This bill allows government agencies to temporarily stop payments if they suspect fraud or mistakes. It ensures that payments are carefully checked before being sent out.
Stopping Fraudulent Payments Act This bill establishes requirements to prevent fraudulent or improper payments from federal programs. Specifically, the bill directs executive agencies to take corrective actions to temporarily pause, condition, or segment payment voucher requests before certifying them if the agencies have sufficient reason to determine that the payments present elevated risks of fraud or improper payments resulting in financial loss to the government. The corrective actions must be (1) based on objective, documented fraud-risk indicators; (2) narrowly applied to the portion of the payments presenting the elevated risk; and (3) limited in duration to the minimum period necessary to verify the eligibility or accuracy of the payments. The Department of the Treasury must return certified payment vouchers to agencies for corrective action if they present an elevated risk of fraud based on an output of Treasury’s Do Not Pay system. The bill also prohibits officers or employees of the federal government from being personally liable for actions taken in good faith under this bill.