[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8464 Reported in House (RH)]
<DOC>
Union Calendar No. 597
119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 8464
[Report No. 119-684]
To amend title 31, United States Code, to authorize pausing and
segmenting payments, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 23, 2026
Mr. Comer (for himself and Mr. Arrington) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government
Reform
June 3, 2026
Additional sponsor: Mr. Calvert
June 3, 2026
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed
in italic]
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on April
23, 2026]
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend title 31, United States Code, to authorize pausing and
segmenting payments, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Stopping Fraudulent Payments Act''.
SEC. 2. AUTHORITY TO PAUSE PAYMENTS FOR FURTHER REVIEW AND CORRECTIVE
ACTION.
(a) Treasury Payment Voucher Waiver Authority.--
(1) Amendment.--Subchapter II of chapter 33 of title 31,
United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the
following:
``Sec. 3337. Authority to pause payments for further review and
corrective action
``(a) Agency Obligation to Pause Disbursement Requests for
Corrective Action.--The head of an agency shall take a corrective
action to temporarily delay, condition, or segment a disbursement
request before the certification of a payment voucher under section
3325 if, as determined by an official designated by the head of the
agency, the agency--
``(1) has sufficient reason to determine that the payment
presents an elevated risk of fraud based on a fraud-risk
indicator or an improper payment resulting in financial loss to
the Government as estimated under the requirements of section
3352 in accordance with the statutorily-defined eligibility
requirements or other legally-established condition of the
program for a payee to be eligible to receive payment;
``(2) has sufficient reason to determine, based on a
notification by the relevant State or local government official
in the case of a payment from Federal funds disbursed by a
State or local government under a State-administered and
federally-funded program, that the payment presents an elevated
risk of fraud based on a fraud-risk indicator or an improper
payment resulting in financial loss to the Government as
estimated under the requirements of section 3352 in accordance
with the statutorily-defined eligibility requirements or other
legally-established condition of the program for a payee to be
eligible to receive payment; or
``(3) has been notified of an order from the Secretary of
the Treasury described under subsection (b).
``(b) Treasury Obligation to Return Payment Voucher and Issue
Corrective Action Order.--Except where otherwise required by law, the
Secretary shall promptly notify the relevant certifying official of an
order to return a certified payment voucher submitted to a disbursing
official under section 3325 and issue a corrective action order to the
head of an agency not later than 2 days after the Secretary makes a
determination that in accordance with the statutorily-defined
eligibility requirements or other legally-established condition of the
program for a payee to be eligible to receive payment that such payment
presents an elevated risk of fraud based on a fraud-risk indicator or
an improper payment resulting in financial loss to the Government based
on an output of the Do Not Pay system under section 3354.
``(c) Agency Documentation and Time-limited Corrective Action.--An
action taken by the head of an agency under subsection (a) shall--
``(1) be based on an objective, documented fraud-risk
indicator;
``(2) be narrowly applied to the portion of the payment
presenting the elevated risk; and
``(3) be limited in duration to the minimum period
necessary, as determined by the head of the agency, to verify
eligibility of the payee or accuracy of the payment per any
program requirement associated with the payment or as
stipulated under law.
``(d) Payee Notification and Time Limit of Paused Disbursement
Requests.--With respect to a disbursement request that has been
delayed, conditioned, or segmented pursuant to subsection (a) or a
payment voucher that is returned pursuant subsection (b), the head of
the agency shall take the following actions:
``(1) Promptly provide to the payee (not later than 2 days
after a determination under subsection (a) or a notification to
the agency under subsection (b)), as appropriate, and for a
case in which the payment from Federal funds disbursed by a
State or local government under a State-administered and
federally-funded program also provides to such relevant State
or local government official, a notification that--
``(A) a disbursement has been temporarily paused,
conditioned, or segmented;
``(B) identifies the nature of the fraud-risk
indicator or improper payment relied upon by the agency
to make the corrective action determination under
subsection (a) or notification to the agency under
subsection (b); and
``(C) outlines the process for the corrective
action review period.
``(2) Use a process tailored to the specific requirements
and design of the agency program for a payee, or the State or
local government described under paragraph (1), to contest any
factual inaccuracy or provide clarifying information during the
corrective action review period.
``(3) Issue such payment not later than 30 days after a
determination to take a corrective action is made by the head
of the agency under subsection (a) or the agency was notified
by the Secretary under subsection (b) of a corrective action
order, but not later than 7 days after the date on which the
payee contests the corrective action under the process
established pursuant to paragraph (2), if the head of the
agency determines that the payment does not present an elevated
risk of fraud or an improper payment resulting in financial
loss to the Government.
``(e) Segmentation of Low-risk Payments.--To the maximum extent
practicable, the head of each agency shall allow a routine,
historically consistent payment amount to proceed while temporarily
holding an anomalous, unusually large, or high-risk portion of a
payment, or class of payments, pending review and resolution of an
agency corrective action determination under subsection (a) or a
corrective action order under subsection (b).
``(f) Exemptions for Law Enforcement Activities.--The head of an
agency, in consultation with the Secretary and the Attorney General,
may waive any provision in this section on a case-by-case basis if
notified of or instructed by a Federal law enforcement authority,
including an agency Inspector General, that the action will jeopardize
an active criminal investigation or legal proceeding related to an
effort to defraud the Federal Government or violate sections 3729
through 3733 of title 31 (commonly known as the `False Claims Act').
``(g) Limitation of Liability.--No officer or employee of the
Federal Government shall be personally liable for an action taken in
good faith under this section. An action taken under this section may
not constitute a final determination of eligibility, liability, or
wrongdoing on the part of a payee.
``(h) Rule of Construction for Program Authorizing Statute.--
Nothing in this section may be construed to supersede any other
provision of law with respect to any statute that authorizes the
payment or program the payment is made under.
``(i) Regulations.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the
enactment of this section, and annually thereafter, the Secretary, in
consultation with the Director, shall issue regulations and establish
procedures to administer the requirements of this section that shall be
published in the Federal Register that, at a minimum, specify the
following:
``(1) The minimum seniority of an agency official
designated under subsection (a) authorized to make a
determination to issue a corrective action.
``(2) The procedures by which the Secretary of the Treasury
will use the Do Not Pay system under section 3354 to make a
determination under subsection (b) in accordance with the
statutorily-defined eligibility requirements or other legally-
established condition of a program for a payee to be eligible
to receive payment.
``(3) The procedure for an agency to dispute an order to
return a certified payment voucher and appeal a related
corrective action order under subsection (b) to the Fiscal
Assistant Secretary, which shall at a minimum include a
requirement for the agency to receive a response not later than
five days after making such a dispute or appeal to the
Department of the Treasury.
``(4) The minimum information requirements of a
notification required under subsection (d)(1).
``(j) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) Director.--The term `Director' means the Director of
the Office of Management and Budget.
``(2) Fraud-risk indicator.--The term `fraud-risk
indicator' means an objective data point or analytic signal
that indicates an anomalous payment pattern or increase in the
volume of a payment amount, a verified data mismatch, network
or behavioral anomaly, or match identified by the Do Not Pay
system under section 3354 and any payment, account, or payee
validation program or service administered by the Secretary
that would result in financial loss to the Government.
``(3) Routine, historically consistent payment amount.--The
term `routine, historically consistent payment amount' means a
payment amount that is consistent with previous payment history
of the payee, established program use patterns, or other
objective benchmarks determined by the certifying agency.
``(4) Secretary.--The term `Secretary' means the Secretary
of the Treasury.''.
(2) Technical and conforming amendment.--The table of
sections for chapter 33 of title 31, United States Codes, is
amended by inserting after the item for section 3336 the
following:
``3337. Authority to pause payments for further review and
corrective action.''.
(b) Requirements and Authorities of Payment Disbursing Officials.--
Paragraph (3) of section 3325(a) of title 31, United States Code, is
amended--
(1) by inserting ``, compliance with an order to pause a
payment pursuant to section 3337(b),'' after ``except for the
correctness of computations on a voucher''; and
(2) by striking ``,,'' and inserting a comma.
(c) Relief of Accountable Officers.--Section 3527 of title 31,
United States Code, is amended--
(1) in subsection (a)(2), by inserting after ``the loss or
deficiency was not the result of an illegal or incorrect
payment'' the following: ``, or was made as a result of a good
faith effort to comply with the requirements of section 3337'';
and
(2) in subsection (b)(1)(A)(ii), by inserting after ``the
loss or deficiency was not the result of an illegal or
incorrect payment'' the following: ``, or was made as a result
of a good faith effort to comply with the requirements of
section 3337''.
(d) Requirements and Authorities of Payment Certifying Officials.--
Subsection (a) of section 3528 of title 31, United States Code, is
amended--
(1) in paragraph (4)(C), by striking ``; and'' and
inserting a semicolon;
(2) in paragraph (5), by striking the period at the end and
inserting ``; and''; and
(3) by adding at the end the following
``(6) complying with an order to take a corrective action
to temporarily delay, condition, or segment a disbursement
request pursuant to section 3337.''.
(e) Relief of Certifying Officials.--Subsection (b)(1) of section
3528 of title 31, United States Code--
(1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``; or'' and inserting
a semicolon;
(2) in subparagraph (B)(iii), by striking the period at the
end and inserting ``; or''; and
(3) by inserting at the end the following new subparagraph:
``(C) the certification was made as a result of a good
faith effort to comply with the requirements of section
3337.''.
(f) Report on Results of Payments Paused for Further Review and
Corrective Action.--Not later than 18 months after the date of the
enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Secretary of the
Treasury shall submit to the Director of the Office of Management and
Budget, the Committees on Appropriations of the Senate and the House of
Representatives, the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs of the Senate, and the Committee on Oversight and Government
Reform of the House of Representatives, a report on the following:
(1) The total number of orders to return a certified
payment voucher submitted to a disbursing official under
section 3325 of title 31, United States Code, and corrective
action orders issued to the head of an agency under the
authorities provided by section 3337(b) of such title, as added
by this section.
(2) The percentage of such payments that are issued by the
agency, including by successful contestations filed by the
recipient or payee with the agency, and recommendations to
mitigate such errors in the fraud-risk indicators of the
Department of the Treasury in the future.
(3) The total savings to the Federal Government in payments
determined to be fraudulent or result in financial loss to the
Government under the authorities provided by subsections (a)
and (b) of section 3337 of title 31, United States Code, as
added by this section.
(4) Any necessary policy, regulatory, or legislative
recommendations related to the authorities and requirements
under section of section 3337 of title 31, United States Code,
as added by this section, or other relevant law.
(g) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall take
effect 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act.
Union Calendar No. 597
119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 8464
[Report No. 119-684]
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend title 31, United States Code, to authorize pausing and
segmenting payments, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
June 3, 2026
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed