ENDING IMPROPER PAYMENTS TO DECEASED PEOPLE ACT

On 2026-01-12, Representative Jason Smith (R-MO-8) delivered a floor speech titled "ENDING IMPROPER PAYMENTS TO DECEASED PEOPLE ACT" in the House. The speech addressed taxes and also covered the environment, foreign policy. It referenced legislation including HR269, S269.

ENDING IMPROPER PAYMENTS TO DECEASED PEOPLE ACT

Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 8 (Monday, January 12, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 8 (Monday, January 12, 2026)] [House] [Pages H634-H637] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] ENDING IMPROPER PAYMENTS TO DECEASED PEOPLE ACT Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 269) to improve =========================== NOTE =========================== On January 12, 2026, page H634, in the second column, the following appeared:and pass the bill (H.R. 269) to improve The online version has been corrected to read:and pass the bill (S. 269) to improve ========================= END NOTE ========================= coordination between Federal and State agencies and the Do Not Pay working system.The Clerk read the title of the bill. The text of the bill is as follows: S. 269 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 ``Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act''. SEC. 2. IMPROVING COORDINATION BETWEEN FEDERAL AND STATE AGENCIES AND THE DO NOT PAY WORKING SYSTEM. (a) In General.--Section 205(r) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 405(r)), as amended by section 801(a)(7) of title VIII of division FF of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (Public Law 116-260), is amended by striking paragraph (11) and inserting the following: ``(11) The Commissioner of Social Security shall, to the extent feasible, provide information furnished to the Commissioner under paragraph (1) to the agency operating the Do Not Pay working system described in section 3354(c) of title 31, United States Code, for the authorized uses of the Do Not Pay working system to help prevent improper payments of, and support the recovery of improperly paid, benefits or other payments through a cooperative arrangement with such agency, provided that the requirements of subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (3) are met with respect to such arrangement with such agency. The Commissioner of Social Security and the agency operating the Do Not Pay working system shall, while the data described in the preceding sentence is being provided to the agency operating the Do Not Pay working system, enter into an agreement based upon an agreed upon methodology, which covers the proportional share of State death data costs, which the Commissioner of Social Security and the agency operating the Do Not Pay working system may periodically review. ``(12) The Commissioner of Social Security may not record a death to a record that may be provided under this section for any individual unless the Commissioner of Social Security has found it has clear and convincing evidence to support that the individual should be presumed to be deceased.''. (b) Improving Coordination Regarding Individuals Incorrectly Identified as Deceased.--Section 205(r)(7) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 405(r)(7)), as added by section 801(a)(4) of title VIII of division FF of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (Public Law 116-260), is amended by striking ``and'' at the end of subparagraph (A), by striking the period at the end of subparagraph (B) and inserting ``; and'', and by adding at the end the following new subparagraph: ``(C) notify any agency that has a cooperative arrangement with the Commissioner of Social Security under paragraph (3) or (11) of the error.''. (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall take effect on December 27, 2026. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Smith) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Doggett) each will control 20 minutes. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Missouri. General Leave Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and submit extraneous material on the bill under consideration. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Missouri? There was no objection. Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of the Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act. This bipartisan bill continues a bipartisan policy that has already enabled the Federal Government to identify, prevent, and recover hundreds of millions of dollars of improper payments made to dead people. Currently, the Social Security Administration has temporary authority to share its death data with the Treasury Department's Do Not Pay Portal to identify, prevent, and recover improper payments. In its first year alone, Treasury reported this data exchange saved American taxpayers over $108 million. Unfortunately, Social Security's authority to share its data with Treasury is temporary and lapses at the end of this year if Congress doesn't pass this bill. That would only increase the likelihood that more taxpayer money is erroneously sent to dead people. In 2023 alone, before this policy was implemented, the Office of Management and Budget found the Federal Government sent $1.3 billion to dead people. That is unacceptable. The American people expect Congress to safeguard their hard-earned tax money from waste, fraud, and abuse. I thank Representative Higgins for his leadership on this issue as well as [[Page H635]] Senator Kennedy. As a former law enforcement officer, Clay Higgins has worked to protect Americans from criminals, and now he is translating that commitment into finding ways that we can protect taxpayer dollars as well. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time. Mr. DOGGETT. Madam Speaker, I yield myself 5 minutes. Madam Speaker, information on the deceased is already shared among Federal agencies under existing law. This is really a trivial bill that is designed only to make it appear that Republicans are doing something about supposed fraud. An independent investigation found that the Social Security Administration has an incredible success rate with less than 1 percent of payments found to be improper, some of those being overpayments and some of those being underpayments. Today, of course, is not the first time we have heard these claims about fraudulent Social Security payments to the dead. Indeed, from that very podium, Madam Speaker, we heard President Trump last March come to give a lengthy address to a joint session of this Congress. In his remarks that combined misinformation, outright lies, and a good many platitudes, the President devoted special attention to Social Security, ridiculing it with outlandish tales. He spoke of ``3.9 million people from ages 130 to 139, 3.5 million people from ages 140 to 149. And money is being paid to many of them.'' What nonsense. Thanks to the anti-fraud guardrails that are already available, that has not happened, and the President's representation was absolutely wrong. While today's bill essentially duplicates existing efforts to prevent erroneous payments, the focus on improper payments to deceased people is just another part of the Republican plan to undermine public confidence in Social Security, a social insurance program that has been one of the most valuable initiatives ever approved in this Congress. Yet Trump appointed Elon Musk, who proclaimed that Social Security is ``a Ponzi scheme.'' He gave him the authority to take a hatchet to the Social Security Administration. For months, DOGE, the department of government evisceration, promoted related lies. Undermining the delivery of checks and quality service, the Trump regime, through DOGE, abruptly fired thousands of Social Security workers, and it continues to enact erratic policy changes. This comes on top of years of Republican opposition to adequately staffing the Social Security Administration. Social Security has less staff today than it did a decade ago, despite the fact that it now serves many, many more Americans. As a result, at Social Security, under the Trump regime, there is a backlog of 6 million cases, public inquiries, along with an agency that is riddled with errors and delays from the shortage of adequate staffing. Now, the plan from the Trump regime on Social Security is to cut in- person visits at offices around the country, which is just another effort to obstruct Americans from getting straight answers, not from a machine but from a person, concerning their hard-earned benefits. These are just more ways to cause Americans to question this vital Federal program so that nobody is surprised if, one day, the payments are late or the trust fund is insufficient. We have had one current Member of the United States Senate, a Republican, who has declared that what we need to do, he insists, is to ``pull it up by the roots and get rid of it'' with reference to Social Security. Providing modest retirement, disability, and retirement benefits to 69 million Americans, Social Security is what puts food in the fridge and keeps the lights on week after week. For 22 million Americans, Social Security is the difference between living in poverty, and for 40 percent, it is more than one-half of their income. It is a lifesaving, irreplaceable, social contract. As stewards of this hard-earned benefit, we must protect taxpayers' dollars, but empty promises to address supposed fraud are not the answer. Americans deserve a restored watchdog and efficient program at Social Security that ensures swift and easy access to their payments. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time. {time} 1650 Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Estes). Mr. ESTES. Madam Speaker, I thank Chairman Smith for yielding time to me on this important topic. It is important to be here today to express my support for S. 269, the Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act. It is commonsense legislation that taxpayers should not be footing

Referenced legislation: S269, S269