Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB80 Compare Versions

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Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 80
5	5	To amend title 31, United States Code, to improve the prevention of improper
6	6	payments, and for other purposes.
7	7	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
8	8	JANUARY13, 2025
9	9	Mr. L
10	10	ANKFORDintroduced the following bill; which was read twice and
11	11	referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
12	12	A BILL
13	13	To amend title 31, United States Code, to improve the
14	14	prevention of improper payments, and for other purposes.
15	15	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
16	16	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
17	17	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
18	18	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Safeguarding the 4
19	19	Transparency and Efficiency of Payments Act’’ or the 5
20	20	‘‘STEP Act’’. 6
21	21	SEC. 2. IMPROPER PAYMENTS. 7
22	22	(a) D
23	23	EFINITIONS.— 8
24	24	(1) I
25	25	N GENERAL.—Section 3351 of title 31, 9
26	26	United States Code, is amended— 10
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30	30	(A) by redesignating paragraphs (2) 1
31	31	through (8) as paragraphs (3) through (9), re-2
32	32	spectively; and 3
33	33	(B) by inserting after paragraph (1) the 4
34	34	following: 5
35	35	‘‘(2) C
36	36	HIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER .—The term 6
37	37	‘chief financial officer’ means— 7
38	38	‘‘(A) with respect to an executive agency 8
39	39	described in section 901(b), the Chief Financial 9
40	40	Officer of the executive agency appointed under 10
41	41	such section; and 11
42	42	‘‘(B) with respect to an executive agency 12
43	43	that is not described in section 901(b), the offi-13
44	44	cial serving as the senior executive responsible 14
45	45	for managing the financial activities of the exec-15
46	46	utive agency.’’. 16
47	47	(2) C
48	48	ONFORMING AMENDMENTS .—Section 17
49	49	3353(a)(4)(B) of title 31, United States Code, is 18
50	50	amended— 19
51	51	(A) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘section 20
52	52	3351(2)(B)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 21
53	53	3351(3)(B)’’; 22
54	54	(B) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘section 23
55	55	3351(2)(C)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 24
56	56	3351(3)(C)’’; 25
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60	60	(C) in clause (iii), by striking ‘‘section 1
61	61	3351(2)(D)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 2
62	62	3351(3)(D)’’; and 3
63	63	(D) in clause (vi), by striking ‘‘section 4
64	64	3351(2)(A)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 5
65	65	3351(3)(A)’’. 6
66	66	(b) E
67	67	STIMATES OFIMPROPERPAYMENTS AND RE-7
68	68	PORTS ONACTIONSTOREDUCEIMPROPERPAYMENTS.— 8
69	69	Section 3352 of title 31, United States Code, is amend-9
70	70	ed— 10
71	71	(1) in subsection (a)— 11
72	72	(A) in paragraph (3)— 12
73	73	(i) in subparagraph (B), in the matter 13
74	74	preceding clause (i), by striking ‘‘para-14
75	75	graph (1)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph 15
76	76	(1)(B)’’; and 16
77	77	(ii) in subparagraph (C), by striking 17
78	78	‘‘paragraph (1)’’ each place it appears and 18
79	79	inserting ‘‘paragraphs (1) and (4)’’; and 19
80	80	(B) by adding at the end the following: 20
81	81	‘‘(4) N
82	82	EW PROGRAMS AND ACTIVITIES .—In ad-21
83	83	dition to the programs and activities identified under 22
84	84	paragraph (1)(B) and subject to paragraph (5), the 23
85	85	head of an executive agency shall annually identify 24
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89	89	as susceptible to significant improper payments any 1
90	90	program or activity that— 2
91	91	‘‘(A) has or is expected to have outlays ex-3
92	92	ceeding $100,000,000 in any one of the first 3 4
93	93	fiscal years of operation; and 5
94	94	‘‘(B) is in the first 4 years of operation. 6
95	95	‘‘(5) E
96	96	XCEPTION.—Paragraph (4) shall not 7
97	97	apply with respect to any program or activity that 8
98	98	the head of the relevant executive agency concludes, 9
99	99	based on the results of a review conducted under 10
100	100	paragraph (1), is not susceptible to significant im-11
101	101	proper payments.’’; 12
102	102	(2) in subsection (c)(1)— 13
103	103	(A) in the matter preceding subparagraph 14
104	104	(A), by striking ‘‘subsection (a)(1)’’ and insert-15
105	105	ing ‘‘paragraph (1) or (4) of subsection (a)’’; 16
106	106	and 17
107	107	(B) by striking subparagraphs (A) and (B) 18
108	108	and inserting the following: 19
109	109	‘‘(A) produce a statistically valid estimate 20
110	110	of the improper payments made under the pro-21
111	111	gram or activity, or an estimate of such im-22
112	112	proper payments that is otherwise appropriate 23
113	113	using a methodology approved by— 24
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117	117	‘‘(i) the Director of the Office of Man-1
118	118	agement and Budget; and 2
119	119	‘‘(ii) the chief financial officer of the 3
120	120	executive agency; and 4
121	121	‘‘(B) report the estimates described in sub-5
122	122	paragraph (A) in accordance with subsection 6
123	123	(j).’’; and 7
124	124	(3) by adding at the end the following: 8
125	125	‘‘(j) A
126	126	NNUALREPORTS.—Any annual report required 9
127	127	to be made by the head of an executive agency under this 10
128	128	section shall— 11
129	129	‘‘(1) be included in the materials accompanying 12
130	130	the annual financial statement of the executive agen-13
131	131	cy and, as required, in applicable guidance of the Of-14
132	132	fice of Management and Budget; and 15
133	133	‘‘(2) include a statement by the chief financial 16
134	134	officer of the executive agency— 17
135	135	‘‘(A) certifying the reliability of the execu-18
136	136	tive agency’s identification of programs and ac-19
137	137	tivities that may be susceptible to significant 20
138	138	improper payments under subsection (a); and 21
139	139	‘‘(B) describing the actions of the chief fi-22
140	140	nancial officer of the executive agency to mon-23
141	141	itor the development and implementation of any 24
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145	145	corrective action plans reported under sub-1
146	146	section (d).’’. 2
147	147	(c) F
148	148	INANCIAL ANDADMINISTRATIVECONTROLSRE-3
149	149	LATING TOFRAUD ANDIMPROPERPAYMENTS.—Section 4
150	150	3357 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by strik-5
151	151	ing subsection (d) and inserting the following: 6
152	152	‘‘(d) R
153	153	EPORTS.— 7
154	154	‘‘(1) I
155	155	N GENERAL.—For each fiscal year begin-8
156	156	ning in the first fiscal year after the date of enact-9
157	157	ment of the Safeguarding the Transparency and Ef-10
158	158	ficiency of Payments Act, and in each of the fol-11
159	159	lowing 9 fiscal years, the head of each agency shall 12
160	160	submit to Congress, in the report containing the an-13
161	161	nual financial statement of the agency, a report— 14
162	162	‘‘(A) on the progress of the agency in— 15
163	163	‘‘(i) implementing— 16
164	164	‘‘(I) the financial and administra-17
165	165	tive controls required to be established 18
166	166	under subsection (c)(1); 19
167	167	‘‘(II) the fraud risk principles in 20
168	168	the Standards for Internal Control in 21
169	169	the Federal Government of the Gov-22
170	170	ernment Accountability Office; and 23
171	171	‘‘(III) Circular A–123 of the Of-24
172	172	fice of Management and Budget with 25
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176	176	respect to the leading practices for 1
177	177	managing fraud risk; 2
178	178	‘‘(ii) identifying fraud risks and 3
179	179	vulnerabilities, including with respect to 4
180	180	payroll, beneficiary payments, grants, large 5
181	181	contracts, and purchase and travel cards; 6
182	182	and 7
183	183	‘‘(iii) establishing strategies, proce-8
184	184	dures, and other steps to curb fraud; and 9
185	185	‘‘(B) that includes information on the sta-10
186	186	tus of implementing each of the 11 leading 11
187	187	practices identified in the report published by 12
188	188	the Government Accountability Office on July 13
189	189	28, 2015, entitled ‘Framework for Managing 14
190	190	Fraud Risks in Federal Programs’. 15
191	191	‘‘(2) I
192	192	NFORMATION IN REPORT .—If the annual 16
193	193	financial statement of an agency, or an alternative 17
194	194	report of the agency included in the annual financial 18
195	195	statement, includes information that fulfills the re-19
196	196	quirements of this subsection, the head of the agen-20
197	197	cy may include a brief statement to that effect in the 21
198	198	financial statement or alternative report without du-22
199	199	plicating the information required under this sub-23
200	200	section in a separate or standalone report.’’. 24
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204	204	SEC. 3. NO ADDITIONAL FUNDS. 1
205	205	No additional funds are authorized to be appro-2
206	206	priated for the purpose of carrying out this Act or the 3
207	207	amendments made by this Act. 4
208	208	Æ
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