Stopping Fraudulent Payments Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8464 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 8464

    To amend title 31, United States Code, to authorize pausing and
              segmenting payments, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 23, 2026

  Mr. Comer (for himself and Mr. Arrington) introduced the following
 bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government
                                 Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

    To amend title 31, United States Code, to authorize pausing and
              segmenting payments, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Stopping Fraudulent Payments Act''.

SEC. 2. AUTHORITY TO PAUSE AND SEGMENT PAYMENTS.

    (a) Treasury Payment Voucher Waiver Authority.--
            (1) Amendment.--Subchapter II of chapter 33 of title 31,
        United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the
        following:
``Sec. 3337. Authority to pause and segment payments
    ``(a) Agency Obligation To Pause Disbursement Requests for
Corrective Action.--The head of an agency that administers a federally
funded financial assistance or public benefit program shall take a
corrective action to temporarily delay, condition, or segment a
disbursement request before the certification of a payment voucher
under section 3325 if, as determined by an official designated by the
head of the agency, the agency--
            ``(1) has sufficient reason to determine that the payment
        presents an elevated risk of fraud based on a fraud-risk
        indicator or an improper payment resulting in financial loss to
        the Government as estimated under the requirements of section
        3352; or
            ``(2) has been notified of an order from the Secretary of
        the Treasury described under subsection (b).
    ``(b) Treasury Obligation To Return Payment Voucher and Issue
Corrective Action Order.--Except where otherwise required by law, the
Secretary of the Treasury shall notify the relevant certifying official
of an order to return a certified payment voucher submitted to a
disbursing official under section 3325 pursuant to the requirements of
this section and issue a corrective action order to the head of an
agency if the Secretary of the Treasury determines--
            ``(1) a determination has been made that the payment
        presents an elevated risk of fraud-based on a fraud-risk
        indicator or an improper payment under subchapter IV; or
            ``(2) a payment payee has been flagged in the Do Not Pay
        system, as prescribed in guidance prepared by the Secretary of
        the Treasury, or another Treasury administered payment,
        account, or payee validation program or service.
    ``(c) Agency Documentation and Time-Limited Corrective Action.--An
action taken by an agency under subsection (a) shall--
            ``(1) be based on objective, documented fraud-risk
        indicator;
            ``(2) be narrowly applied to the portion of the payment
        presenting the elevated risk; and
            ``(3) be limited in duration to the minimum period of time
        necessary as determined by the agency to verify eligibility of
        the payee or accuracy of the payment per the program
        requirements or as stipulated under another law.
    ``(d) Payee Notification and Time Limit of Paused Disbursement
Requests.--With respect to a disbursement request that has been delayed
pursuant to subsection (a) or a payment voucher that is returned
pursuant subsection (b), the head of the agency shall take the
following actions in accordance with any the regulations issued under
subsection (i) along with any clarifying guidance issued by the
Secretary of the Treasury in consultation with the Director of the
Office of Management and Budget:
            ``(1) Provide prompt notice to the payee, as appropriate,
        including a notification that--
                    ``(A) a disbursement has been temporarily paused,
                conditioned, or segmented;
                    ``(B) identifies the nature of the fraud-risk
                indicator relied upon by the agency to make the
                determination; and
                    ``(C) outline the process for the review period.
            ``(2) Establish a process tailored to the specific
        requirements and design of the agency program for a payee to
        contest any factual inaccuracy or provide clarifying
        information during the corrective action review period.
            ``(3) Issue such payment not later than 45 days after the
        determination was made or the agency was notified, but not
        later than 7 days after the date on which the payee contests
        the corrective action under the process established pursuant to
        paragraph (2).
    ``(e) Segmentation of Low-Risk Payments.--To the maximum extent
practicable, the head of each agency shall allow a routine,
historically consistent payment amount to proceed while temporarily
holding an anomalous, unusually large, or high-risk portion of a
payment, or class of payments, pending review and resolution of a
corrective action.
    ``(f) Exemptions for Law Enforcement Activities.--The head of an
agency, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury and the
Attorney General, may waive any provision in this section on a case-by-
case basis if notified of or instructed by a Federal law enforcement
authority, including an agency Inspector General, that the action will
jeopardize an active criminal investigation or legal proceeding related
to an effort to defraud the Federal Government or violate the False
Claims Act (31 U.S.C. 3729 et seq.).
    ``(g) Limitation of Liability.--No officer or employee of the
Federal Government shall be personally liable for an action taken in
good faith under this section. An action taken under this section may
not constitute a final determination of eligibility, liability, or
wrongdoing on the part of a payee.
    ``(h) Rule of Construction for Program Authorizing Statute.--
Nothing in this section may be construed to supersede any other
provision of law with respect to the statute that authorizes the
payment or program the payment is made under.
    ``(i) Regulations.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the
enactment of this section, and annually thereafter, the Secretary of
the Treasury, in consultation with the Director of the Office of
Management and Budget, shall issue regulations and establish procedures
to administer the requirements of this section that shall be published
in the Federal Register.
    ``(j) Routine, Historically Consistent Payment Amount Defined.--In
this section, the term `routine, historically consistent payment
amount' means a payment amount that is consistent with previous payment
history of the payee, established program use patterns, or other
objective benchmarks determined by the certifying agency.
    ``(k) Fraud-Risk Indicator Defined.--In this section, the term
`fraud-risk indicator' means an objective data point or analytic signal
that indicates an anomalous payment pattern or increase in the volume
of a payment amount, a verified data mismatch, network or behavioral
anomaly, or match identified by the Do Not Pay system under section
3354 and any other payment, account, and payee validation program or
service provided by the Department of the Treasury that would result in
financial loss to the government.''.
            (2) Technical and conforming amendment.--The table of
        sections for chapter 33 of title 31, United States Codes, is
        amended by inserting after the item for section 3336 the
        following:

        ``3337. Authority to pause and segment payments.''.
    (b) Relief of Accountable Officers.--Section 3527 of title 31,
United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)(2), by inserting after ``the loss or
        deficiency was not the result of an illegal or incorrect
        payment'' the following: ``, or was made as a result of a good
        faith effort to comply with the requirements of section 3337'';
        and
            (2) in subsection (b)(1)(A)(ii), by inserting after ``the
        loss or deficiency was not the result of an illegal or
        incorrect payment'' the following: ``, or was made as a result
        of a good faith effort to comply with the requirements of
        section 3337''.
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