Condemning actors seeking to defraud the United States Government, and expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that governmentwide fraud and improper payment prevention reforms will meaningfully improve the financial prosperity of the United States, and that Federal program eligibility should be verified before payment.

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1335 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1335

Condemning actors seeking to defraud the United States Government, and 
       expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 
   governmentwide fraud and improper payment prevention reforms will 
meaningfully improve the financial prosperity of the United States, and 
  that Federal program eligibility should be verified before payment.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              June 3, 2026

  Mr. Fallon (for himself, Mr. Sessions, Mr. McGuire, and Mr. Gosar) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                   on Oversight and Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION

 
Condemning actors seeking to defraud the United States Government, and 
       expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 
   governmentwide fraud and improper payment prevention reforms will 
meaningfully improve the financial prosperity of the United States, and 
  that Federal program eligibility should be verified before payment.

Whereas fraud and improper payments in Federal agency programs is an 
        unsustainable national fiscal emergency;
Whereas the Comptroller General of the United States documented in 2025 that the 
        Federal Government has improperly paid about $3,000,000,000,000 since 
        2003 where payments should not have been made or were made incorrectly;
Whereas the measured governmentwide improper payment rate has increased from the 
        prior year, with the Comptroller General of the United States recently 
        reporting that in fiscal year 2025 Federal agencies reported 
        approximately $186,000,000,000 in estimated improper payments, an 
        increase of about $24,000,000,000 from fiscal year 2024 documented 
        improper payments;
Whereas the Comptroller General of the United States also estimates that, based 
        on data from 2018 to 2022 the Federal Government loses between 
        $233,000,000,000 and $521,000,000,000 annually to fraud across all 
        Federal programs and operations;
Whereas each one of these fraudulently spent tax dollars is taken at the expense 
        of a hard-working American;
Whereas, based on the Comptroller General's estimate of the average annual 
        amount of fraud losses, between $1,000 to $3,000 a year represents the 
        average American tax filer's share of the Federal Government's total 
        fraudulent spending;
Whereas fraud and improper payments have long been a concern for Congress, 
        pandemic-era spending programs exposed the vulnerability of Federal 
        agencies to criminals and malicious actors who had not previously 
        targeted United States Government programs;
Whereas, between March 2020 and March 2021, Congress enacted a series of six 
        laws providing over $4,600,000,000,000 in Federal funds to mitigate the 
        economic and public health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, with 
        Congress appropriating over $2,700,000,000,000 for these purposes in the 
        first four months of the pandemic alone;
Whereas the unprecedented expansion of government programs, changes to program 
        eligibility requirements, an influx of government spending, and lack of 
        commensurate and adequate fraud prevention and financial management 
        capabilities, created a perfect scenario for existing program and 
        payment integrity weaknesses to be exploited;
Whereas, in total, while the true extent of pandemic relief fraud may never be 
        known, the Comptroller General of the United States observes that 
        ``hundreds of billions of dollars in potentially fraudulent payments 
        were disbursed'';
Whereas fraud in Federal programs delays and prevents individuals who 
        legitimately need services, as Congress intended in establishing such 
        programs, from receiving them;
Whereas fraud in Federal programs severely undermines the public's trust in the 
        government causing unquantifiable additional damage to the United 
        States;
Whereas trust has further been eroded as specific fraud schemes have been 
        uncovered through recent congressional, Federal, and local 
        investigations;
Whereas significant fraud risks exist in programs that are federally funded and 
        administered by State, territorial, and local agencies;
Whereas the ongoing investigation by the Committee on Oversight and Government 
        Reform of the House of Representatives of fraud in Minnesota's social 
        services programs has highlighted real examples of fraud schemes that 
        stole billions of dollars from federally funded programs, taking 
        advantage of severely lacking State level program integrity and agency 
        oversight functions;
Whereas the ongoing investigation by the Committee on Oversight and Government 
        Reform of the House of Representatives of fraud in California's 
        federally funded hospice programs, including providers potentially 
        overbilling Medicare and enrolling beneficiaries without their 
        knowledge, raises valid concerns that California lacks sufficient 
        internal controls to detect and prevent fraud and is not conducting 
        proper oversight of these hospice programs;
Whereas the ongoing investigation by the Committee on Oversight and Government 
        Reform of the House of Representatives of fraud in Medicaid personal 
        care services authorized by Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) 
        waivers, including providers potentially improperly billing Medicaid or 
        billing for services that were never provided, raises valid concerns of 
        significant fraud in HCBS Medicaid waiver programs in Ohio and other 
        States across the country;
Whereas a March 4, 2026, interim report by the Majority staff of the Committee 
        on Oversight and Government Reform of the House of Representatives found 
        that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minnesota Attorney General Keith 
        Ellison ``were aware of widespread fraud in federally funded social 
        services programs for years, possessed the legal and procedural 
        authority to stop payments, but repeatedly failed to act'';
Whereas the same March 4, 2026, report found that senior officials in the 
        Governor Walz's office and Attorney General Ellison's office were 
        ``aware of credible fraud concerns in Minnesota's social services 
        programs as early as 2019 within the Department of Human Services (DHS) 
        and by April 2020 within the Department of Education (MDE), despite 
        later public statements by Governor Walz suggesting otherwise''.
Whereas, based on these investigations, the House of Representatives has 
        observed that State agencies have little incentive to ensure that 
        Federal funds are spent efficiently, or appropriately, and frequently 
        prioritize program access over payment integrity;
Whereas, based on these investigations, the House of Representatives has 
        observed that State agencies overly rely on the self-attested compliance 
        and reimbursement claims of providers and service enrollees, leaving 
        these programs highly susceptible to fraud;
Whereas the Comptroller General of the United States has also documented how 
        mechanisms of misrepresentation by criminals and malicious actors, such 
        as document manipulation, false declarations, and creating fictitious 
        entities, leave Federal programs open to significant fraud risk when 
        they rely on recipient self-attestation to determine award eligibility 
        and payment verification;
Whereas, in response to the rampant fraud identified in several States, the 
        Trump administration established the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud 
        through Executive Order 14395 (91 Fed. Reg. 13485; relating to 
        establishing the Task Force to eliminate fraud), issued on March 16, 
        2026;
Whereas the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud is empowered to coordinate a national 
        strategy to stop fraud, waste, and abuse, as rooted in a proper focus on 
        fraud prevention rather than recovery, a critical shift in approach 
        identified through the ongoing investigations by the Committee on 
        Oversight and Government Reform of the House of Representatives, 
        subcommittee hearings, and legislation favorably reported to the House 
        of Representatives;
Whereas, in March 2026, Federal prosecutors charged eleven individuals, 
        including two foreign nationals, in a major real estate and loan fraud 
        ring preying on elderly victims in California;
Whereas, between March 25, 2026, and April 15, 2026, the Task Force to Eliminate 
        Fraud suspended nearly 450 California-based hospice and home health 
        providers due to suspected fraud, with estimated fraud exceeding 
        $600,000,000;
Whereas, in April 2026, the Department of Justice secured a guilty plea from a 
        California-based provider who submitted nearly $270,000,000 in 
        fraudulent Medicaid claims;
Whereas the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud suspended $1,400,000,000 in home 
        health and hospice funding nationwide, with 90 percent of the suspended 
        providers failing to contact the Federal Government since payments were 
        suspended;
Whereas the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud uncovered $6,300,000,000 
        in suspected fraudulent government contracts, resulting in an immediate 
        investigation into nearly 400 businesses;
Whereas, on April 17, 2026, the Department of Justice announced that in the 
        first week since its establishment, the National Fraud Enforcement 
        Division exposed over $340,000,000 in fraudulent schemes;
Whereas the Department of Justice has also discovered that $250,000,000 meant 
        for a child nutrition program was instead spent on luxury cars and 
        overseas real estate holdings;
Whereas, between April 26, 2026, and May 13, 2026, the Secretary of Education 
        blocked $60,000,000 in fraudulent student loan applications following 
        the launch of a risk assessment tool to screen Federal student aid 
        applications for fraud;
Whereas conducting award recipient eligibility determinations and payment 
        verification prior to issuing awards and payments is the primary policy 
        reform needed to address the national fiscal emergency related to fraud 
        and improper payments in Federal agency programs; and
Whereas the House of Representatives in response to such emergency has expedited 
        the drafting and consideration of governmentwide fraud prevention and 
        improper payment reforms: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) condemns the fraudulent actions of those seeking to 
        defraud the United States Government;
            (2) believes governmentwide fraud and improper payment 
        prevention legislative and policy reforms will meaningfully 
        improve the continued financial prosperity of the United States 
        Government and the American taxpayer; and
            (3) believes Federal program eligibility and spending 
        activities should be verified prior to payments being issued.
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