Agencies Need to Find “Root Causes” of Improper Payments: House Subcommittee

Congress members want more information on the “root causes” of improper payments made by the federal government.

The heads of the House Government Operations and Federal Workforce Subcommittee say that while federal law requires programs with a high-rate of improper payments to report on “root causes, mitigation strategies, and corrective action measures,” it’s simply not being done.

“The amount of improper payments in these programs continues to grow,” wrote House Government Operations and Federal Workforce Subcommittee Chairman Pete Sessions (R-TX) and Subcommittee Ranking Member Kweisi Mfume (D-MD) in a letter to Comptroller General Gene Dodaro.

In their letter, the congressmen ask Comptroller Dodaro to investigate what agencies are doing to discover the root causes of such payments as well as corrective actions they are taking. The lawmakers also want GAO to provide recommendations on how to reduce improper payments.

“The Subcommittee seeks to continuously evaluate whether agencies are getting better or worse at ensuring the levels of fraud seen during the pandemic will ‘never happen again.’ Unfortunately, because of limited or unreliable information maintained by federal agencies, the Subcommittee has been unable to adequately assess agencies’ progress,” wrote Representatives Sessions and Mfume. 

It’s estimated that the federal government made $2.7 trillion in improper payments since 2003, with $236 billion in improper payments made in fiscal year (FY) 2023. Improper payments include overpayments and underpayments, both intentional and accidental.  Improper payments surged during the COVID-19 pandemic.

GAO said six programs, Medicare, Medicaid, Unemployment Insurance, Paycheck Protection Program, Earned Income Tax Credit, and Supplemental Security Income, are responsible for $200 billion of the $236 billion in improper payments in FY 2023.

In their letter, Representatives Sessions and Mfume note that their committee held three hearings on improper payments in the federal government with not much to show for it.

“Witness testimonies at our hearings made clear that continuing to do the same things to address improper payments is not working and will not address growing problems,” stated the letter.

The lawmakers are also asking GAO to identify what barriers prevent them from fully addressing root causes, such as problems accessing data between agencies and programs.

“We ask that GAO regularly update Subcommittee staff on the progress of this review and provide periodic briefings on known practices that have helped prevent improper payments and fraud,” the lawmakers wrote.