119-HR-8467 Journalist Public Summary

Headline Summary

A House bill to tighten the government’s fight against payment fraud by zeroing in on losses to taxpayers and requiring earlier, stronger fraud‑prevention checks before money goes out the door.

What It Does

Purpose: The ZOMBIE Act would shift federal “improper payments” work to prioritize cases that cause actual financial loss to the government. It narrows what counts as an improper payment (excluding correct‑amount payments made to the right person when only internal procedures were missed), and it directs agencies to focus on preventing fraud up front rather than chasing errors after the fact. It also aligns agency practices with widely used fraud‑risk standards and tools, like GAO’s Fraud Risk Framework and Treasury’s Do Not Pay program. (gao.gov)

• Refocuses definitions: concentrates on improper payments that cause “financial loss to the Government,” and distinguishes them from documentation or administrative lapses that don’t change the dollar amount paid.
• Requires the Treasury Department to issue fraud‑risk assessment guidance within one year and for agencies to run risk assessments before disbursing funds for new programs (and periodically for existing ones).
• Moves some reporting and review cycles from every year to “not less than once every 3 years,” while still requiring agencies to estimate fraud‑related losses and include those figures in annual budget justifications.
• Mandates more coordination among agency leaders, Inspectors General, OMB, Treasury, and the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee; and emphasizes using pre‑award/pre‑payment checks (for example, via Do Not Pay) and access to needed data assets to block fraud before eligibility decisions or awards. (fiscal.treasury.gov)
• Anchors agency practices to governmentwide standards like GAO’s Fraud Risk Framework and OMB Circular A‑123’s fraud‑risk guidance. (gao.gov)

Why It Matters

For taxpayers: Improper payments have long been a costly problem; GAO estimated about $175 billion in FY2019 alone, and it has urged agencies to emphasize prevention. A “loss‑focused” approach could sharpen attention on dollars at risk and reduce box‑checking reports, but it may also undercount operational issues (like missing documentation) that can signal control weaknesses. Up‑front identity and eligibility checks could prevent fraud but might also slow time‑sensitive payments if data‑sharing or verification is clunky. (gao.gov)

Who’s For It

• Sponsor: Rep. Gary Palmer (R‑AL).
• Oversight‑focused House Republicans are likely supporters, arguing it targets real losses and prioritizes prevention over paperwork; the committee has concurrently promoted anti‑fraud legislation, signaling an appetite for tighter controls. (oversight.house.gov)
• Good‑government auditors and internal‑control professionals may view the bill’s emphasis on preventive controls and formal fraud‑risk management as consistent with GAO’s recommended practices (though GAO does not take positions on specific bills). (gao.gov)

Who’s Against It

• Some program administrators and anti‑poverty advocates may worry that narrowing what counts as an “improper payment” could downplay serious process failures (for example, insufficient documentation), reducing transparency even if no immediate dollar loss is recorded.
• Privacy and civil‑liberties advocates may raise concerns about expanded pre‑award and pre‑payment data checks and broader access to data assets, even as Treasury’s Do Not Pay aims to safeguard funds. (fiscal.treasury.gov)
• Critics may also argue that lengthening certain reporting cycles to every three years could delay detection of emerging risks in fast‑moving programs.

What’s Next

Status: Introduced in the House on April 23, 2026 and referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Next, the committee could hold hearings and a markup; if approved, the bill would head to a House floor vote, then to the Senate, and finally to the President if both chambers pass the same text.

Context

Background: The Payment Integrity Information Act of 2019 set governmentwide requirements to identify and reduce improper payments; agencies commonly use Treasury’s payment‑integrity services and GAO’s fraud‑risk guidance to do so. This bill would tweak those requirements to emphasize losses and front‑end fraud controls. (govinfo.gov)