Congress approves bill to stop government payments to deceased persons

Congress has passed a bill to prevent the federal government from continuing to send money to deceased persons. It is the Ending Improper Payments to Deceased Persons Act, which was pushed by Senator John Kennedy (R-LA). The bill passed both chambers and is headed to the desk of President Donald Trump. While the law had already been in place since 2023, this new version makes it permanent.

The Louisiana senator was joined by Gary Peters (D-MI), Ashley Moody (R-FL), Mark Warner (D-VA), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) as co-sponsors. The House version was introduced by Clay Higgins (R-LA).

Specifically, the bill would ensure that deceased individuals are removed from the government's pay rolls. How does it work? Currently the Social Security Administration maintains a list of deceased Americans known as the Death Master File. The problem detected by Senator Kennedy, a co-sponsor of the bill, was that this file was not shared with the Treasury Department's 'Do Not Pay' system, so payments were still going out.

Therefore, that transfer of information will now be done automatically, preventing money from continuing to flow out of federal coffers to deceased individuals. "In 2023 alone, for example, the federal government sent $1.3 billion to deceased persons," Senator Kennedy explained through a video posted on his social networks. Since December 2023, the bill saved the federal government an estimated $330 million.

This bill would also allow the Treasury's 'Do Not Pay' system to share information received with other federal entities and authorized agencies.

"Now, dead people don’t need welfare. I think that’s obvious. But I’m not going to stop with just this bill. I’m going to continue to urge my colleagues in the Senate and my friends in the House to pass another reconciliation bill—which we can do without Democratic votes, just like we did the 'Big Beautiful Bill', to include the subject of welfare fraud. Welfare fraud: it’s inexcusable. It’s unconscionable These are taxpayer dollars, and I’m not going to stop until we get it done," the senator added.