Taxes and Budget

Fraud and improper payments in federal programs

63 public statements from 2026 candidates · 5 related bills

§1The range of views

Why this matters: Mistaken and fraudulent payments waste taxpayers' money, and the checks meant to stop them can also delay or deny help to people who qualify.

Drafted by AI, then checked for neutral wording in a separate AI review. It describes the question and the main positions, not any candidate's view. Facts link to their sources.

How the federal government prevents and recovers improper payments, which are payments that shouldn't have been made or were made in the wrong amount, whether by mistake or through fraud, in programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, food assistance and unemployment insurance.1,2

  1. Pause payments that show signs of fraud until they're verified, and require states to share program data with federal investigators
  2. Add more data checks before payments go out, with limits on how long payments to people who qualify can be held up
  3. Focus on upgrading agency systems and staff, and limit sharing people's program data beyond the agencies that run each program

These options describe policies, not people. The order is not a ranking.

§2What candidates have said

Why this matters: Statements candidates made publicly, summarized in plain words with a link to where they said it. Candidates who haven't spoken publicly on this issue aren't listed.

Drafted by AI from the public sources cited. Each sentence links to its source.

Pause payments that show signs of fraud until they're verified, and require states to share program data with federal investigators (1)

  • Michelle Fischbach MN-7
    The issues page says she led and joined congressional efforts demanding answers about fraud in Minnesota and will keep pursuing where tax dollars went. The record page lists leading oversight of the Feeding Our Future fraud and co-sponsoring bills on audit controls for pandemic assistance programs and on recipient-level data for SNAP. Her page on that SNAP bill says it would require states to hand beneficiary-level data to the Agriculture Department when lawfully asked, and her page on the No Aid for Ghost Students Act says she backs screening every federal student aid application for identity fraud and holding aid until a flagged applicant confirms who they are.3,4,5,6

Statements that don't match one option (62)

  • Gary Palmer AL-6
    His campaign website says he has drawn attention to billions of dollars in improper payments by federal agencies and to revenue the government failed to collect.7
  • Peter Sundin Soulé CA-16
    His campaign website says the Department of Justice should investigate waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer money, citing a California State Auditor report on improper payments by state agencies.8
  • Kyle Kirkland CA-21
    His campaign website says he would stop government waste and fraud and demand audits so that tax dollars deliver results.9
  • Houston Brignano CA-36
    His campaign website calls for stopping waste, fraud and abuse in government spending so the money can help the people who need it most.10
  • Pedro Antonio Casas CA-38
    His campaign website says he would aggressively investigate Medicare and Medicaid fraud in California.11
  • Young Kim CA-40
    Her campaign website says she led efforts to pass the No More Scams Act to recover taxpayer money stolen by fraudsters and hold them accountable.12
  • Chuong V. Vo CA-45
    His campaign website says he would audit waste and fraud across all federal agencies and target fraud and duplication rather than ask taxpayers to pay more.13
  • Jenny Rae Le Roux CA-47
    Her campaign website says she would require publicly accessible spending reports for every major federal program, lower federal prosecution thresholds so fraud schemes under $1 million are pursued, reform FOIA, and push for independent, real-time audits of high-risk federal programs.14
  • Scott Peters CA-50
    His campaign website lists a 2025 law he wrote that stops payments to providers who have died by checking Medicaid rolls against federal death records.15
  • Amy Chai CT-1
    Her campaign website proposes a Federal Expenditure Transparency and Accountability Act that would create a public, searchable portal of federal spending with AI-based anomaly detection to find fraud and improper payments.16
  • Aaron Bean FL-4
    His campaign website says he co-founded the Congressional DOGE Caucus to root out waste, fraud and abuse in government.17
  • Ralph Groves FL-11
    His campaign website says he would work with Vice President JD Vance to tackle Medicare fraud.18
  • Laurel Lee FL-15
    Her campaign website says she supported efforts to end fraud, waste and abuse in government programs so taxpayer money reaches people who truly need it rather than people who are ineligible or are defrauding the system.19
  • Scott Franklin FL-18
    His campaign website says he is working to expose and eliminate fraud.20
  • Maria Elvira Salazar FL-27
    Her campaign website says she has worked to recover billions of taxpayer dollars lost to fraud and waste during the pandemic, and lists among her accomplishments her RECLAIM Taxpayer Funds Act, which it says was implemented by the SBA and recovers billions of dollars from fraudulent government loans.21,22
  • Mike Collins GA Senate
    His campaign website says Washington must crack down on fraud and misuse of tax dollars, including in Medicaid.23
  • James "Jim" Kingston GA-1
    His campaign website says the reforms he supports to keep Medicare solvent include rooting out waste, fraud and abuse.24
  • Christian Maxwell IL-1
    Her issues page says she will support Medicaid program-integrity reforms, hospital accountability standards and oversight of federal healthcare spending, and will push to expose waste, fraud and abuse.25
  • Lupe Castillo IL-4
    Her campaign website says she will fight for the elimination of corruption in government programs so the money goes to the needy rather than the politically connected, and supports government funds going directly to needy Americans rather than to NGOs she describes as politically corrupt.26,27
  • Jeff Walter IL-11
    His campaign website says he supports rooting out fraud and waste in Washington.28
  • James T. "Jim" Marter IL-14
    His campaign website says he will fight to end government waste, fraud and abuse.29
  • Whitfield Harrington Jr IL Senate
    His campaign website says he would create a Cabinet-level anti-fraud department whose one mission is to find stolen taxpayer dollars and get them back.30
  • Barb Regnitz IN-1
    Her campaign website says she wants to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse to ensure taxpayer dollars are used responsibly.31
  • William Eric Henry IN-2
    His campaign website lists eliminating fraud, waste and abuse among his issues.32
  • James R. Comer KY-1
    His campaign website says he aggressively advocates for reducing government waste, fraud and abuse.33
  • Lisa Ballay LA-2
    Her campaign website says improper federal payments are overwhelmingly paperwork and eligibility errors made by the government rather than families cheating programs, and that the answer is knowing where the money went, not cutting benefits for the people who depend on the programs.34
  • Gordon Heslop LA-4
    His campaign website lists strict audits of all government programs for fraud and waste among its goals.35
  • "Mike" Johnson LA-4
    His official House website's Fiscal Responsibility page lists eliminating fraud, waste and abuse among the steps it says Congress must take to resolve that crisis.36
  • Michael Echols LA-5
    His campaign website says the work of DOGE exposed waste, fraud and abuse in the federal bureaucracy and that Congress should audit federal agencies aggressively, expose wasteful spending and eliminate programs that no longer serve the public.37
  • Gary J. Grossi MA-3
    His campaign website says he will work to root out waste, fraud and abuse at all levels of government and to make sure every tax dollar is accounted for.38
  • Chris Chaffee MD-5
    His campaign website lists ending government fraud, waste and abuse among his pledges.39
  • Hillary Scholten MI-3
    Her campaign website says she wants Social Security and Medicare to run more efficiently by going after waste, fraud and abuse.40
  • Tim Walberg MI-5
    His campaign website says his Taxpayers Right-To-Know Act, put into effect in 2024, created an online list of federal programs and their costs to make waste easier to spot, that he has worked to root out waste, fraud and abuse across the federal government, and that as chair of the Education and Workforce Committee he has guided bills through the House targeting fraud in student aid and child care programs.41,42
  • Michael Bouchard MI-10
    His campaign website says he will always protect Medicare and Social Security and that waste and fraud that threaten those programs must be rooted out.43,44
  • T.P. Nykoriak MI-13
    His campaign website says he will work to protect Medicare and Medicaid for the people who rely on them lawfully while rooting out fraud, waste and abuse.45
  • Michele Tafoya MN Senate
    Her campaign website says she would push to cut off federal funding to any state that refuses to put anti-fraud controls in place or follow basic audit and recovery practices.46
  • Jake Johnson MN-1
    His campaign website says he supports mandatory prison time for people who commit fraud against government programs, restoring the inspectors general who were fired, and modernizing outdated government technology to cut costs and prevent fraud.47,48
  • Eric Pratt MN-2
    His campaign website says he would create an independent Office of Program Integrity to identify fraud, waste and abuse before losses occur, hold states that administer federal dollars to clear eligibility standards and oversight, and support stronger penalties for people and organizations that knowingly defraud the government.49
  • Tyler Bass MN-3
    His campaign website’s fraud plan says organizations that want federal or state money to run programs for children and adults with special needs should first show two years of tax returns proving they can run at a profit, or two years of documented operation they paid for themselves, and says he would set up a team to investigate fraud cases in the district.50
  • Paul Wikstrom MN-4
    His campaign website lists a seven-point plan to stop fraud that includes checking eligibility in real time before any payment goes out, longer statutes of limitations for fraud prosecutions, stronger inspectors general, rewards for whistleblowers, data analytics to catch fraud early, and holding states accountable for fraud in state-administered programs. It also lists mandatory audits of all major federal spending, fraud-prevention controls as a condition of funding, and money for federal investigators to pursue large-scale fraud.51,52
  • John Nagel MN-5
    It says he would work to eliminate fraud and waste and to restore accountability in Washington.53
  • Erik Osberg MN-7
    His Fighting Fraud and Waste in Government priority says he wants modern data tools, such as better data matching, risk-based audits and sharing of information across agencies, to stop improper payments before the money is sent, while protecting legitimate services.54
  • Amy Klobuchar MN Governor
    Her campaign website says she would require thorough screening of all grants and contracts before state money is awarded, add regular and unannounced in-person inspections, create a state database that automatically blocks anyone convicted of fraud from state grants, contracts and payments, freeze suspicious payments while fraud is investigated, and toughen criminal penalties for fraud.55
  • Lisa Demuth MN Governor
    Her campaign website says she would order unannounced site visits to recipients of program money such as child care assistance and Medicaid services, cross-check payments against people known to have committed fraud, bar providers credibly suspected of fraud from other programs, and suspend payments for suspected fraud.56,57
  • Eric W. Burlison MO-7
    His campaign website lists holding Washington accountable by ridding it of waste, fraud and abuse as a priority, and lists helping lead an effort to cut waste and fraud among his accomplishments.58
  • Missi Hesketh MO-7
    Her Accountability page headline on auditing the Pentagon says the goal is to cut waste and fraud.59
  • Scott Colom MS Senate
    His campaign website says he would give federal anti-corruption investigators more resources, protect whistleblowers and crack down on fraud in federal programs such as health care and disaster relief.60
  • Bennie Foster MS-2
    His campaign website says he will work for more transparency in government to restore trust and root out fraud, waste and abuse in local, state and federal government.61
  • Carl Boyanton MS-4
    His campaign website says he would update government computer systems and use artificial intelligence to flag suspicious payments before they go out, and would push for stronger enforcement and whistleblower protections.62
  • Michael D Eisenhauer MT-2
    His Voter Contract page says he will push for more openness in federal spending and expose waste, fraud and abuse, and his Why Independent page lists reducing waste, fraud and abuse in government spending among actions of President Trump that he clearly supports.63,64
  • Mark Harris NC-8
    His campaign website's Accomplishments page lists the SNAP Fraud Reporting Act of 2026 and the SNAP Data Transparency and Oversight Act of 2025, among other bills, as ones he cosponsored under a heading on addressing waste, fraud and abuse.65
  • Pete Ricketts NE Senate
    His campaign website says he introduced the bipartisan Improper Payments Transparency Act and voted to hold states accountable for fraud in SNAP.66
  • Dan Osborn NE Senate
    His campaign website says he would push for a national audit of federal spending and increase penalties for people who steal from taxpayers.67
  • Brinker Harding NE-2
    His campaign website says he wants to crack down on waste and fraud in government.68
  • Justin Murphy NJ Senate
    His campaign website says he would create a special Medicare and Medicaid fraud unit, reward tips that lead to fraud convictions and set severe penalties for abuse.69
  • Rosie Pino NJ-9
    Her campaign issues page says any changes to federal health programs such as Medicare should concentrate on removing waste, fraud and abuse.70
  • Carmen Bucco NJ-10
    His campaign's message page lists fiscal accountability among his priorities, describing it as ending fraud so that taxpayer money reaches vulnerable people who need help.71
  • Joe Hathaway NJ-11
    His campaign platform says he supports targeting waste, fraud and abuse in Social Security and Medicare.72
  • Alan B. Bond NJ-11
    His campaign story on government accountability says Congress should routinely examine federal programs to find overlap, obsolete rules, improper payments, fraud and needless administrative spending.73
  • Raymond T McKay RI Senate
    His campaign website says he would go after fraud in government programs and seek prison time for people who steal from taxpayers.74
  • Annie Andrews SC Senate
    Her taxpayer pledge says she would fight waste and abuse in social programs by auditing spending, punishing people who steal from taxpayers and recovering stolen money.75
  • Darline Graham SC Senate
    Her campaign website says she will root out waste and fraud in federal spending.76

§3Related bills

Why this matters: Bills from 2023–2026 that bear on this issue, with how Congress handled them.