FIRST ON FOX: The Treasury Department blocked $175 million in federal payments tied to deceased recipients in fiscal year 2026, up sharply from the $99 million identified just months earlier as the Trump administration expanded government-wide screening for improper payments."I applaud Secretary [Scott] Bessent for slamming the door on these fraudsters before they can pick taxpayers’ pockets," Republican Louisiana Sen.John Kennedy told Fox News Digital."Unless you were playing Frisbee in the quad during Econ 101, you know the federal government shouldn’t be sending taxpayer money to dead people," Kennedy went on.
"I fought for years to pass my common-sense bill to stop fraudsters from gaming the system, and now it’s the law."Kennedy has for years pushed to give Treasury greater access to Social Security death records, helping pass a 2020 law that temporarily authorized the Social Security Administration to share its full Death Master File with the department.That three-year data-sharing program began in December 2023.
Trump then signed Kennedy’s Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act into law in February 2026, making access permanent.Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced additional sanctions against Maduro-linked actors on Wednesday.(Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images)TRUMP'S WAR ON FRAUD EXPANDS AS TREASURY LAUNCHES NEW SITE WITH WHISTLEBLOWER INCENTIVESTrump has tasked his administration with rooting out fraud, waste and abuse across the federal government and tightening safeguards around taxpayer dollars — the latest effort to stop federal benefit payments to dead people is just another initiative within that broader effort.Treasury screened more than 1.1 billion federal payments totaling roughly $3.7 trillion in FY2026, identifying and returning about 13,500 payments worth $175 million that otherwise would have been distributed to individuals no longer eligible for payments due to death."Treasury continues to transform how the...