Legislation permanently allows Social Security Administration with Treasury Department to eliminate federal payments to deceased people.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (MO-08) delivered the following remarks during debate in the U.S. House of Representatives on the Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act (S. 269).

“I rise in support of the Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act. 

“This bipartisan bill continues a bipartisan policy that has already enabled the federal government to identify, prevent, and recover hundreds of millions of dollars of improper payments made to dead people.

“Currently, the Social Security Administration has temporary authority to share its death data with the Treasury Department’s Do Not Pay portal to identify, prevent, and recover improper payments. In its first year alone, Treasury reported this data exchange saved American taxpayers over $108 million.

“Unfortunately, Social Security’s authority to share its data with Treasury is temporary and lapses at the end of this year if Congress doesn’t pass this bill. That would only increase the likelihood that more taxpayer money is erroneously sent to dead people. In 2023 alone, before this policy was implemented, the Office of Management and Budget found the federal government sent $1.3 billion to dead people. That’s unacceptable. 

“The American people expect Congress to safeguard their hard-earned tax money from waste, fraud, and abuse. I want to thank Representative Higgins for his leadership on this issue as well as Senator Kennedy. As a former law enforcement officer, Clay Higgins has worked to protect Americans from criminals, and now he’s translating that commitment into finding ways we can protect taxpayer dollars as well.”