WASHINGTON – In case you missed it, a bipartisan bill cosponsored by U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) that will help save Americans’ hard-earned taxpayer dollars has been signed into law. The legislation will help the federal government better prevent payments from being unintentionally sent to individuals who have died.
“Our government has a responsibility to be a good steward of taxpayer dollars and prevent waste, fraud, and abuse,” said Senator Hassan. “I am glad that this bipartisan bill to update existing safeguards and better prevent unintentional payments to deceased people has been signed into law.”
The Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act will permanently amend the Social Security Act to allow the Social Security Administration to share the Death Master File – a record of deceased individuals – with the Treasury Department’s Do Not Pay system. Because long-standing privacy restrictions limit how the Social Security Administration can share this information, federal agencies otherwise would not receive timely notice when a beneficiary has died, which can unintentionally lead to improper payments. The bill also allows the Treasury’s Do Not Pay system to compare death information from the Social Security Administration with personal information from other federal entities and to share this information with any paying or administering agency that is authorized to use the Do Not Pay system.
This legislation is part of Senator Hassan’s ongoing efforts to save taxpayer dollars and cut waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government. Last year, in her role as Ranking Member of the Joint Economic Committee, Senator Hassan helped lead a hearing focused on ways to improve government efficiency. Her bipartisan bill, the Billion Dollar Boondoggle Act, which requires federal agencies to publicly report on projects that are more than five years behind schedule or cost more than $1 billion over their original estimate, was recently passed unanimously by the U.S. Senate.
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