Sec. 508. Policy statement on improper payments
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/bill/115/hconres/71/rh/section-508·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
The House finds the following: The Government Accountability Office defines improper payments as any reported payment that should not have been made or was made in an incorrect amount. Improper payments totaled $1.2 trillion between fiscal years 2003 and 2016 with a reported Federal Government-wide error rate of 5.1 percent in fiscal year 2016. Improper payments increased from $107 billion in 2012 to $144 billion in 2016. The Earned Income Tax Credit, Medicare, and Medicaid account for 78 percent of total improper payments, with error rates of 24 percent, 11 percent, and 10.5 percent, respectively.
Eight agencies did not report payment estimates for 18 programs that the Comptroller General deems susceptible to significant improper payments. It is the policy of this concurrent resolution that an independent commission should be established with the goal of finding tangible solutions to reduce total improper payments by 50 percent within the next 5 years. The commission should also develop a more-stringent system of agency oversight to achieve this goal.