Congressman Clay Higgins’ (R-LA) legislation, H.R. 2716, the Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act, passed through the House Ways and Means Committee during a markup on Dec. 10.
The bill would ensure that deceased people are removed from government payment rolls by permanently requiring the Social Security Administration to share the “Death Master File” with the Treasury Department’s “Do Not Pay” system. In 2023 alone, the federal government sent $1.3 billion to deceased people. Read the bill text here.
“This legislation will immediately save American taxpayers billions of dollars. It’s unacceptable that the federal bureaucracy has grown to be so outrageously wasteful,” said Congressman Higgins. “As a fiscal conservative, I’m eager to see this bill, which reduces wasteful spending without expanding the size of the government, signed into law, and I’d like to thank the House Ways and Means Committee and Chairman Jason Smith for propelling this crucial effort forward.”
“Protecting taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars is one of government’s most basic functions – one it routinely fails to uphold,” said Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (MO-08). “For too long, bureaucratic mismanagement within the federal government has allowed payments to flow uninterrupted to deceased individuals, compromising the integrity of programs that are most vital to Americans. Representative Higgins has been a tireless fighter against government fraud, waste, and abuse, and now, thanks to his leadership, this legislation will ensure American taxpayer dollars are protected and that government works better for the people it serves.”
