and $10 million for FY2027), adding to budget outlays.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Creates an independent Special Inspector General and office to audit, investigate, and prevent fraud in federally funded child assistance programs.
Creates an independent Office of the Special Inspector General for Program Fraud to audit, investigate, coordinate, and recommend actions to prevent, detect, and correct waste, fraud, and abuse in federally funded child assistance programs. The Special Inspector General (SIG) is a Presidential appointee (Senate-confirmed), paid at Executive Schedule IV, must be appointed within 30 days of enactment, and leads an office with auditing and investigative deputies that report to and keep relevant federal agency heads and Congress fully informed. The SIG has statutory independence to initiate, conduct, complete, and issue subpoenas in audits and investigations of covered child assistance funds; the office must appoint Assistant Inspectors General for Auditing and Investigations consistent with civil service rules and operates under defined removal and supervision rules to preserve investigative independence while coordinating with agency leadership.