The Treasury Department has intercepted $99 million in improper payments through a new verification system designed to prevent federal funds from being issued to deceased individuals, fulfilling a key Trump-era mandate to combat fraud and waste.
The agency announced Tuesday that its system screens approximately 885 million federal payments against expanded death records, auditing nearly $2.7 trillion in transactions and identifying over 4,900 cases involving deceased recipients for review.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated the safeguard fulfills a priority of President Donald J. Trump’s efforts to reduce fraud, waste, and abuse while strengthening the federal payment system. The initiative builds on Executive Order 14249, signed by President Trump in March 2025, which directed agencies to address improper payments.
The system relies on expanded access to the Social Security Administration’s Full Death Master File to identify potentially ineligible recipients before payments are issued. Treasury initially received temporary access through a 2021 pilot program that projected $330 million in net savings between 2024 and 2026, with Congress making that access permanent in February 2026 via the Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act.
The department plans to expand the verification system across federal agencies as part of a broader effort to prevent improper payments before taxpayer funds leave federal accounts. Additional anti-fraud initiatives are being coordinated with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, and officials from the White House Anti-Fraud Task Force.
Bessent emphasized: “Treasury has delivered on a key promise of President Trump’s mandate to stop improper payments and fraud before money leaves the Treasury.”
The program aims to ensure American taxpayer dollars are used efficiently and lawfully, forming part of the Trump administration’s broader efforts to reduce waste and fraud in welfare, Medicaid, hospices, and daycares.
In March 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order 14249, “Protecting America’s Bank Account Against Fraud, Waste, and Abuse.”
