Congressman Pat Harrigan Votes to Crack Down on Fraud in Federal Programs

Contact: Lexi Kranich (814) 380-4408

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, Congressman Pat Harrigan (NC-10) voted for H.R. 10326, the Preventing Rip-offs and Obtaining Oversight of Funds (PROOF) Act, legislation strengthening information sharing between federal law enforcement and state agencies to help identify, investigate, and prosecute fraud involving taxpayer-funded programs.

“Every dollar stolen through fraud is a dollar taken from an American who earned it and a program someone genuinely depends on,” said Congressman Harrigan. “We know criminals look for gaps between agencies, jurisdictions, and systems because those gaps make it easier to hide. The PROOF Act gives law enforcement a better way to connect the dots and go after the people stealing from taxpayers, with strong protections in place for Americans’ private information.”

The PROOF Act allows the Attorney General, as part of a fraud investigation or prosecution, to request relevant records from states administering programs including Medicaid, SNAP, TANF, unemployment insurance, disaster assistance, emergency rental assistance, broadband funding, and certain small business programs. The bill requires transferred information to be encrypted, limits access to authorized personnel, restricts its use to fraud-related law enforcement purposes, and requires the information to be permanently removed after the relevant investigation or legal proceeding concludes.

Having passed the House, the PROOF Act now heads to the Senate for consideration.