[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 176 (Monday, December 7, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H9018-H9021]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
FEDERAL IMPROPER PAYMENTS COORDINATION ACT OF 2015
Mr. MULVANEY. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (S. 614) to provide access to and use of information by Federal
agencies in order to reduce improper payments, and for other purposes.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
S. 614
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 ``Federal Improper Payments
Coordination Act of 2015''.
SEC. 2. AVAILABILITY OF THE DO NOT PAY INITIATIVE TO THE
JUDICIAL AND LEGISLATIVE BRANCHES AND STATES.
Section 5 of the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery
Improvement Act of 2012 (31 U.S.C. 3321 note) is amended--
(1) in subsection (b)(3)--
(A) in the paragraph heading, by striking ``by agencies'';
(B) by striking ``For purposes'' and inserting the
following:
``(A) In general.--For purposes''; and
(C) by adding at the end the following:
``(B) Other entities.--States and any contractor,
subcontractor, or agent of a State, and the judicial and
legislative branches of the United States (as defined in
paragraphs (2) and (3), respectively, of section 202(e) of
title 18, United States Code), shall have access to, and use
of, the Do Not Pay Initiative for the purpose of verifying
payment or award eligibility for payments (as defined in
section 2(g)(3) of the Improper Payments Information Act of
2002 (31 U.S.C. 3321 note)) when, with respect to a State,
the Director of the Office of Management and Budget
determines that the Do Not Pay Initiative is appropriately
established for that State and any contractor, subcontractor,
or agent of the State, and, with respect to the judicial and
legislative branches of the United States, when the Director
of the Office of Management and Budget determines that the Do
Not Pay Initiative is appropriately established for the
judicial branch or the legislative branch, as applicable.
``(C) Consistency with privacy act of 1974.--To ensure
consistency with the principles of section 552a of title 5,
United States
[[Page H9019]]
Code (commonly known as the `Privacy Act of 1974'), the
Director of the Office of Management and Budget may issue
guidance that establishes privacy and other requirements that
shall be incorporated into Do Not Pay Initiative access
agreements with States, including any contractor,
subcontractor, or agent of a State, and the judicial and
legislative branches of the United States.''; and
(2) in subsection (d)(2)--
(A) in subparagraph (B), by striking ``and'' after the
semicolon;
(B) in subparagraph (C), by striking the period at the end
and inserting ``; and''; and
(C) by inserting after subparagraph (C) the following:
``(D) may include States and their quasi-government
entities, and the judicial and legislative branches of the
United States (as defined in paragraphs (2) and (3),
respectively, of section 202(e) of title 18, United States
Code) as users of the system in accordance with subsection
(b)(3).''.
SEC. 3. IMPROVING THE SHARING AND USE OF DATA BY GOVERNMENT
AGENCIES TO CURB IMPROPER PAYMENTS.
The Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Improvement
Act of 2012 (31 U.S.C. 3321 note) is amended--
(1) in section 5(a)(2), by striking subparagraph (A) and
inserting the following:
``(A) The death records maintained by the Commissioner of
Social Security.''; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
``SEC. 7. IMPROVING THE USE OF DATA BY GOVERNMENT AGENCIES
FOR CURBING IMPROPER PAYMENTS.
``(a) Prompt Reporting of Death Information by the
Department of State and the Department of Defense.--Not later
than 1 year after the date of enactment of this section, the
Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense shall
establish a procedure under which each Secretary shall,
promptly and on a regular basis, submit information relating
to the deaths of individuals to each agency for which the
Director of the Office of Management and Budget determines
receiving and using such information would be relevant and
necessary.
``(b) Guidance to Agencies Regarding Data Access and Use
for Improper Payments Purposes.--
``(1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of
enactment of this section, the Director of the Office of
Management and Budget, in consultation with the Council of
the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, the heads
of other relevant Federal, State, and local agencies, and
Indian tribes and tribal organizations, as appropriate, shall
issue guidance regarding implementation of the Do Not Pay
Initiative under section 5 to--
``(A) the Department of the Treasury; and
``(B) each agency or component of an agency--
``(i) that operates or maintains a database of information
described in section 5(a)(2); or
``(ii) for which the Director determines improved data
matching would be relevant, necessary, or beneficial.
``(2) Requirements.--The guidance issued under paragraph
(1) shall--
``(A) address the implementation of subsection (a); and
``(B) include the establishment of deadlines for access to
and use of the databases described in section 5(a)(2) under
the Do Not Pay Initiative.''.
SEC. 4. DATA ANALYTICS.
Section 5 of the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery
Improvement Act of 2012 (31 U.S.C. 3321 note), is amended by
adding at the end the following:
``(h) Report on Improper Payments Data Analysis.--Not later
than 180 days after the date of enactment of the Federal
Improper Payments Coordination Act of 2015, the Secretary of
the Treasury shall submit to Congress a report which shall
include a description of--
``(1) data analytics performed as part of the Do Not Pay
Business Center operated by the Department of the Treasury
for the purpose of detecting, preventing, and recovering
improper payments through preaward, postaward prepayment, and
postpayment analysis, which shall include a description of
any analysis or investigations incorporating--
``(A) review and data matching of payments and beneficiary
enrollment lists of State programs carried out using Federal
funds for the purposes of identifying eligibility
duplication, residency ineligibility, duplicate payments, or
other potential improper payment issues;
``(B) review of multiple Federal agencies and programs for
which comparison of data could show payment duplication; and
``(C) review of other information the Secretary of the
Treasury determines could prove effective for identifying,
preventing, or recovering improper payments, which may
include investigation or review of information from multiple
Federal agencies or programs;
``(2) the metrics used in determining whether the analytic
and investigatory efforts have reduced, or contributed to the
reduction of, improper payments or improper awards; and
``(3) the target dates for implementing the data analytics
operations performed as part of the Do Not Pay Business
Center''.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
South Carolina (Mr. Mulvaney) and the gentleman from Virginia (Mr.
Connolly) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from South Carolina.
General Leave
Mr. MULVANEY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their
remarks.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from South Carolina?
There was no objection.
Mr. MULVANEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, this is a Senate bill that we take up today, but there
has actually been a House bill that is almost exactly the same for the
last year or so.
The story behind how this bill comes to the floor is one of those
stories that should make folks confident that the system can work. I
was on a Facebook townhall meeting about a year and a half ago and got
a question from one of the constituents about all the money that they
have heard the government wastes by paying the wrong people, paying
dead people, or paying people way too much money.
I remember it specifically, Mr. Speaker, because shortly after that,
my uncle passed away. When my uncle passed away, I was named executor
of his estate. It was the first time I have ever been the executor of
an estate. One of the things I remember was that I got a notice 10 days
after he had died, very shortly--2 weeks--from the Social Security
Administration saying: You are going to get another check for your
uncle. Don't cash it or else you can be in a lot of trouble.
I thought that was really neat. Here is a Federal agency that is
actually doing its job in very short order and very efficiently. And I
filed that away.
A couple months later, Mr. Speaker, my good friend from North
Carolina (Mr. Meadows), who is the subcommittee chairman of the
Government Operations on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee,
was having a hearing about all of these payments that we are not
supposed to be making. I had a chance to ask some questions, and I told
that story to the government witnesses from the executive branch who
were there. I said: Look, how is it that this works so well in the
Social Security Administration, but we have all these tales of all
these improper payments going to other people?
They said: Well, Mr. Congressman, that is because the Social Security
Administration has a really, really good database, and they process the
information very well when folks die.
I asked what I thought was a relatively straightforward question: Why
don't they share the information with the other Federal agencies?
That was the genesis of this bill. What we set out to try and do is
try and take circumstances, take examples of where the Federal
Government actually does its job well and use that as a model that can
be shared by other parts of the government.
Mr. Speaker, the bill, by the way, that we are talking about is S.
614. There was a House version of it that I worked off of, just because
I am a little bit more familiar with it. It is H.R. 2320. The language
is almost exactly the same.
I want to thank Mrs. Bustos, Mr. Connolly, and also Mr. Carter of
Georgia and Mr. Westmoreland of Georgia, who are the original
cosponsors of this.
Mr. Speaker, the bill does two very specific, large things and one
small thing. It expands that Social Security database. So it takes
this, again, this example of something that actually works the way that
it is supposed to, and lets other folks use the information.
What does that mean? States will now be able to use it. State
contractors will now be able to gain access to it. The judicial branch
will be able to gain access to it, and the legislative branch will as
well.
So the example is that this really good information is not being
shared broadly throughout governments--local, State, and Federal--and
we are seeking to fix that in the bill.
The other thing the bill does is to expand what is called the Do Not
Pay portal. This is a database that is managed by the United States
Department of the Treasury and contains, again,
[[Page H9020]]
really good information about who has passed away, how much money
people should be receiving, who has moved, and who is entitled to
benefits and who is not.
By the way, there is a third thing that the bill does, Mr. Speaker.
It seems inevitable that we cannot pass a bill here without asking for
a report that goes along with it. But I think it is probably common
sense to say that at some point in the future, we would like the
Treasury to tell us if it is actually working.
It is not very often, Mr. Speaker, that I come up here and tell you
that there are examples of the Federal Government doing its job well;
but when we do find those examples, I am very happy to get up and admit
it. As a small government, conservative Republican, ordinarily I am the
one that says government never does anything right; but here, actually,
parts and parcels of the Federal Government are doing their job well.
If we can take that example, take that model and expand it to other
parts of the government, we would actually have a chance to solve what
is a real problem.
We spent about $125 billion last year on improper payments, payments
to people who should not have received it, payments to people who have
passed away, or payments to people in the wrong amount--$125 billion.
We just had a major fight on this floor 2 weeks ago over spending $80
billion extra in the budget bill, yet we spend that much, half again,
on improper payments every single year. In fact, it is one of the
fastest growing line items in our budget. That $125 billion represents
a 15 percent increase over the previous year. One of the fastest
growing areas of our government is improper payments.
So, Mr. Speaker, I just want to thank Mrs. Bustos, Mr. Connolly, Mr.
Carter of Georgia, and Mr. Westmoreland in the House for helping bring
this bill to the floor. Also, I want to thank Senator Carper from
Delaware and Senator Ron Johnson from Wisconsin for shepherding it
through the Senate.
This is their bill that we are taking. I guess that is another
inevitability, that, if the Senate has the same bill as the House does,
the Senate gets all the credit. But sometimes it is interesting to see
what you can actually accomplish around here, Mr. Speaker, if you don't
worry about who gets the credit.
I do want to thank the folks who took the time and the effort to
shepherd this very sound, well-considered, and bipartisan bill to the
floor today.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. CONNOLLY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Federal Improper Payments
Coordination Act before the House this afternoon. I am pleased to join
my friend from South Carolina (Mr. Mulvaney) in sponsoring the House
companion of this bipartisan legislation. He has already mentioned the
cosponsors, Cheri Bustos, Buddy Carter, and Lynn Westmoreland among
them. I also want to thank our Senate partners for their work on this
important initiative.
I want to assure my friend, Mr. Mulvaney, we are going to be marking
up a companion bill to this tomorrow in our committee, and hopefully we
will send it over to the Senate with a House number on it. Fair is
fair.
This is the latest in a series of commonsense, good-government laws
we have enacted over the last decade as we work to reduce, if not
outright eliminate, billions of taxpayer dollars in improper payments
made by Federal agencies. The gentleman from South Carolina (Mr.
Mulvaney) pointed out just how large a number this is: $125 billion a
year.
Now, over a decade, that is $1.25 trillion. That exceeds all of
sequestration. We wouldn't have to make any cuts to investments or
raise any taxes to deal with sequestration if we just dealt with this.
With the GAO reporting nearly $125 billion of improper payments, it is
clear that more can and must be done to deal with government waste and
fraud.
Today's legislation would expand the use, as Mr. Mulvaney indicated,
of the Do Not Pay Initiative to the legislative and judicial branches
and to our State partners. That initiative was the result of the
Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Improvement Act of 2012,
which was also a product of our committee, and I was pleased to
cosponsor it at that time.
The Do Not Pay Initiative was launched by Treasury and leverages
multiple data sources--many of which were formerly siloed--to create a
central, comprehensive list that Federal agencies can quickly reference
to determine whether an individual or organization is, in fact,
eligible to receive a Federal grant, benefit, or contract; and it also
allows them to verify such payments after the fact.
For example, this initiative has prompted agencies to better share
the reporting of death information to help reduce Federal payments to
those, obviously, we have lost or for those who have had their
identities stolen. Today's legislation would require the Departments of
Defense and State to report information on deaths that occur overseas
more quickly so that the agencies can better detect fraudulent payments
or recoup improper payments if necessary.
Just last week, Mr. Speaker, the Office of Management and Budget
delivered its first report to Congress on the Do Not Pay Initiative,
which it says resulted in more than $2 billion in stopped payments--
that is to say, savings for the U.S. taxpayer. Obviously, we can, with
this bill, increase that number even more.
Based on that early success, it makes good sense for us to expand the
use of this valuable tool to the legislative and judicial branches, as
well as our State partners, so they have the ability to quickly verify
payments or the eligibility of recipients to receive such payments.
This commonsense proposal was a welcomed suggestion from the GAO in
its latest report on improper payments. I would also add that the
Oversight and Government Reform Committee will continue this work, as I
indicated, with a markup tomorrow.
Mr. Speaker, again, I want to thank my colleague, Mr. Mulvaney, for
his leadership on this matter, and I urge our colleagues to support
this important reform to our government in making it more efficient and
accountable to the taxpayer.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs.
Bustos), my good friend and the cosponsor of this legislation.
Mrs. BUSTOS. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Connolly and
Congressman Mulvaney for their hard work on this.
Mr. Speaker, as one of the Democratic coleaders of this legislation,
I am so proud to rise in support of the Federal Improper Payments
Coordination Act of 2015. The goal of this bill is straightforward:
simply, to save taxpayer dollars that are currently going to waste and
to make the Federal Government more effective and more efficient.
Each year, Mr. Speaker, the Federal Government spends billions of
dollars in improper payments. This not only wastes taxpayer dollars,
but it also erodes the public trust in government. Just last year, as
my colleagues have pointed out, improper payments by the Federal
Government rose to $125 billion. That is more than $1 trillion over a
decade. That is according to the Office of Management and Budget. It is
also an increase of 15 percent up from the year before, where it was
$106 billion. So we are talking about real money here.
In tough times, working families have to figure out how to cut costs
to get their budgets in line. We all know that. I think it is time that
Washington do the same thing. That is why our bill takes reasonable--
reasonable--steps to improve information sharing between Federal and
State agencies to prevent these improper payments.
This also helps modernize Federal agencies by putting 21st century
data analytics to work in identifying and eliminating governmentwide
waste and fraud. The status quo is, plain and simple, not acceptable.
At a time when so many working families have to tighten their belts
and cut costs, they expect Congress to act responsibly with their hard-
earned taxpayer dollars. This bipartisan legislation represents a
commonsense approach to a problem that is costing the taxpayers
billions of dollars. This is undermining the effectiveness and the
credibility of the Federal Government.
I thank Congressman Mulvaney and Congressman Connolly. I think this
is
[[Page H9021]]
an indication that we know how to work together. I want to applaud my
colleagues for joining our efforts to protect taxpayers.
Mr. MULVANEY. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
{time} 1600
Mr. CONNOLLY. Again, I want to thank my friend, Mrs. Bustos, for her
leadership on this very important issue.
I, also, in closing, just want to say to my friend from South
Carolina, part of improper payments is also fraud, and the biggest
chunk of that is Medicare fraud. We need the help of U.S. Attorney's
Offices to go after that. I am aware of one U.S. Attorney's Office last
year that identified and recovered $3 billion of Medicare fraud. Now, I
believe there are 99 U.S. Attorney's Offices in the United States. If
every one of them made going after this fraud a priority, I assure you,
we could significantly reduce improper payments by a commensurate
amount. I would be glad to work with him and my friend, Mrs. Bustos, on
a bipartisan basis to address that aspect of it as well.
Again, I want to thank Mr. Mulvaney for his leadership and for the
bipartisan approach we have approached this legislation.
We have no more speakers on our side, Mr. Speaker.
I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. MULVANEY. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I urge
adoption.
I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Mulvaney) that the House suspend the
rules and pass the bill, S. 614.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
____________________