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Senator Hassan applauds passage of legislation to help prevent government payments to deceased individuals

By Staff | Jul 2, 2020

WASHINGTON – Following reports that the Internal Revenue Service paid $1.4 billion in COVID-19 stimulus payments to deceased individuals, the Senate last night passed bipartisan legislation to curb erroneous payments to deceased individuals and save federal dollars. The bill is a version of one that Senator Maggie Hassan introduced last year.

The bipartisan legislation supported by Senator Hassan would give all federal agencies access to the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) death records – which represent the most complete federal databases of the deceased – and require that federal agencies make appropriate use of the death data to curb improper payments.

Currently, only a small number of federal agencies have access to the SSA’s official death database, which means most agencies have to rely on an incomplete and less up-to-date version of death information. In addition, most Inspectors General lack access to the complete death information. As a result, many federal agencies make erroneous payments to people who are actually deceased.

“Stopping the wasteful practice of sending billions of federal dollars to deceased individuals is simply common sense,” said Senator Hassan. “By passing this bipartisan legislation, the Senate has taken a strong step to save taxpayer dollars, and I encourage the House of Representatives to pass this legislation soon.”

As the top Democrat on the Federal Spending Oversight and Emergency Management subcommittee, Senator Hassan is focused on working across the aisle to promote fiscal responsibility and improve innovation and efficiency within the federal government. Last month, Senator Hassan introduced the Coin Metal Modification Authorization and Cost Savings Act, which is part of her efforts to implement changes included in the annual report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) that examines duplication, overlap, and fragmentation in the federal government. Last year, the President signed into law bipartisan legislation cosponsored by Senator Hassan to require the Office of Management and Budget and the leading administrator of grant programs to streamline data transparency requirements for grant recipients and ultimately make data collection and dissemination to Congress faster and easier.

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