Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Improvement Act of 2012
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Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Improvement Act of 2012 - (Sec. 3) Amends the Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 to require the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to: (1) identify, on an annual basis, a list of high-priority federal programs for greater levels of oversight and review of improper payments; (2) coordinate with executive agencies responsible for administering high-priority programs to establish semi-annual or quarterly targets and actions for reducing improper payments; and (3) provide guidance to agencies for improving estimates of improper payments.
Requires agencies to report to their Inspectors General on an annual basis on any high-priority programs in which the highest dollar value or rate of improper payments occurs or for which there is a higher risk of improper payments. Requires OMB to make agency reports available on a central website.
(Sec. 5) Requires each agency to review prepayment and pre-award procedures and available databases to determine program or award eligibility and prevent improper payments before releasing any federal funds.
Establishes a Do Not Pay Initiative based on information from databases maintained by the federal government, including: (1) the Death Master File of the Social Security Administration (SSA), (2) the Excluded Parties List System of the General Services Administration (GSA), (3) the Debt Check Database of the Department of the Treasury, (4) the Credit Alert System or Credit Alert Interactive Voice Response System of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), (5) the List of Excluded Individuals/Entities of the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and (6) any other database designated by the Director of OMB that substantially assists in preventing improper payments.
Requires the Director to: (1) provide to Congress a plan for the inclusion of other databases in the Do Not Pay Initiative, for agency access to the Initiative, and for multilateral data use agreements for carrying out the Initiative; (2) establish a working system for prepayment and pre-award review that includes the Do Not Pay Initiative; (3) establish a plan for improving the quality, accuracy, and timeliness of death data maintained by SSA; and (4) submit annual reports to Congress on whether the Do Not Pay Initiative has reduced improper payments or awards. Requires each agency to review all payments and awards for all of its programs through the working system not later later than June 1, 2013.
The summary continues for 3 more paragraphs. Read it in full on Congress.gov
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Passed Senate amended" stage on August 1, 2012. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on August 2, 2012: Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 112th Congress (2011-12), 283 of the 10,618 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 2.7 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Thomas Carper (D-DE) introduced it on July 22, 2011, and 4 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 1 Democrat, 2 Republicans, 1 independent.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on July 22, 2011, 5529 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 5152 days ago, on August 2, 2012.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 112th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2013 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers