The Stopping Fraudulent Payments Act gives federal agencies formal authority to temporarily hold, split, or condition a payment — such as a benefits check or tax refund — when objective data signals it may be fraudulent or improper. The agency must notify the payee (the person or organization owed money) within 2 days, identifying the specific fraud-risk indicator used. Payees can contest the hold and submit clarifying information during a review period. The routine, historically consistent portion of a recurring payment must generally be released while only the anomalous or unusually large portion is held. If the agency confirms the payment is legitimate, it must be issued within 7 days of clearance, and in all cases no later than 30 days after the hold began.
Average Household Impact
- federal benefit and tax payments subject to 30-day holds on documented fraud-risk grounds
- routine payment amounts released while only anomalous portion held pending review
- payee written notice required within 2 days identifying the specific fraud indicator used
Transparency & Accountability
- annual Treasury report to Congress on paused-payment counts, contestation rates, and fraud savings
Congressional Summary
Stopping Fraudulent Payments ActThis bill establishes requirements to prevent fraudulent or improper payments from federal programs.Specifically, the bill directs executive agencies to take corrective actions to temporarily pause, condition, or segment payment voucher requests before certifying them if the agencies have sufficient reason to determine that the payments present elevated risks of fraud or improper payments resulting in financial loss to the government. The corrective actions must be (1) based on objective, documented fraud-risk indicators; (2) narrowly applied to the portion of the payments presenting the elevated risk; and (3) limited in duration to the minimum period necessary to verify the eligibility or accuracy of the payments.The Department of the Treasury must return certified payment vouchers to agencies for corrective action if they present an elevated risk of fraud based on an output of Treasury’s Do Not Pay system.The bill also prohibits officers or employees of the federal government from being personally liable for actions taken in good faith under this bill.
Legislative Subjects
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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