House Considers Anti-Fraud Bills After $186 Billion Government Loss

Why it Matters

The federal government lost about $186 billion to fraud in FY2025 alone, up $24-billion from FY2024. Since 2003, the government has lost roughly $3 trillion. On Monday, June 8 the House Rules Committee takes up a package of fraud prevention bills to try and prevent further losses. The proposed legislation would fundamentally reshape how the federal government screens payments before they go out the door.

The two central bills, H.R. 8464, the Stopping Fraudulent Payments Act, and H.R. 8312, the Fraud Prevention and Accountability Act, would give federal agencies new tools to pause suspect payments and create a permanent, governmentwide fraud-fighting infrastructure. The Rules Committee hearing is the procedural gateway to floor debate, meaning the June 8 session will determine how, and under what terms, the full House gets to vote.

The Big Picture

A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report published in April and widely covered through early June found that 15 federal agencies reported approximately $186 billion in improper payments across 64 programs in FY2025. Roughly 82 percent of that total, about $153 billion, came from overpayments. The Congressional Research Service (CRS), in a report on recent legislative proposals, estimated that "fraud in pandemic relief spending" amounts to losses exceeding $300 billion, a figure that has sustained bipartisan political pressure on Congress to act.

Just five days before the hearing, the conservative Paragon Health Institute projected that taxpayers could fund up to $25 billion in improper subsidy payments through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2026, representing nearly one-quarter of projected ACA subsidy spending for the year. The Hill covered the findings, reporting allegations of widespread enrollment fraud. The report's timing, landing days before the Rules Committee convened, added fresh urgency to the case for pre-payment eligibility verification, the explicit goal of H. Res. 1335, the non-binding resolution accompanying the two bills.

The GAO itself amplified the issue with a public podcast released June 3 on its fraud-fighting work, and a Federal News Network commentary piece published in May estimated that direct annual fraud losses across the government fall somewhere between $233 billion and $521 billion, a range that illustrates how difficult the problem is to measure.

H.R. 8464, sponsored by Rep. James Comer (R-KY), would authorize federal agencies to pause, delay, or segment payments to beneficiaries of federally funded assistance programs when objective fraud indicators are present or when a payee appears on the Treasury Department's "Do Not Pay" system. Recipients would receive notice of any hold and could contest it, with agencies required to resolve disputes within 45 days, or 7 days if the recipient actively challenges the delay. The Treasury Department would have 180 days to issue implementing regulations, and federal employees acting in good faith under the provisions would be shielded from personal liability.

H.R. 8312, sponsored by Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), goes further structurally. The bill would create a new Inspector General for Fraud, Accountability, and Recovery within the Treasury Department, a presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed position with authority to investigate fraud across all federal agencies, recover misspent funds, and maintain an independent data analytics platform. The bill would also mandate common reporting standards across agencies and require all federal entities to share fraud data and screen payees before payments are made. Funding of $10 million annually would begin in 2035. The new office would inherit staff, assets, and data from the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, which the bill would terminate on December 31, 2028.

Both bills cleared the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on April 29, 2026, by recorded votes of 23-17, a party-line margin that signals the legislation will face a contested path on the floor despite its anti-fraud framing.

H. Res. 1335, a non-binding sense-of-the-House resolution, accompanies the two bills. It condemns actors seeking to defraud the federal government and expresses the view that program eligibility should be verified before payment is made. Its inclusion alongside substantive legislation suggests it is intended to provide political messaging context for the package.

What They're Saying

The legislation is not without opposition. The Center for Democracy and Technology has published a statement opposing both H.R. 8312 and H.R. 8464, arguing the bills threaten the personal privacy of U.S. citizens by giving Treasury broad authority to pause payments based on fraud risk indicators, potentially ensnaring legitimate beneficiaries. That tension between fraud prevention and due process is likely to surface in floor debate if the Rules Committee advances the package.

Political Stakes

Virginia Foxx (R-NC) chairs the Rules Committee, with Morgan Griffith (R-VA) serving as vice chair and Jim McGovern (D-MA) as ranking member. The committee meets at H-313 Capitol. Activity in the Senate has run on a parallel track: the Foundation for American Innovation submitted written testimony to the Senate Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government on May 29 on reducing fraud and improper payments, a sign that both chambers have been moving on the issue heading into the June 8 hearing.

The Bottom Line

The contested legislation will carry far-reaching consequences for U.S. citizens and government whether or not it passes, concerning citizen privacy as well as the substantial loss of taxpayer dollars which the government has already experienced. It remains to be seen which side will win out, and whether the bills will be passed.

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