House Oversight Committee Passes Sweeping Anti-Fraud Legislation

Matthew Merkel
5 days ago
4 min read

With the Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimating that $233 billion to $521 billion is lost to fraud annually, the 119th Congress has set its sights on ending the legacy pay-and-chase method of recovering stolen funds. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a markup on April 29 to advance sweeping anti-fraud legislation to protect taxpayer funds from rampant fraud in Federal programs.¹

To shift the government’s focus from recovery to prevention, the Committee advanced the following package of nine fraud prevention bills:

H.R. 8463, Pre-Payment Fraud Prevention and Treasury Data Access Act: Codifies Federal Defend The Spend mandates by requiring the U.S. Treasury to verify payee eligibility before disbursement. It expands the Do Not Pay system and grants Treasury the statutory authority to block and return payment requests to agencies if they fail to meet new high-risk fraud thresholds.
H.R. 8464, Stopping Fraudulent Payments Act: bars Federal agencies from requesting payments from the U.S. Treasury when there is an elevated risk of fraud and granting the Treasury authority to return suspicious requests.
H.R. 8312, Fraud Prevention and Accountability Act of 2025: Establishes a permanent Inspector General for Fraud, Accountability, and Recovery (IGFAR) within the Treasury to manage a government-wide data analytics platform and preserve pandemic-era investigative functions.
H.R. 8467, Zeroing Out Monetary Benefits Improperly Expended (ZOMBIE) Act: Replaces static, backwards-looking annual improper payment estimates with comprehensive, continuous fraud risk assessments and controls that focus on actual financial loss.
H.R. 8428, Federal Fraud Prevention Workforce Training Act: Mandates a government-wide training program to ensure the Federal, State, and local workforce is equipped to identify fraud risks and use tools like the Do Not Pay system.
H.R. 8466, Taxpayer Resources Used in Emergencies (TRUE) Accountability Act: Requires the Office of Management and Budget to issue guidance for real-time, data-driven monitoring and internal control plans during future national emergencies.
H.R. 8340, Taxpayer Funds Oversight and Accountability Act of 2025: Clarifies the responsibilities of agency Chief Financial Officers over financial performance and requires annual assessments of internal accounting controls.
H.R. 1755, Timely and Accurate Benefits Act of 2025: Gives States administering Federal funds access to the Treasury's Do Not Pay system and mandates that States develop capabilities for accurate identity and financial eligibility checks.
H.R. 8107, Government Audit and Accountability of Federally Funded State-Administered Programs Act of 2025: Directs the Comptroller General to produce a recurring assessment of State-administered programs to identify trends and administrative practices most vulnerable to waste and abuse.

On the same day as the House markup, the Senate unanimously passed a bill to lengthen the timeframe for prosecuting pandemic-era fraud, which is part of a larger 17-bill anti-fraud initiative currently advancing toward a floor vote. These legislative efforts align with the Trump Administration's March 16, 2026, Executive Order, which established a Task Force to Eliminate Fraud with strict timelines for agencies to identify vulnerabilities and implement anti-fraud controls.

Fortifying Programs with the Vander Weele Group

Stopping the theft of taxpayer dollars before it happens is a critical foundation for government efficiency. However, effective oversight doesn't stop there.

A grant program can technically be compliant, successfully fend off fraudsters, and still fail to achieve its intended mission. To ensure ultimate program integrity, organizations must implement robust oversight that identifies operational risks before they become headlines.

To meet the rigorous standards set by the 119th Congress—specifically the new requirements for pre-payment verification, ongoing fraud risk assessments, AI-enabled data analytics, and comprehensive workforce training¹—States and Federal agencies should look to the specialized expertise of the Vander Weele Group. We provide a comprehensive shield for Federal and State-administered grants, helping you achieve compliance with these new mandates through our full suite of services:

Agent Tipster™ (AI-Enabled Data Analytics): In alignment with the push for government-wide data analytics platforms, Agent Tipster uses AI and machine learning to rapidly pinpoint high-risk anomalies, trends, and irregular transactions in your data sets. This provides oversight teams with the actionable intelligence needed to return at-risk payment requests before funds go out the door.
Defend the Spend / DTS Navigator™: As Congress acts to end the legacy pay-and-chase method, our Defend the Spend support services provide the vital pre-payment justification architecture required for real-time verification. We help agencies build a real-time evidence vault that securely digitizes and categorizes receipts, payroll logs, and activity photos to ensure you meet strict pre-payment gatekeeping requirements without delaying valid funding.
Guardrails 360™: To enhance compliance with Federal regulatory frameworks, Guardrails 360 works side-by-side with your team to evaluate your internal accounting and administrative controls. We map out your program's life cycle to identify vulnerabilities, transforming passive policies into active, tested defenses against improper payments.
Grants Monitoring: Our turn-key grants monitoring programs test compliance and provide insights from the front lines that inform policy makers and drive strategic change. Through Meaningful Monitoring®—a strategic approach to grants monitoring that asks not only if programs are meeting objectives, but whether they are meeting them well—we identify program improvements rooted in practitioners’ perspectives and uncover obstacles to success not captured by quantitative data alone.
Technical Assistance & Training: Rather than just penalizing grantees for procedural errors, our technical assistance teams help grantees identify areas of non-compliance, uncover systemic barriers to success, and furnish non-punitive remediation plans to guide programs back on track. We provide training to explain compliance requirements and recommend specific remedies to immediately address deficiencies and avoid future findings.

The Power of Independent Oversight

By engaging the Vander Weele Group, organizations can rapidly expand their oversight capacity and systematize compliance, allowing leadership and grant managers to step away from the heavy regulatory burdens of fraud detection and compliance testing. Instead, they can spend their time where it matters most: focusing on program implementation, clearing obstacles to success, and ensuring taxpayer investments achieve their intended public good.

Are your program’s defenses ready for the new Federal standards? Contact the Vander Weele Group today to learn how Guardrails 360®, Agent Tipster™, Meaningful Monitoring®, DTS Navigator, and our Technical Assistance and Training services can protect your funding and your mission.

¹ Markup Wrap Up: Oversight Committee Passes Sweeping Legislation to Stop Fraud in Federal Programs, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Press Release, April 29, 2026