HR-8312 — Fraud Prevention and Accountability Act

YourVoice.Now Summary

Civil LibertiesTransparency & Accountability

Creates a permanent Treasury fraud watchdog over pandemic-era relief funds and requires flagging fraud risks before bills over $100 billion pass.

Civil Liberties

Payment-data screening — Federal-fund recipients matched against a governmentwide fraud database
Identity and account monitoring — Tools verify recipient identity, eligibility, and payment-change activity
Privacy Act protections — New office's records treated as law-enforcement files, limiting individual access

Transparency & Accountability

Fraud Inspector General — Permanent office created in Treasury to oversee covered federal funds
Oversight reporting — Annual reports to Congress and a public findings website required
Data analysis center — DATA Act authorization changed from discretionary "may" to mandatory "shall"
Pre-enactment fraud review — Treasury must advise Congress on bills over $100 billion
Pandemic-fraud oversight — Sunsetting PRAC replaced by a permanent standing office
FOIA disclosure scope — Office's oversight records treated as exempt law-enforcement material

The details

The Fraud Prevention and Accountability Act creates a new, permanent Inspector General for Fraud, Accountability, and Recovery inside the Treasury Department. The President appoints this official, and the Senate confirms them. They would oversee "covered funds" — money from major federal programs including the CARES Act, the American Rescue Plan, the bipartisan infrastructure law, the Inflation Reduction Act, the CHIPS Act, SBA loans, and unemployment benefits. Treasury's Bureau of the Fiscal Service would run a governmentwide data analysis program. It screens recipients of federal money against a central fraud database, and shares fraud data with federal, state, local, and tribal agencies to catch improper payments. The new watchdog would inherit the data tools, staff, and assets of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC). PRAC would shut down on December 31, 2028 — about six years earlier than its current 2034 expiration. Starting in fiscal year 2035, $10 million a year would fund the new office, which would file annual reports to Congress and post findings on a public website. Treasury must flag fraud-prevention gaps to Congress before lawmakers pass emergency or recovery bills costing more than $100 billion, or new programs spending over $100 million in a single year. Records held by the new office would be treated as law-enforcement files, which limits what the public and individuals can obtain about them under the Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy Act.

Congressional Summary

Fraud Prevention and Accountability ActThis bill (1) assigns financial integrity, improper payment prevention, and spending transparency functions to the Bureau of the Fiscal Service (BFS) within the Department of the Treasury; (2) establishes an Office of the Inspector General for Fraud, Accountability, and Recovery (OIGFAR) within Treasury; and (3) requires Treasury to enter into data sharing agreements with other federal agencies and allowable private entities to prevent fraud and improper payments.Functions assigned to BFS by the bill includeadministering the Do Not Pay system (which provides federal agencies and federally funded state-administered programs the ability to verify recipient identity and eligibility before making an award or issuing a payment);maintaining a voluntary governmentwide program to provide data sharing and analysis to federal agencies and to state, local, or tribal governments responsible for administering a federally funded program in order to detect fraud and prevent improper payments that result in financial loss; andsupporting OIGFAR by providing access to information technology and data.The duties of OIGFAR include auditing and investigating the use of certain federal funds, such asfunds, loans, and tax credits made available by various coronavirus response laws;any federal award of $50,000 or more; andemergency spending related to disaster relief or economic recovery.OIGFAR must ensure the expeditious reporting of suspected violations of federal criminal law to the Department of Justice. OIGFAR is authorized to provide investigative support to prosecutive and enforcement authorities to protect program integrity and prevent, detect, and prosecute fraud.

Legislative Subjects

Accounting and auditingAdvisory bodiesComputers and information technologyCongressional oversightData collection, sharing, protectionDepartment of the TreasuryExecutive agency funding and structureFederal officialsFraud offenses and financial crimesIntergovernmental relationsInternet, web applications, social media

Details

Congress: 119th
Chamber: House
Status: summarized
Action: Reported to House
Action Date: 2026-06-03
Date Added: 2026-06-08
Source: Congress.gov →

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