James Comer in the 119th Congress. Mr. COMER. Madam Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 1345, I call up the bill (H.R. 8464) to amend title 31, United States Code, to authorize pausing and segmenting payments, and
Full text
Mr. COMER. Madam Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 1345, I call up the bill (H.R. 8464) to amend title 31, United States Code, to authorize pausing and segmenting payments, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 1345, the amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, printed in the bill, is adopted, and the bill, as amended, is considered read.
The text of the bill, as amended, is as follows:
H.R. 8464
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Stopping Fraudulent Payments
Act”.
SEC. 2. AUTHORITY TO PAUSE PAYMENTS FOR FURTHER REVIEW AND
CORRECTIVE ACTION.
(a) Treasury Payment Voucher Waiver Authority.—
(1) Amendment.—Subchapter II of chapter 33 of title 31,
United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the
following:
“Sec. 3337. Authority to pause payments for further review
and corrective action
“(a) Agency Obligation to Pause Disbursement Requests for
Corrective Action.—The head of an agency shall take a
corrective action to temporarily delay, condition, or segment
a disbursement request before the certification of a payment
voucher under section 3325 if, as determined by an official
designated by the head of the agency, the agency—
“(1) has sufficient reason to determine that the payment
presents an elevated risk of fraud based on a fraud-risk
indicator or an improper payment resulting in financial loss
to the Government as estimated under the requirements of
section 3352 in accordance with the statutorily-defined
eligibility requirements or other legally-established
condition of the program for a payee to be eligible to
receive payment;
“(2) has sufficient reason to determine, based on a
notification by the relevant State or local government
official in the case of a payment from Federal funds
disbursed by a State or local government under a State-
administered and federally-funded program, that the payment
presents an elevated risk of fraud based on a fraud-risk
indicator or an improper payment resulting in financial loss
to the Government as estimated under the requirements of
section 3352 in accordance with the statutorily-defined
eligibility requirements or other legally-established
condition of the program for a payee to be eligible to
receive payment; or
“(3) has been notified of an order from the Secretary of
the Treasury described under subsection (b).
“(b) Treasury Obligation to Return Payment Voucher and
Issue Corrective Action Order.—Except where otherwise
required by
law, the Secretary shall promptly notify the relevant
certifying official of an order to return a certified payment
voucher submitted to a disbursing official under section 3325
and issue a corrective action order to the head of an agency
not later than 2 days after the Secretary makes a
determination that in accordance with the statutorily-defined
eligibility requirements or other legally-established
condition of the program for a payee to be eligible to
receive payment that such payment presents an elevated risk
of fraud based on a fraud-risk indicator or an improper
payment resulting in financial loss to the Government based
on an output of the Do Not Pay system under section 3354.
“(c) Agency Documentation and Time-limited Corrective
Action.—An action taken by the head of an agency under
subsection (a) shall—
“(1) be based on an objective, documented fraud-risk
indicator;
“(2) be narrowly applied to the portion of the payment
presenting the elevated risk; and
“(3) be limited in duration to the minimum period
necessary, as determined by the head of the agency, to verify
eligibility of the payee or accuracy of the payment per any
program requirement associated with the payment or as
stipulated under law.
“(d) Payee Notification and Time Limit of Paused
Disbursement Requests.—With respect to a disbursement
request that has been delayed, conditioned, or segmented
pursuant to subsection (a) or a payment voucher that is
returned pursuant subsection (b), the head of the agency
shall take the following actions:
“(1) Promptly provide to the payee (not later than 2 days
after a determination under subsection (a) or a notification
to the agency under subsection (b)), as appropriate, and for
a case in which the payment from Federal funds disbursed by a
State or local government under a State-administered and
federally-funded program also provides to such relevant State
or local government official, a notification that—
“(A) a disbursement has been temporarily paused,
conditioned, or segmented;
“(B) identifies the nature of the fraud-risk indicator or
improper payment relied upon by the agency to make the
corrective action determination under subsection (a) or
notification to the agency under subsection (b); and
“(C) outlines the process for the corrective action review
period.
“(2) Use a process tailored to the specific requirements
and design of the agency program for a payee, or the State or
local government described under paragraph (1), to contest
any factual inaccuracy or provide clarifying information
during the corrective action review period.
“(3) Issue such payment not later than 30 days after a
determination to take a corrective action is made by the head
of the agency under subsection (a) or the agency was notified
by the Secretary under subsection (b) of a corrective action
order, but not later than 7 days after the date on which the
payee contests the corrective action under the process
established pursuant to paragraph (2), if the head of the
agency determines that the payment does not present an
elevated risk of fraud or an improper payment resulting in
financial loss to the Government.
“(e) Segmentation of Low-risk Payments.—To the maximum
extent practicable, the head of each agency shall allow a
routine, historically consistent payment amount to proceed
while temporarily holding an anomalous, unusually large, or
high-risk portion of a payment, or class of payments, pending
review and resolution of an agency corrective action
determination under subsection (a) or a corrective action
order under subsection (b).
“(f) Exemptions for Law Enforcement Activities.—The head
of an agency, in consultation with the Secretary and the
Attorney General, may waive any provision in this section on
a case-by-case basis if notified of or instructed by a
Federal law enforcement authority, including an agency
Inspector General, that the action will jeopardize an active
criminal investigation or legal proceeding related to an
effort to defraud the Federal Government or violate sections
3729 through 3733 of title 31 (commonly known as the `False
Claims Act').
“(g) Limitation of Liability.—No officer or employee of
the Federal Government shall be personally liable for an
action taken in good faith under this section. An action
taken under this section may not constitute a final
determination of eligibility, liability, or wrongdoing on the
part of a payee.
“(h) Rule of Construction for Program Authorizing
Statute.—Nothing in this section may be construed to
supersede any other provision of law with respect to any
statute that authorizes the payment or program the payment is
made under.
“(i) Regulations.—Not later than 180 days after the date
of the enactment of this section, and annually thereafter,
the Secretary, in consultation with the Director, shall issue
regulations and establish procedures to administer the
requirements of this section that shall be published in the
Federal Register that, at a minimum, specify the following:
“(1) The minimum seniority of an agency official
designated under subsection (a) authorized to make a
determination to issue a corrective action.
“(2) The procedures by which the Secretary of the Treasury
will use the Do Not Pay system under section 3354 to make a
determination under subsection (b) in accordance with the
statutorily-defined eligibility requirements or other
legally-established condition of a program for a payee to be
eligible to receive payment.
“(3) The procedure for an agency to dispute an order to
return a certified payment voucher and appeal a related
corrective action order under subsection (b) to the Fiscal
Assistant Secretary, which shall at a minimum include a
requirement for the agency to receive a response not later
than five days after making such a dispute or appeal to the
Department of the Treasury.
“(4) The minimum information requirements of a
notification required under subsection (d)(1).
“(j) Definitions.—In this section:
“(1) Director.—The term `Director' means the Director of
the Office of Management and Budget.
“(2) Fraud-risk indicator.—The term `fraud-risk
indicator' means an objective data point or analytic signal
that indicates an anomalous payment pattern or increase in
the volume of a payment amount, a verified data mismatch,
network or behavioral anomaly, or match identified by the Do
Not Pay system under section 3354 and any payment, account,
or payee validation program or service administered by the
Secretary that would result in financial loss to the
Government.
“(3) Routine, historically consistent payment amount.—The
term `routine, historically consistent payment amount' means
a payment amount that is consistent with previous payment
history of the payee, established program use patterns, or
other objective benchmarks determined by the certifying
agency.
“(4) Secretary.—The term `Secretary' means the Secretary
of the Treasury.”.
(2) Technical and conforming amendment.—The table of
sections for chapter 33 of title 31, United States Codes, is
amended by inserting after the item for section 3336 the
following:
“3337. Authority to pause payments for further review and corrective
action.”.
(b) Requirements and Authorities of Payment Disbursing
Officials.—Paragraph (3) of section 3325(a) of title 31,
United States Code, is amended—
(1) by inserting “, compliance with an order to pause a
payment pursuant to section 3337(b),” after “except for the
correctness of computations on a voucher”; and
(2) by striking “,,” and inserting a comma.
(c) Relief of Accountable Officers.—Section 3527 of title
31, United States Code, is amended—
(1) in subsection (a)(2), by inserting after “the loss or
deficiency was not the result of an illegal or incorrect
payment” the following: “, or was made as a result of a
good faith effort to comply with the requirements of section
3337”; and
(2) in subsection (b)(1)(A)(ii), by inserting after “the
loss or deficiency was not the result of an illegal or
incorrect payment” the following: “, or was made as a
result of a good faith effort to comply with the requirements
of section 3337”.
(d) Requirements and Authorities of Payment Certifying
Officials.—Subsection (a) of section 3528 of title 31,
United States Code, is amended—
(1) in paragraph (4)(C), by striking “; and” and
inserting a semicolon;
(2) in paragraph (5), by striking the period at the end and
inserting “; and”; and
(3) by adding at the end the following
“(6) complying with an order to take a corrective action
to temporarily delay, condition, or segment a disbursement
request pursuant to section 3337.”.
(e) Relief of Certifying Officials.—Subsection (b)(1) of
section 3528 of title 31, United States Code—
(1) in subparagraph (A), by striking “; or” and inserting
a semicolon;
(2) in subparagraph (B)(iii), by striking the period at the
end and inserting “; or”; and
(3) by inserting at the end the following new subparagraph:
“(C) the certification was made as a result of a good
faith effort to comply with the requirements of section
3337.”.
(f) Report on Results of Payments Paused for Further Review
and Corrective Action.—Not later than 18 months after the
date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter,
the Secretary of the Treasury shall submit to the Director of
the Office of Management and Budget, the Committees on
Appropriations of the Senate and the House of
Representatives, the Committee on Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs of the Senate, and the Committee on
Oversight and Government Reform of the House of
Representatives, a report on the following:
(1) The total number of orders to return a certified
payment voucher submitted to a disbursing official under
section 3325 of title 31, United States Code, and corrective
action orders issued to the head of an agency under the
authorities provided by section 3337(b) of such title, as
added by this section.
(2) The percentage of such payments that are issued by the
agency, including by successful contestations filed by the
recipient or payee with the agency, and recommendations to
mitigate such errors in the fraud-risk indicators of the
Department of the Treasury in the future.
(3) The total savings to the Federal Government in payments
determined to be fraudulent or result in financial loss to
the Government under the authorities provided by subsections
(a) and (b) of section 3337 of title 31, United States Code,
as added by this section.
(4) Any necessary policy, regulatory, or legislative
recommendations related to the authorities and requirements
under section of section 3337 of title 31, United States
Code, as added by this section, or other relevant law.
(g) Effective Date.—The amendments made by this section
shall take effect 1 year after the date of the enactment of
this Act.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The bill, as amended, shall be debated for 1 hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform or their respective designees.
The gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Comer) and the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Walkinshaw) each will control 30 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Comer).
General Leave
Mr. COMER. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the measure under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Kentucky?
There was no objection.
Mr. COMER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Government is estimated to lose between $233 billion and $521 billion annually to fraud across all Federal programs and operations.
Earlier this week, we exposed how criminals stole $9 billion in Minnesota's social services programs while senior State officials, including Governor Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison, did absolutely nothing to stop it.
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This is just the tip of the iceberg. Whether in Minnesota, California's hospice system, or Medicaid waiver programs in Ohio or New York, one thing is clear: Fraudsters will keep stealing taxpayer dollars until they are stopped.
fraud, and abuse by establishing the White House Task Force to eliminate fraud.
Minnesota's rampant fraud to the Department of Justice for investigation.
Congress must take further action to stop fraud before it happens.
ensure Federal payments go to the right recipient in the right amount before funds are awarded or disbursed.
payments and prevent fraud across Federal financial assistance and public benefit programs.
cannot stop it. It is required to process the payments agencies request.
from Treasury's Do Not Pay system or other tools that might indicate an elevated risk of fraud.
H.R. 8464 addresses the status quo by requiring agencies to conduct fraud prevention activities prior to issuing payment requests. The bill gives Treasury the authority to halt and return payments flagged for fraud risk so agencies can review and correct them before issued.
money is being paid to the right recipient and for the right amount while preserving the ownership of a program's administration within the appropriate Federal agency as authorized by law.
a legitimate recipient's identity is being stolen and used for fraudulent activities by criminals.
with elevated fraud risk, Treasury will summarize the number of returned payments, corrective outcome, and associated cost savings achieved under the requirements of this bill. This ensures Congress has regular oversight of these reforms.
dollars from being stolen by fraudsters while maintaining the integrity of Federal programs.
Madam Speaker, I call on each of my House colleagues to support H.R. 8464 to protect taxpayer dollars from falling into the hands of criminals and fraudsters.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. WALKINSHAW. Madam Speaker, I yield myself 5 minutes.
issue, and preventing the misuse of government funds should be a priority shared by Democrats and Republicans alike.
from taxpayers, deprive our most vulnerable neighbors of lifesaving services, and undermine the public's trust in government.
if not impossible, to claw back payments after they have been delivered to a fraudster. There is no doubt the Federal Government must do more to address this problem.
antifraud measures, including the Pre-Payment Fraud Prevention and Treasury Data Access Act, which seeks to add additional payment verification before checks are sent out the door.
the House will continue to fight waste, fraud, and abuse in the Federal Government. However, the bill before us is flawed and does not constitute a good-faith effort to detect and prevent fraud.
H.R. 8464, the Stopping Fraudulent Payments Act, would give the Trump administration a blank check to cut off entitlements and grants to any entity or individual it disfavors with few guardrails. It would allow the Treasury Department to significantly delay funding if it decides there is sufficient reason that a payment carries an elevated risk of fraud.
target funding to State and local governments, university research grants, transportation funding, Pell grants, NIH grants, and even FEMA assistance.
Americans are struggling to put food on the table, gas in the tank, and to access the healthcare they need. For millions of families, Federal assistance, healthcare, food assistance, and Social Security is the only thing standing between them and financial ruin.
a blind eye to the political interference and weaponization carried out by this administration.
Just last month, it suspended $1.3 billion in Medicaid payments to California, which will harm nearly a million elderly and disabled residents.
In January, the Department of Health and Human Services froze $10 billion in funding for essential needs across five States led by Democratic Governors. Meanwhile, not one State led by Republicans has been targeted.
agree is important. That is why House Democrats supported the Pre- Payment Fraud Prevention and Treasury Data Access Act earlier this week, a bipartisan bill to ensure we check the Do Not Pay list and catch improper payments before they go out the door.
safeguards and will endanger millions of Americans who rely on critical programs for healthcare, food, and rent.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. COMER. Madam Speaker, let me translate that 5 minutes of gibberish from my colleague.
They don't care about fraud. When you do find fraud, like we found in Minnesota and California, they don't want to cut off the money. They want the money to keep going so the fraudsters can stay in business. That is why we have to support this bill.
Ms. BOEBERT. Madam Speaker, I strongly support H.R. 8464, the Stopping Fraudulent Payments Act.
puts an end to the reckless pay-and-chase scam that has drained billions from hardworking American families.
checkbook for fraudsters. They cut the checks first, ask the questions later while American taxpayers foot the bill for waste, abuse, and outright theft.
H.R. 8464 empowers Federal agencies and the Department of the Treasury to pause, condition, or segment suspicious payments before the money flies out the door. It uses objective fraud risk indicators from the Do Not Pay system and requires any action to be narrow, temporary, and focused solely on verifying eligibility. No more blank checks and no more playing defense after fraud has already happened.
protecting every hard-earned dollar from the American people. This bill delivers exactly that.
ensuring benefits go to eligible Americans, not scammers and fraud rings.
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Mr. WALKINSHAW. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Bell).
Mr. BELL. Madam Speaker, no one in this Chamber disputes that improper and fraudulent payments are a serious problem. The question before us is not whether to fight fraud; it is how we fight fraud.
If this bill actually does that—and I will give you a hint: It does not. The Stopping Fraudulent Payments Act allows agency officials to block payments whenever they have sufficient reason to believe there is an elevated risk of fraud.
As a former prosecutor and public defender in St. Louis, I know firsthand what fraud accountability looks like. It starts with evidence, not suspicion.
programs it opposes or in States it disfavors, using fraud as a pretext, allowing Trump to target States that disagree with him.
who cannot absorb it. These are patients on Medicaid, our seniors on Social Security, working families relying on SNAP, some of the most marginalized of our American brothers and sisters.
Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to oppose this bill.
Mr. COMER. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. WALKINSHAW. Madam Speaker, I yield myself 2 minutes.
described my statement as gibberish. Perhaps to him the details of the programs and the legislation are gibberish, but it is not to me.
produces a false positive—in other words, how often the Do Not Pay list says someone shouldn't get paid when actually they are perfectly legitimate.
Mr. COMER. Madam Speaker, I know only 4 percent of government agencies are utilizing the Do Not Pay list, which—
Mr. WALKINSHAW. Madam Speaker, I am reclaiming my time.
agency that has been under assault by this administration. It is estimated that 10,000 times a year, Social Security falsely declares somebody dead.
Imagine that. You wake up one morning, and your own government says you are dead. It happens oftentimes because States send bad information to the Social Security Administration.
Security and this body make improvements in that process. They have requested additional funding, which this majority has denied, that would improve that process and prevent some of those false positives.
declared by their government to be dead even worse, because if the government says you are dead, you don't get your Social Security checks.
to go call Social Security, get into an office, and try to get an appointment with an agency that has been decimated by DOGE—I know that my constituents tell me every day that they call Social Security offices and can't get anyone to answer the phone because folks have been fired and pushed out.
declared dead each year from getting their Social Security checks. That is just one of the problems.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
Mr. WALKINSHAW. Madam Speaker, I yield myself an additional 1 minute.
is fraudulent, they get it wrong. There are a lot of false positives on the Do Not Pay list.
Not Pay list is actually getting the fraudsters, not the law-abiding Americans who deserve their Social Security checks. It would make it a lot harder for all of our constituents to get the money they deserve when the government makes a mistake.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. COMER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Washington solution to every problem. Whether it is fraud prevention or whatever, it is to hire more government employees and create a bigger government bureaucracy.
not to hold a payment with the agency. The agency ultimately interprets the results of Do Not Pay.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. WALKINSHAW. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. McGarvey).
Mr. McGARVEY. Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R. 8464.
Last year, Donald Trump froze $9 million intended for Serve Kentucky. Congress set aside that money for housing, hunger relief, education, and disaster relief in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The White House called that money waste and fraud. I have seen Serve Kentucky's work firsthand. President Trump might not like a program that brings food to seniors or new books to kids, but that doesn't make it fraud.
I agree with my Republican colleagues: No one wants waste or fraud from our taxpayer dollars. Congress must take a hard look at waste and fraud in our government.
Let's start with Donald Trump's ballroom. The President destroyed the White House and then said: Let me build a gaudy, billion-dollar ballroom that looks like it should hold slot machines, not State dinners.
tech and tobacco companies, defense contractors, and dozens more individuals and companies that do business with and profit from the Federal Government and your tax dollars.
recommit this bill back to committee. If the House rules permitted, I would have offered the motion with an important amendment to this bill.
White House provides a list of every person who has donated to the White House ballroom.
amendment into the Record immediately prior to the vote on the motion to recommit.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Kentucky?
There was no objection.
Mr. McGARVEY. Madam Speaker, I hope my colleagues will join me in voting for the motion to recommit.
Mr. COMER. Madam Speaker, I have no further speakers. I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. WALKINSHAW. Madam Speaker, as I have said today, preventing fraud should be a priority for all of us, but this bill gives the Department of the Treasury far too much arbitrary authority to prevent critical Federal assistance from reaching Americans in need in a timely manner.
support legislation like the eight suspension bills we considered earlier this week to combat fraud, but this bill misses the mark.
Mr. COMER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close.
Madam Speaker, these bills we have debated today, H.R. 8312 and H.R. 8464, should be considered in the broader context of the committee's legislative work on fraud prevention and financial integrity reforms.
integrity reform bills that we originally passed out of the Oversight Committee that will safeguard taxpayer dollars from fraudsters and cheats.
Oversight Committee is preventing fraudulent payments from going out the door, equipping the Federal workforce to fight fraud, protecting taxpayer dollars during national emergencies, reforming agency financial leadership roles to improve agency financial performance, and launching sweeping oversight work at the Government Accountability Office over State administration of federally funded programs.
These governmentwide fraud prevention reforms are long overdue. They will safeguard our constituents' tax dollars and ensure Federal programs deliver for citizens who need them the most, as Congress intended.
fraud, and I am proud to say these bills brought before the House this week by the Oversight Committee take a meaningful step toward better stewardship of taxpayer dollars by protecting them from fraud.
supporting H.R. 8464 as we work to protect the hard-earned tax dollars of the American people.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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The SPEAKER pro tempore. All time for debate has expired.
The question is on the engrossment and third reading of the bill.
motion to recommit
Mr. McGARVEY. Madam Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk will report the motion to recommit.
The Clerk read as follows:
Mr. McGarvey of Kentucky moves to recommit the bill H.R.
8464 to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
The material previously referred to by Mr. McGarvey is as follows:
Mr. McGarvey moves to recommit the bill H.R. 8464 to the
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform with
instructions to report the same back to the House forthwith,
with the following amendment:
Strike section 2(g) and insert the following:
(g) Effective Date.—This Act, and the amendments made by
this Act, shall not take effect until a list of each person
who has donated to the White House Ballroom is made publicly
available, including the following information with respect
to each such person:
(1) The amount donated by the person to the White House
Ballroom.
(2) Any Federal contract the person has entered into.
(3) Any grant awarded to the person.
(4) Any regulatory matter involving the person.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 2(b) of rule XIX, the previous question is ordered on the motion to recommit.
The question is on the motion to recommit.
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that the ayes appeared to have it.
Mr. COMER. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further proceedings on this question are postponed.