Congressman Nick Langworthy applauded the House of Representatives’ approval of a package of anti-fraud and government accountability legislation.

Langworthy opened a Thursday speech about it by saying that too many taxpayers are resigned to their government being too big and that it “has lost all accountability to the taxpayers — who could blame them for being frustrated, when you read headlines. But the Minnesota fraud scandals that uncovered billions in theft of taxpayer dollars sent shockwaves across the country, and lifted the veil on how bad the problem really is.”

The congressman continued, “What happened in Minnesota is not an isolated incident. It exposed glaring holes in the system that bad actors have figured out and bilked billions of taxpayer dollars in very corrupt schemes. Fraudsters have learned how to exploit gaps between agencies’ verification systems, and there’s a federal bureaucracy that too often prioritizes just shoveling the money out the door over ensuring it goes to the right people who really need it, and there’s too many politicians who would rather reap the political benefits of showering constituencies with money and hope no one notices.”

Langworthy touted his participation, as a member of the House Oversight Committee, in a series of hearings on the Minnesota fraud scandals. The state is led by Democrats and some in the party have alleged the hearings are a politically motivated “hit job” by a Republican-led House. Unsurprisingly, the Republican Langworthy doesn’t see it that way.

“It was abundantly clear that Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison were made aware of the fraud but did nothing to stop it. Instead they punished the whistleblower and they kept the gravy train flowing,” he said. “It was unconscionable, and the testimony was ridiculous, and I’m pleased it has been recommended that the Department of Justice open a criminal investigation.”

Langworthy went on to state that “the U.S. Government Accountability Office estimates that the federal government loses between $233 billion and $521 billion to fraud every single year. That represents roughly 3 to 7% of our total federal obligations. What happened in Minnesota is also happening in other states too, including in our home state of New York. In just Medicaid reports, a 2022 audit found nearly $1 billion in billing errors in improper payments, including payments to providers who were no longer eligible to participate in the program — and that’s just what we know about in New York.”

He described the three bills passed this week as part of the House anti-fraud package. “We’re ending the ‘pay and chase’ model and putting safeguards in place before the money goes out the door. Verify first, pay second — it’s just very common sense.”

The first bill “makes permanent the successful pandemic-era fraud detection tools. One of the few success stories that emerged from COVID was the development of sophisticated anti-fraud analytics that helped investigators identify billions of dollars in suspicious spending. Now unfortunately, many of those tools are set to expire. This bill makes those anti-fraud capabilities permanent — makes it the way we do business.”

The second item will require “agencies to verify eligibility and identify risks before payments are actually made. This may be the most important reform in the package because it attacks the problem. This bill allows (the U.S.) Treasury to flag suspicious payments and return them to agencies for a review before the money goes out the door. It doesn’t stop legitimate payments or slow down routine transactions. It simply says that when there are clear warning signs of fraud, we should investigate before taxpayers get ripped off, not after. The recovery sometimes is nearly impossible — sometimes that money has gone to countries around the globe.”

Finally, the House backed legislation cracking down on student loan scams involving “ghost students.” Langworthy called it “something most Americans don’t know what’s going on. Across the country, scammers use stolen identities, fake identities and fraudulent enrollment schemes to collect federal student aid intended for legitimate student students. This bill requires strong identity verification and fraud detection systems before the loan is dispersed.”

Langworthy added, “We have the tools, we have the technology at our fingertips to build these protection systems — and we owe it to the American taxpayer to put them in place. Every dollar lost to fraud is paid for through higher taxes, or borrowing, or larger deficits, and ultimately inflationary pressures that make life more expensive for working families.”