A new report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that the government cannot tell if it is handing taxpayer dollars to individuals on the “do not pay list,” Republican Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst exclusively shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation Monday.
A draft of the report reviewed by the DCNF exposed that there is no way to cross-reference the USASpending.gov records detailing who receives government awards with who is on the “do not pay list.” Current law requires government expenditures to be listed on USASpending.gov so Americans can see who is receiving their taxpayer dollars, although there is currently no way of knowing whether the individuals receiving the funds are supposed to be.
“Washington made $186 billion in payment errors just last year and fraudsters are stealing $1.4 billion from taxpayers every day,” Ernst said in a statement to the DCNF. “Despite all the systems in place designed to prevent ineligible payments, the information isn’t always compatible, complete, consistent, or connected. As long as government offices and computers cannot or do not talk to each other, serial fraudsters, like the ones being exposed in Minneapolis, will keep getting away with scamming Uncle Sam.”
“Before giving out another cent, Washington needs to first verify the applicant is actually eligible for assistance, while also ensuring the beneficiary isn’t on the do-not-pay list,” Ernst continued. “Until that is achieved, taxpayers will continue being robbed in plain daylight. GAO is recommending a simple solution, and every day Washington delays action is costing us billions of dollars.”
Ernst referred to the defendants, most of whom were of Somali descent, in Minnesota who were convicted or charged with stealing up to $9 billion from the state’s Medicaid programs. Dozens were charged and convicted with stealing approximately $250 million from Feeding Our Future, a program intended to feed children during the COVID pandemic.
The report concluded that Congress needed to take action to improve its payment eligibility data and data compatibility, since there is an increased risk of the government giving out improper awards without these improvements. For more than 30 years, there have not been specific requirements in place for enforcing compatibility, such as for recipient eligibility data.
The agency learned there is no simple, reliable way to check whether the government is accidentally giving taxpayer dollars to entities it banned from receiving these funds.
“The inability to fully analyze SAM Exclusions and USAspending.gov data is an example of government-wide issues with data matching for recipient eligibility determinations,” the draft stated. “While analysis based on unique identifiers can support eligibility determinations, such identifiers might not always be required or available. Improved data interoperability — including standardized data elements and increased interoperability of data elements, such as names and addresses across data sources and agencies — could enable more comprehensive and efficient data matching. This would improve the government’s ability to identify potentially ineligible recipients.”
The report recommended that Congress assign an agency a lead role in establishing and enforcing data compatibility requirements.
Ernst introduced the Stop Secret Spending Act with Democratic Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, which would require public disclosures of tens of billions of dollars in secret spending deals. The legislation passed the Senate on Friday. It would require spending arrangements known as Other Transactions Agreements (OTAs) to be disclosed in the same manner as grants, contracts, loans and other government expenditures.
A similar bill introduced by Republican Reps. Barry Moore of Alabama and Harriet Hageman of Wyoming, as well as Democratic Reps. Jimmy Panetta of California and Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire, was unanimously approved by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in March.
Vice President J.D. Vance and Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson have overseen The White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, which focuses on recovering stolen funds and investigating criminal exploitations of federal programs. Vance said in May that the administration has tracked or recovered up to $160 billion in fraudulent small business loans, COVID-19 relief and student aid.
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