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| 31 Mar 2026 | |
| Reports |
The federal government faces a persistent challenge of improper payments across benefit programs, with over $162 billion in government-wide improper payments reported in Fiscal Year 2024.1 A significant portion stems from data verification issues – approximately $47 billion was attributed to marital status, identity, and death data problems alone.2 Despite the existence of multiple databases and verification systems designed to prevent these payments, the effectiveness of existing systems remains limited by fragmentation, inconsistent use, and outdated processes. The Congress and White House each identified addressing improper payments as a key priority in 2026 and beyond.
Effective program integrity depends on timely, accurate, and interoperable data systems across federal, state, and local jurisdictions. Without current death data, real-time employment verification, and standardized reporting for relevant information, agencies struggle to prevent continued payments to deceased beneficiaries, detect unreported income changes, or identify duplicate benefit receipt across jurisdictions. Evidence-based program integrity infrastructure enables agencies to prevent improper payments before they occur rather than pursuing costly recovery efforts after the fact. In other words, by better using data and available evidence effectively, public sector agencies can move away from the legacy of “pay and chase” approaches that are costly and too-often ineffective at reducing improper payments and protecting taxpayer dollars.
A 2025 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on improper payments highlighted persistent data quality challenges, delayed information sharing, and insufficient integration of existing verification tools.3 These structural limitations prohibit effective improper payment prevention even when policymakers prioritize program integrity.
The Fiscal Intelligence Initiative, a partnership between the Data Foundation and the Peter G. Peterson Foundation to develop a set of actionable proposals that leverage data improvements to reduce the federal deficit by targeting improper payments. We developed multiple policy options in coordination with a range of stakeholders and experts to address the data infrastructure, verification systems, and interagency coordination challenges that enable improper payments. These options are effectively options from a larger menu that reflects the types of high-value, evidence-based, and data-focused activities that generate real savings and benefits. These options specifically focus on leveraging existing databases, modernizing reporting systems, and creating integrated verification infrastructure, all while maintaining necessary privacy protection and enabling federal-state partnerships.
