James Comer

Mr. COMER

Mr. COMER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and legacy of my friend, Sheriff Dale ``Frog'' Ford, a devoted public servant, respected law enforcement officer, and cherished member of the Monroe County community. Sheriff Ford dedicated his life to serving and protecting the people of his hometown. For 48 years, he wore the badge with pride, integrity, and an unwavering sense of duty. Over the course of his distinguished career, Sheriff Ford served the citizens of Tompkinsville as chief of police for 10 years and later as sheriff of Monroe County for 12 years. In every role he held, Sheriff Ford earned the trust and respect of those he served through his steady leadership, fairness, and deep commitment to the community. I offer my sincerest condolences to his wife of 21 years, Ronda; his children, Kimberly, Chris, and Sean; his step-children, Shelby and Alex; and his eight grandchildren. Sheriff Ford's service, courage, and leadership have set an example for future generations of law enforcement officers. With his passing, Monroe County lost a beloved and legendary figure who will never be forgotten.

Mr. COMER. Madam Speaker, I rise to implore our colleagues in the Senate to pass the SAVE Act. We have passed this final bill here in the House several months ago, and it has been sitting in the Senate collecting dust. We in Congress have many ideological differences. The importance of a valid voter ID should not be one of those differences. After all, to enter the brand- new Obama Presidential Library, you are required to present a valid ID. I am a Member of Congress, and, obviously, this is my workplace. Before I arrived yesterday, I had to show an ID at the TSA line at the Louisville airport, then show an ID to check in at a hotel, then show my ID to get through the barrier gate around the Capitol, and, finally, I had to show my ID to enter the Rayburn House Office Building. Yet, there are Members of Congress who do not want to support a law to make it a requirement to show an ID to vote. Why? I will tell you why I think it is. It is because they want to be able to cheat in elections. How? Perhaps by allowing people to vote who are not legal residents of the United States. That is a theory a lot of people have who support the SAVE Act. Madam Speaker, that is wrong, and it is why many Americans have lost confidence in our electoral process. My message to the U.S. Senate is to do their job and pass the SAVE Act. Honoring the Life and Legacy of Dale ``Frog'' Ford

Mr. COMER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize an outstanding young Kentuckian from the First Congressional District, Cheyenne Peterson of Pembroke, an 11th grade student whose artwork was selected as a winner in the America 250 Student Art Contest. Cheyenne's piece, titled 250 Years of Freedom, reflects a deep appreciation for our Nation's history and the blessings of liberty that generations of Americans have worked to preserve. Through her talent and creativity, she has captured the spirit of patriotism and civic pride that defines the Commonwealth of Kentucky and communities across our Nation. I am proud to represent Cheyenne and her family in Congress, and I am inspired by her commitment to honoring America's story through art. Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating Cheyenne Peterson on this remarkable achievement and wishing her continued success in all of her future endeavors. Importance of Valid Voter ID

Mr. COMER

Mr. COMER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that when the House adjourns today, it adjourn to meet at 9 a.m. tomorrow.

Mr. COMER

Mr. COMER. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. COMER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close. Madam Speaker, these bills we have debated today, H.R. 8312 and H.R. 8464, should be considered in the broader context of the committee's legislative work on fraud prevention and financial integrity reforms. This week, the House has advanced eight bipartisan fraud and program integrity reform bills that we originally passed out of the Oversight Committee that will safeguard taxpayer dollars from fraudsters and cheats. Collectively, with the bills advanced in the House this week, the Oversight Committee is preventing fraudulent payments from going out the door, equipping the Federal workforce to fight fraud, protecting taxpayer dollars during national emergencies, reforming agency financial leadership roles to improve agency financial performance, and launching sweeping oversight work at the Government Accountability Office over State administration of federally funded programs. These governmentwide fraud prevention reforms are long overdue. They will safeguard our constituents' tax dollars and ensure Federal programs deliver for citizens who need them the most, as Congress intended. We must continue to advance bold reforms that meaningfully address fraud, and I am proud to say these bills brought before the House this week by the Oversight Committee take a meaningful step toward better stewardship of taxpayer dollars by protecting them from fraud. Madam Speaker, I urge each of my House colleagues to join us in supporting H.R. 8464 as we work to protect the hard-earned tax dollars of the American people. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. COMER. Madam Speaker, I have no further speakers. I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. COMER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, the gentleman eloquently described the Democrat-in- Washington solution to every problem. Whether it is fraud prevention or whatever, it is to hire more government employees and create a bigger government bureaucracy. This bill that we are debating today keeps the decision of whether or not to hold a payment with the agency. The agency ultimately interprets the results of Do Not Pay. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. COMER. Madam Speaker, I know only 4 percent of government agencies are utilizing the Do Not Pay list, which--

Mr. COMER. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. COMER. Madam Speaker, let me translate that 5 minutes of gibberish from my colleague. They don't care about fraud. When you do find fraud, like we found in Minnesota and California, they don't want to cut off the money. They want the money to keep going so the fraudsters can stay in business. That is why we have to support this bill. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Colorado (Ms. Boebert).

Mr. COMER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, we are facing a national emergency of fraud in Federal programs that is impacting every American. According to the Government Accountability Office, the Federal Government is estimated to lose between $233 billion and $521 billion annually to fraud across all Federal programs and operations. Earlier this week, we exposed how criminals stole $9 billion in Minnesota's social services programs while senior State officials, including Governor Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison, did absolutely nothing to stop it. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Whether in Minnesota, California's hospice system, or Medicaid waiver programs in Ohio or New York, one thing is clear: Fraudsters will keep stealing taxpayer dollars until they are stopped. Taxpayers bear the burden, while vulnerable Americans, the very people these programs are meant to help, are harmed. The Trump administration has taken decisive action to combat waste, fraud, and abuse by establishing the White House Task Force to eliminate fraud. Just this week, Vice President Vance referred our findings on Minnesota's rampant fraud to the Department of Justice for investigation. Congress must take further action to stop fraud before it happens. The Stopping Fraudulent Payments Act adds critical safeguards to ensure Federal payments go to the right recipient in the right amount before funds are awarded or disbursed. Federal law currently lacks a governmentwide requirement to verify payments and prevent fraud across Federal financial assistance and public benefit programs. Even when payments show elevated fraud risks, the Treasury Department cannot stop it. It is required to process the payments agencies request. Under current law, agencies can issue payments despite flags received from Treasury's Do Not Pay system or other tools that might indicate an elevated risk of fraud. H.R. 8464 addresses the status quo by requiring agencies to conduct fraud prevention activities prior to issuing payment requests. The bill gives Treasury the authority to halt and return payments flagged for fraud risk so agencies can review and correct them before issued. Agencies would be required to quickly review and resolve payments flagged for elevated risk of fraud unless otherwise mandated by law. This provides additional assurance to the American taxpayer that money is being paid to the right recipient and for the right amount while preserving the ownership of a program's administration within the appropriate Federal agency as authorized by law. This bill also helps agencies and the American public understand when a legitimate recipient's identity is being stolen and used for fraudulent activities by criminals. Lastly, to help Congress oversee progress made in addressing payments with elevated fraud risk, Treasury will summarize the number of returned payments, corrective outcome, and associated cost savings achieved under the requirements of this bill. This ensures Congress has regular oversight of these reforms. The commonsense reforms outlined in this bill will protect taxpayer dollars from being stolen by fraudsters while maintaining the integrity of Federal programs. Madam Speaker, I call on each of my House colleagues to support H.R. 8464 to protect taxpayer dollars from falling into the hands of criminals and fraudsters. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. COMER. Madam Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 1345, I call up the bill (H.R. 8464) to amend title 31, United States Code, to authorize pausing and segmenting payments, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. COMER. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the measure under consideration.

Mr. COMER

Mr. COMER. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 1345, I call up the bill (H.R. 8312) to establish fraud prevention and program integrity functions and data sharing authorities within the Department of Treasury and a permanent governmentwide Inspector General for Fraud, Accountability, and Recovery, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. COMER. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the measure under consideration.

Mr. COMER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, the Fraud Prevention and Accountability Act dramatically enhances how agencies prevent fraud, especially during any future national emergency. It also ensures the governmentwide data analytic resources established to investigate pandemic-era fraud are permanently preserved. Experienced fraudsters understand that when the government responds to a crisis, agencies often let their guard down. Serious failures were exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially for the newly established or rapidly expanded financial assistance and benefits programs. Agencies did not build effective fraud protections into their programs nor implement them until the funds were already lost to fraud. Although the true extent of the fraud through pandemic relief efforts will never be determined, GAO estimates that hundreds of billions of dollars were potentially lost to fraud. The Federal Government also lacked a centralized resource for data and advanced analysis that could have quickly identified fraudulent activities. The Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, or PRAC, built a data analytics capability on the fly as pandemic relief funds were already being expended by agencies. American taxpayers have been hurt by the lack of swift investigative action and delays in implementing fraud prevention processes. H.R. 8312 was drafted based on years of diligent oversight work under the leadership of Government Operations Subcommittee Chairman Pete Sessions from Texas, who is the sponsor of this bill. His legislation ensures there is a permanent, governmentwide, antifraud analytics function to assist agency inspectors general with their fraud work. It ensures a permanent Inspector General Office for Fraud, Accountability, and Recovery, utilizing the valuable proven resources built by the PRAC over recent years. This eliminates the need to start from scratch in the inevitable event of a new national emergency. The bill also includes provisions to ensure appropriate coordination with the governmentwide program integrity and improper payment tools maintained by the U.S. Treasury's Bureau of the Fiscal Service, providing Treasury the authority to develop a governmentwide data analytic support platform for Federal agencies and State-administered, federally funded programs to voluntarily participate in. This bill is the culmination of years of this committee's work to understand how agencies can improve their operations to protect hard- earned taxpayer money from fraudsters. I encourage my colleagues to support H.R. 8312, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. COMER. Madam Speaker, you will not hear anything more rich in this body today than listening to a Democrat who did absolutely nothing about fraud for the last 4 years talk about why we should oppose a very good measure to prevent and oppose fraud. Madam Speaker, I yield 7 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sessions), the sponsor of this good legislation.

Mr. COMER. Madam Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas.

Mr. COMER. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Colorado (Ms. Boebert).

Mr. COMER. Madam Speaker, it is estimated that if the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee were established prior to the pandemic, as much as $79 billion in fraudulent payments could have been prevented on the front end. The Nation cannot afford to lose such a valuable resource. That is why I call on each of my colleagues to support H.R. 8312 to ensure that these antifraud capabilities are permanently available to Federal agencies and in preparation for any future national emergency. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. COMER

Mr. COMER. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 8463, the Pre- Payment Fraud Prevention and Treasury Data Access Act. Every year, the Federal Government loses hundreds of billions of dollars to fraud and improper payments. The Government Accountability Office estimates that the Federal Government has lost over $2.8 trillion since 2003 to payments that should never have been made or were made incorrectly. Annual improper payments ballooned to nearly $236 billion in fiscal year 2023, more than six times the amount in 2003. The Government Accountability Office also estimates that the Federal Government loses between $233 billion and $521 billion annually to fraud across government programs. Fraud at these levels costs each tax filer, on average, between $1,000 and $3,000 per year. These losses should alarm each one of us and call us to action. The American taxpayer is covering the bill for fraud while criminals get rich. This bill takes meaningful steps to mitigate this problem by meaningfully curbing fraudulent payments and improper payments before funds go out the door and are lost forever. The Pre-Payment Fraud Prevention and Treasury Data Access Act enhances and expands government financial integrity controls by requiring anti-fraud risk evaluations to identify suspicious payments before agencies request a payment be issued by the U.S. Treasury. These reforms are centered around increasing the use and effectiveness of the Treasury's existing Do Not Pay system. It is currently only utilized by a mere 4 percent of eligible programs across the government. This bill will address the procedural hurdles agencies face in using the system and bring agencies into compliance with their required anti- fraud checks. The bill also lowers barriers for the Treasury to bring additional nonsensitive datasets into the Do Not Pay system. This legislation was drafted in coordination with privacy stakeholders to ensure appropriate data protection safeguards for personal and sensitive information. The reforms in this legislation are commonsense and long overdue. I thank House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Ranking Member Garcia and his staff for working together with us to ensure such crucial legislation could advance on a bipartisan basis. Mr. Speaker, I think we have a strong bill that will truly make a meaningful difference for the financial and program integrity of the U.S. Government. I encourage my colleagues to support this bipartisan reform bill.

Mr. COMER

Mr. COMER. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor the life and legacy of my dear friend, Fred Nesler. Fred was best known for his service as a very popular and effective member of the Kentucky House of Representatives from 1994 to 2012, where he represented his beloved home of Graves County in west Kentucky. I first met Fred when I got elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives in 2001. Fred and I were of different political parties, but that didn't matter to him. Fred was a public servant whose only priority was to best represent his constituents. I was so impressed with Fred Nesler's leadership skills that I talked him into joining me at the Kentucky Department of Agriculture in 2012 for all 4 years of my term as Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner. Fred was a larger-than-life figure in west Kentucky politics who was loved by everyone. Mr. Speaker, prior to his service in the Kentucky legislature, Fred was a field representative for Congressman Carroll Hubbard. Representative Hubbard once said Fred was the best that he had, and I replied, ``I have no doubt Fred Nesler was the very best.'' He was a west Kentucky legend who will be deeply missed.

Mr. COMER

Mr. COMER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Russell County native, Kevin Williams, for his outstanding commitment to public service and youth advocacy through the founding of Kevin's Kids, a charitable organization dedicated to supporting and uplifting local children. Throughout Kevin's life, he has achieved recognition as a renowned guitarist and speaker, most notably as a member of The Gaither Vocal Band and as co-host of Bill Gaither's Homecoming Radio Show. Despite his numerous commitments and busy schedule, Kevin has remained deeply rooted in his community and continues to invest in the next generation with his annual Kevin's Kids concert. The charity has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Russell County Family Resource and Youth Services Centers. Kevin's life-long work reflects a strong dedication to service, compassion, and the enduring impact of hometown values. I commend Kevin for his commitment to his community and devotion to the Russell County youth and I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing Kevin for his exemplary contributions.

Mr. COMER

Mr. COMER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and legacy of Sheriff Dale ``Frog'' Ford, a devoted public servant, respected law enforcement officer, and cherished member of the Monroe County community. Sheriff Ford dedicated his life to serving and protecting the people of his hometown. For forty-eight years he wore the badge with pride, integrity, and unwavering sense of duty. Over the course of his distinguished career, he served the citizens of Tompkinsville as Chief of Police for ten years and later as Sheriff of Monroe County for twelve years. In every role he held Sheriff Ford earned the trust and respect of those he served through his steady leadership, fairness, and deep commitment to his community. I offer my sincerest condolences to his wife of twenty-one years, Ronda, and his children Kimberly, Chris, and Sean, and his stepchildren Shelby, and Alex, and his eight grandchildren. Sheriff Ford's service, courage, and leadership have set an example for future generations, of law enforcement officers. With his passing, Monroe County has lost a beloved and legendary figure who will not be forgotten.