Sen. Carper Lauds Administration for Cutting Billions of Dollars in Improper Payments

WASHINGTON – Today, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, lauded the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) announcement that the Obama Administration cut wasteful improper payments by $17.6 billion dollars in 2011. The announcement, which is part of the Administration’s Campaign to Cut Waste, is fueled by decreases in payment errors in Medicare, Medicaid, Pell Grants, and Food Stamps. Combined with the improper payment cuts in 2010, agencies have avoided making over $20 billion in improper payments in the two years since President Obama issued an Executive Order initiating an aggressive campaign against wasteful payment errors.

In July 2010, President Obama signed Sen. Carper’s bill, Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act of 2010 (IPERA), into law. In July 2011, Sen. Carper introduced the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Improvement Act of 2011 which builds on the important work started by IPERA and makes the provisions in that Act stronger and more effective in order to better ensure that agency budgets are being spent properly and effectively.

“I am encouraged by the bold steps this Administration has taken in its attempt to rein in improper payments across the government,” said Sen. Carper. “By making this issue a priority and by investing the proper resources, the Administration has shown that we can generate real savings and make real progress in our ongoing effort to eliminate improper payments. Although we have made great strides in curbing improper payments in the past two years, we still have a ways to go to improve transparency and make agencies and agency leadership more accountable – while better protecting our scarce taxpayer dollars. The Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act, which the President signed into law last year, is an important tool in our toolbox, and my most recent bill, the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Improvement Act of 2011, takes it to the next level and makes it stronger, more robust and more effective at preventing and recovering improper payments. I will continue to work with my Congressional colleagues and the Administration, as I have done for the past seven years, to see that these measures are properly and efficiently implemented.”

For more information on the Administration’s announcement, please click here.

For Agency improper payment data, please visit www.paymentaccuracy.gov.

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