The Treasury Department has halted $175 million in federal payments that were connected to deceased individuals during fiscal year 2026. This represents a significant increase from the $99 million identified earlier, thanks to the Trump administration’s efforts to screen improper payments more extensively across the government.
Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana commended Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent for taking action against potential fraud. Kennedy emphasized the importance of not sending taxpayer money to deceased individuals and highlighted his long-standing effort to pass legislation that would prevent such fraud.
Thanks to Kennedy’s push, the Treasury gained access to Social Security death records through a law enacted in 2020. This law authorized the Social Security Administration to share its Death Master File with the Treasury on a temporary basis, starting in December 2023. In February 2026, Trump signed the Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act, which made this access permanent.
On a related note, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently announced sanctions against actors linked to Venezuela’s Maduro, furthering efforts to combat fraud.
President Trump’s administration is focused on eliminating fraud, waste, and abuse in the federal government. A key objective includes stopping federal benefit payments to deceased individuals. Taylor Rogers, a spokesperson for the White House, affirmed the administration’s commitment to setting new standards to prevent misuse of taxpayer dollars.
In FY2026, the Treasury screened more than 1.1 billion federal payments, totaling approximately $3.7 trillion. This effort led to the recovery of about 13,500 payments worth $175 million that would have improperly gone to deceased individuals.
Treasury Secretary Bessent highlighted the department’s ongoing transformation in protecting taxpayer money. By leveraging better data and technology, Treasury aimed to prevent fraud before payments are made.
Significant improvements include the deployment of new safeguards that verified more than $3.7 trillion in federal payments and expanded access to the “Do Not Pay” tool from 4% of programs to 99%. These steps ensure agencies have crucial data access.
The “Do Not Pay” program, which screened over 1.1 billion payments worth $3.7 trillion, identified 13,500 improper payments to deceased people. In FY2026, Treasury also cross-referenced more than 2.3 billion records with Do Not Pay data, showcasing a significant increase in records screened compared to the previous year.
The administration’s efforts align with a March 2025 executive order by Trump that aimed to bolster fraud prevention measures involving federal payments. This included testing safeguards to verify bank account ownership and checking Taxpayer Identification Numbers to ensure payment accuracy.
New procedures became fully operational by September 30, allowing Treasury to identify and return payments that do not match verification criteria before disbursement.
These advancements build on Treasury’s July announcement of screening 885 million payments worth $2.77 trillion, identifying more than 4,900 payments tied to deceased recipients.
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