Passed
393 Yea0 Nay37 Not voting2/3 required
HR-8428-119
Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
Sponsored by Glenn Grothman (R-WI)
What it does
This bill would create a government-wide training program on fraud and improper payment prevention, run by the Treasury Department and Office of Management and Budget. Federal employees who manage, disburse, audit, or oversee federal program funds would be required to complete the training within 180 days of taking their position and every two years afterward, and the training would also be made available at no cost to state, local, and tribal government employees who administer federally funded programs.
Who benefits
Federal agencies and taxpayers who could see reduced fraud and improper payments in federal programs; state, local, and tribal governments that receive free access to standardized training and technical assistance; companies that develop or provide fraud-detection and data analytics tools referenced in the curriculum, such as those tied to the Treasury's Do Not Pay system.
Who is hurt
Federal agencies bear implementation and compliance costs, including staff time diverted to mandatory training every two years; program administrators, grants managers, disbursement officials, and auditors who must complete recurring certification requirements; state and local governments that choose to integrate the program may face administrative costs to align their frameworks even though the training itself is free.
Supporters argue
Supporters argue that improper payments have cost the federal government hundreds of billions of dollars in recent years according to GAO estimates, and that standardized, mandatory training for the employees who actually administer and disburse funds is a straightforward way to reduce waste. They contend that extending free training and technical assistance to state, local, and tribal partners addresses a major source of improper payments, since many federal programs are administered jointly with these governments.
Opponents argue
Opponents argue that mandatory recurring training adds another compliance burden to already stretched federal agencies without any guarantee that it will meaningfully reduce fraud, since past improper payment reduction efforts have shown mixed results. They contend that creating yet another government-wide training mandate risks becoming a paperwork exercise that consumes staff time and administrative resources without addressing the underlying systemic causes of improper payments, such as outdated IT systems or complex eligibility rules.
Constitutional context
This bill falls under Congress's authority to organize and structure federal agencies and their personnel practices under the Necessary and Proper Clause, and raises no significant separation-of-powers or individual-rights question since it creates an internal training and certification program rather than altering appointment, removal, or adjudicative authority.
Checks and balances
Congress directs the executive branch (Treasury, OMB, and OPM) to design and administer the training program, with reporting requirements to congressional oversight committees serving as the primary check on implementation.
Historical precedent
The Payment Integrity Information Act of 2019 and earlier improper payment reduction laws established similar reporting and prevention requirements for federal agencies, though this bill's mandatory workforce training component is a more specific new mechanism.
Passed