Cedar Rapids Today

In Washington, D.C., Representative Ashley Hinson has introduced legislation aimed at addressing wasteful government spending. The Protecting American Taxpayers from Wasteful Spending Act seeks to formalize an executive order issued by President Trump on March 25, 2025. This executive order focuses on promoting financial integrity and efficiency within the Department of the Treasury, enhancing its capacity to detect improper payments and fraud, monitor transactions, and manage government disbursements.

Rep. Hinson emphasized the magnitude of the issue, stating, "It is absurd the federal government wastes up to $521 billion – that’s right, billion, – in taxpayer dollars each year in improper payments." She further expressed her commitment to making this effort permanent, asserting her intention to protect taxpayer dollars from being wasted.

The Government Accountability Office has identified that the federal government loses an estimated $233 billion to $521 billion annually to fraud, largely due to inadequate data and outdated systems.

The proposed legislation, the Protecting American Taxpayers from Wasteful Spending Act, aims to enact President Trump’s Executive Order 14249, which is documented in the Federal Register (90 Fed. Reg. 14011). The order directs the Treasury Department, in coordination with the Office of Management and Budget, to establish certain procedures for pre-certification and pre-award verification. These procedures are designed to ensure the availability of funds before obligations, verify payment information, and confirm specific fund usage. The order also seeks to reduce administrative barriers to data access, consolidate financial systems, and centralize disbursing authority within the Treasury by reducing non-treasury disbursing offices.

Agencies impacted by this order must submit compliance plans outlining their strategies for shifting disbursing authority, updating and integrating their systems with the Treasury Department, and conveying information on improper payments to the department.

The Washington Examiner was the first to report on the introduction of this bill, and the full text of the bill can be accessed online.