WASHINGTON-This week, DOGE Caucus founder and co-chair, U.S. Congressman Aaron Bean (FL-04), delivered remarks in support of S. 269, the Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act, legislation to protect taxpayer dollars from fraud and to prevent Social Security benefit checks from going to deceased Americans.

To watch Congressman Bean's speech, click here.

Madam Speaker, if there's one group of Americans who definitely shouldn't be receiving federal payments, it's the dearly departed.

There is a famous line in the movie The Sixth Sense, where the star says, "I see dead people." Our Treasury Department doesn't see dead people; they just write them checks.

Yet year after year, gaps in our data systems allow improper payments to flow to individuals who are no longer living. It's wasteful, it's avoidable, and it undermines trust in government-run programs.

As founder and co-chair of the DOGE Caucus, I'm proud to support the Stopping Improper Payments to Deceased People Act. This is a commonsense, bipartisan effort to strengthen the accuracy of the Death Master File, improve data sharing across federal agencies, and ensure that benefits programs have the timely, reliable information they need to verify eligibility, and a pulse, before payments go out the door.

And the results speak for themselves. The Treasury Department recently announced it recovered $31 million in fraud and improper payments in just the first five months of implementing these reforms. This legislation makes those temporary provisions permanent and stops payments to deceased individuals moving forward.

Madam Speaker, this bill is a big step towards accountability, and I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this vital anti-fraud, anti-waste, anti-abuse legislation. As the saying goes, you can't take it with you. So, let's stop writing Social Security checks to dead people. Thank you. I yield back.

BACKGROUND

The legislation, successfully passed by the House and the Senate, will now be sent to the President's desk for signature.

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