02/12/2025 at 10:00AM
On Wednesday, February 12, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. ET in 2247 Rayburn House Office Building, the Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency will host a hearing titled “The War on Waste: Stamping Out the Scourge of Improper Payments and Fraud.”
Witnesses:
- Dawn Royal, Director, United Council on Welfare Fraud
- Haywood “Woody” Talcove, Chief Executive Officer, LexisNexis Special Services Inc.
- Stewart Whitson, Senior Director of Federal Affairs, Foundation for Government Accountability
The Government Accountability Office estimates that since 2003 the federal government has made approximately $2.8 trillion in improper payments.
CRS reports that the error rate for the School Lunch program decreased from 16.3% in FY2004 to 2.4% in FY2023, and the error rate for the Pell Grant program declined from 4.9% in FY2008 to 2.8% in FY2023.
The error rate for FFS decreased from 10.1% in FY2004 to 7.4% in FY2023, and Part C’s error rate decreased from 10.6% in FY2008 to 6.0% in FY2023. Part D’s error rate increased from 3.2% in FY2011 to 3.7% in FY2023.
In FY2004, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program reported an error rate of 6.6%, which steadily declined until it reached 3.8% in FY2011. The error rate remained below 4.0% for five consecutive fiscal years, then grew quickly, reaching 6.8% in FY2019 and 11.6% in FY2023. Similarly, the error rate for the Children’s Health Insurance Program declined from 14.7% in FY2008 to 6.5% in FY2014, and then increased steadily until reaching 15.8% in FY2019.