House Reps. Moore, Spanberger reintroduce bipartisan bill to prevent wasteful government spending

"As I have traveled across Utah’s First Congressional District, the message I have heard from community and business leaders alike is that these programs simply work," Rep. Moore said. Photo: Rep. Blake Moore

WASHINGTON D.C. – Congressman Blake Moore, working alongside Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), have recently reintroduced the Preventing Improper Payment Act, to try and limit the waste, fraud, and abuse of federal funds.

In the federal government’s 2021 fiscal year, the U.S. Government Accountability Office reported that federal agencies had distributed an estimated $281 billion in improper payments, a $75 billion increase from 2020.

The newly proposed bipartisan legislation is intended to combat the increased rate of improper government payments -meaning payments wrongfully and incorrectly dispersed by the government. Lackadaisical spending has been a consistent issue within the federal government, and five different forms of bills intended to limit improper payments have been enacted since 2002.

“As our national debt and deficit crises worsen, it is imperative that we ensure federal agencies spend each dollar of taxpayer funds toward its intended purpose,” Moore said. “Congress owes it to the American people to ensure their hard-earned dollars are stewarded responsibly, and I am proud to continue this effort with Congresswoman Spanberger in the 118^th Congress.”

Since the COVID pandemic, several government agencies have been spending billions of dollars with little to no oversight. The Preventing Improper Payment Act would provide safeguards and paywalls for new federal funding programs.

“Congress created new programs in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic to help small business and local restaurant owners keep their doors open and keep their employees on payroll, help healthcare providers protect themselves and care for their patients, and allow Americans to keep themselves and their families safe during a global health emergency,” Spanberger said.

“Unfortunately, we heard reports of those funds ending up in the wrong hands. But this issue did not materialize alongside the COVID-19 pandemic. Improper payments of federal funds have long hurt the Americans that federal programs are intended to assist. We must work to better protect taxpayer dollars and the integrity of these programs. I am grateful to my colleague, Congressman Blake Moore, for joining me to introduce bipartisan legislation that would cut down on the wasteful spending and the abuse of federal funds.”

More specifically, the proposed legislation would designate all new federal programs making $100 million in payments in a single fiscal year as ‘susceptible to significant improper payments’. The programs which receive this label would be objected to more oversight, timely spending reports, and increased fraud risk management.

“Estimates show that criminals stole upwards of $80 billion – or 10 percent – of all Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funds during the pandemic, as well as over $45 billion in unemployment insurance. This legislation takes the necessary steps to ensure effective oversight of public funds,” said David Williams, President of the Tax Payers Association.