Waste of the Day: Congressional Staffers Unaware of Improper Payments Website

Topline: Every November, OpenTheBooks’ auditors head to PaymentAccuracy.gov to review annual data about improper payments: money the government sends to the wrong person or for the wrong amount.

Why don’t more congressional staffs consult this improper payments website?

Apparently, not everyone in Washington D.C. is doing the same. Multiple Congressional staffers are “completely or somewhat unfamiliar with the existence of the website,” according to a Jan. 23 report from the Government Accountability Office.

Congress controls the purse strings, but how can legislators do so effectively without tracking where the money goes?

Key facts: The federal government has lost $3.4 trillion to improper payments since 2004, adjusted for inflation. OpenTheBooks was able to calculate the number because the Payment Integrity Information Act requires most federal agencies to post their mistaken spending online. 

Not every Congressional employee knows where to find the data, the GAO reported. Some staffers said they use agency financial reports and other sources to track improper payments, but the GAO pointed out those sources usually only contain a “brief statement indicating that more detailed information could be found on the website.”

Other Congressional staffers said they tried to use PaymentAccuracy.gov for their oversight work, but pop-up windows and glitches obscured some numbers.

Many agencies let improper payments go

Background: Inspectors general review almost every federal agency’s submissions to PaymentAccuracy.gov to make sure they are accurate and complete. Ten agencies were recently found to be noncompliant in 2022, the GAO reported. They must now develop written plans for tracking their improper payments and appoint a new official who is responsible for accuracy.

Nine of those agencies were also noncompliant in 2021. They must now include their written plans in the president’s next budget request to Congress, expected this February.

Search all federal, state and local government salaries and vendor spending with the AI search bot, Benjamin, at OpenTheBooks.com. 

Critical quote: “The absence of explicit information in agency financial reports specifying that plans to come into compliance are available on PaymentAccuracy.gov, lack of congressional awareness about the information included there … could compromise Congress’s ability to obtain key payment integrity information needed to conduct effective oversight of improper payments,” GAO auditors concluded.

Summary: The executive branch’s transparency with improper payments is impressive, but it’s all for naught unless Congress uses it to make actionable changes.

The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com

This article was originally published by RCI and made available via RealClearWire.