Government Watchdog Groups Praise Murphy's Efforts to Protect Taxpayer Dollars with H.R. 3393, The Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act (IPERA)

(Washington, DC) – April 28, 2010 Congressman Patrick Murphy’s (D-PA) bipartisan bill to eliminate $98 billion lost to fraud, waste and abuse due to poor oversight on the part of federal agencies passed in the U.S. House of Representatives this afternoon.

 “I am proud to pass this bill to ensure we cut down on wasteful government spending,” said Congressman Patrick Murphy.

“Taxpayers demand that there is accountability in their government." said Congressman Brian Bilbray (R-CA), the lead Republican sponsor of the bill. “The Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act of 2009 will finally mandate accountability of all federal agencies and their budgets. We must remember: it is not the government’s money, it is the taxpayers’ money.”  

The bill is endorsed by the National Taxpayers Union and Citizens Against Government Waste, who stated in their letter of support that the Congressman’s “pro-taxpayer” bill fulfills the “basic expectation of taxpayers” that their hard-earned dollars “go toward their intended purposes and not to inappropriate uses.”

The legislation, H.R. 3393, The Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act (IPERA) strengthens auditing and recovery requirements within government agencies to help reduce the staggering amount of money lost to improper payments each year. Improper payments are those that occur when a federal agency pays too much or pays twice for a product or service, whether due to fraud or to poor financial management systems that don’t detect mistakes before federal dollars are misspent.

The bill now heads for a vote in the Senate where Senator Tom Carper is the lead sponsor of the bill, and where it has received bipartisan support from Senators John McCain and Tom Coburn.

Included is a link to the Congressman’s floor speech about the legislation as shown on C-SPAN.

For Immediate Release, April 28, 2010
Contact: Sara Schaumburg, 202-225-4276