[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 183 (Tuesday, December 10, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6907-S6908]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                ENDING IMPROPER PAYMENTS TO DECEASED ACT

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I am announcing my intention to object to 
any unanimous consent request to proceed to S. 2492, the Ending 
Improper Payments to Deceased Act.
  I support my colleagues' efforts to identify opportunities to reduce 
Federal improper payments by indefinitely extending the cooperative 
data exchange agreement between the Social Security Administration and 
the Department of the Treasury's Do Not Pay (DNP) working system, as 
established by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (P.L. No. 
116-260). However, this bill rushes to make this data exchange 
permanent without evaluating the efficacy of the data exchange.

[[Page S6908]]

  As my colleagues may know, the purpose of the 2021 law was to expand 
access to the State-owned death information to Federal Agencies for the 
purposes of reducing improper payments while ensuring Social Security 
Administration and States are fully reimbursed for the cost of 
creating, compiling, and maintain the data. To ensure those goals were 
achieved, we established a 3-year trial period so we could evaluate the 
performance, usefulness, and downstream effects of the exchange with 
DNP and to provide us the opportunity to determine the best path 
forward for Federal Agencies' access to State death data.
  As required by law, the SSA-DNP exchange began operating on December 
27, 2023, less than a year ago. In my conversations with the Treasury 
Department and the Social Security Administration, both Agencies 
acknowledged they do not have sufficient data to evaluate the efficacy 
of the data exchange, including whether SSA is fully reimbursed for the 
costs of collecting and maintaining the state death data. Without that 
information, it is difficult to determine whether this exchange is the 
best path forward for Federal Agencies' accessing State death data. For 
these reasons, I will object to any unanimous consent request in 
relation to this legislation.

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