WASHINGTON – Today, Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.), the top Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Senator Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) applauded the House for passing S. 2133, the Fraud Reduction and Data Analytics Bill, which will help federal agencies better detect and prevent fraud. The bipartisan bill, introduced by Senators Carper and Tillis and cosponsored by Senators Baldwin (D-Wis.), Johnson (R-Wis.), McCaskill (D-Mo.), and Ayotte (R-N.H.), requires the Office of Management and Budget, in coordination with the Government Accountability Office (GAO), to issue guidelines for agencies to establish and implement controls to prevent, detect and respond to fraud. The bill, which was passed unanimously by the Senate in April, will now head to the President’s desk for signature.
“This bill, among other things, requires federal officials to determine what areas of government spending are at the greatest risk for fraud, develop an action plan to address vulnerabilities and then share those solutions with other agencies dealing with similar programs,” said Senator Carper. “This commonsense legislation will help to ensure that federal agencies do a better job managing federal programs and delivering services more efficiently and at a lower cost to taxpayers. I thank my colleagues in the House for advancing this bipartisan legislation today and Senator Tillis and our cosponsors in the Senate for working with me on this important issue.”
“I’m pleased that both the House and Senate came together to pass bipartisan legislation that will require more accountability for federal agencies and better protect Americans and their hard-earned tax dollars from the risk of fraud,” said Senator Tillis. “Utilizing the success of the private sector in fighting waste and fraud, we will help protect federal taxpayer-supported programs by identifying vulnerabilities and closing the gaps.”
Specifically, the Fraud Reduction and Data Analytics Bill creates a working group to improve the sharing of information on best practices, data analytics and techniques among agencies to better detect and prevent fraud in real time rather than during the end of the year audit.
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