Lankford’s Effort to Prevent Fraud Advances in Senate

WASHINGTON, DC — Senator James Lankford’s (R-OK) Taxpayer Resources Used in Emergencies (TRUE) Accountability Act, which would require agencies to develop plans to prevent fraud in the event of an emergency or crisis, passed out of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Lankford is joined on the bill by Senator Gary Peters (D-MI), Chairman of the Committee.

“Federal agencies’ unpreparedness resulted in billions of dollars in fraud during the COVID pandemic. Rather than waiting on Congress to write safeguards into specific emergency funding bills in the future, this legislation requires agencies to be ready to proactively to put controls in place. Fraud within federal programs is theft from American taxpayers, and these safeguards are essential to better stewarding their hard-earned dollars,” said Lankford.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported earlier this year that between 2018 and 2022, the federal government lost between $233-521 billion annually to fraud. This legislation would require safeguards to prevent against fraud in case of national crises.

Lankford has long been an advocate of spending oversight and fraud prevention. He joined the Stop Secret Spending Act and Safeguarding the Transparency and Efficiency of Payments (STEP) Act which also passed out of committee this week. His Taxpayers Right-to-Know Act became law in 2021, and he has continued to follow up on inadequacies in the way agencies track, manage, and report spending programs.  

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