Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Protects America’s Bank Account Against Waste, Fraud, and Abuse

Fact Sheets

TLDR

This “fact sheet” is for an executive order that centralizes payment systems under Treasury control, reduces agency autonomy, mandates sharing of state program data, weakens Privacy Act protections, forces digital-only disbursements despite 7.1M unbanked households, and combines workforce reductions with increased bureaucracy. It uses inflated fraud statistics while creating potential mechanisms for partisan control over government spending under the guise of fraud prevention.

This is a "fact sheet for a recent executive order that presents measures to combat fraud and improve efficiency. Both the fact sheet and order contain concerning items.

While promoting “centralized oversight,” the order consolidates payment systems under Treasury control, effectively reducing agency autonomy. This creates single-point vulnerability for cyberattacks and systemic failures.

Phasing out 22% of payments handled by Non-Treasury Disbursing Offices coincides with workforce reduction plans requiring agencies to prepare “large-scale reductions in force” by March 13, 2025. This suggests staffing cuts masked as efficiency improvements.

The order mandates sharing “all State programs” data receiving federal funds, including third-party databases, without detailing protections for sensitive information.

While requiring agencies to “modify Privacy Act notices”, the fact sheet omits how this weakens protections against personal data misuse in fraud detection efforts.

Forcing 100% digital disbursements by September 2025 disregards unbanked populations (7.1 million U.S. households) who rely on paper checks, potentially cutting vulnerable Americans from benefits.

Parallel orders prioritize reviewing contracts with educational institutions and foreign entities, indicating potential political targeting under fraud prevention guise.

The claim of “$521B annual fraud” uses GAO’s upper estimate range ($233B-$521B) while omitting that 74% involves overpayments/deceased payees - not criminal fraud.

The claim of “Biden’s $925B losses” calculates cumulative 4-year figure using peak pandemic-era payments, ignoring COVID relief program design constraints.

he Treasury consolidation aligns with broader workforce optimization plans demanding “RIFs” (reductions in force) and “sweeping personnel reforms”, contradicting claims of pure efficiency gains.

New requirements for written approvals on every transaction create bureaucratic bottlenecks that could delay critical payments like disaster relief.

Parallel orders exempt immigration enforcement and military contracts from review, protecting favored programs from scrutiny applied elsewhere.

No allocation for implementing new verification systems estimated to cost agencies $4.7B+ initially based on 2024 OMB tech modernization estimates.

This executive order framework centralizes financial power while creating mechanisms for political influence over payment approvals. By combining technical modernization with workforce reductions and expanded data harvesting, it risks enabling partisan manipulation of government spending under fraud prevention pretexts.

PROMOTING FINANCIAL INTEGRITY AND OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order promoting financial integrity, transparency, and efficiency by improving the Department of the Treasury’s ability to screen for improper payments and fraud, track transactions, and manage the Government’s disbursements.

  • The Order directs the Department of the Treasury to update guidance and enhance systems across the Federal Government to ensure that all payments made on behalf of agencies undergo pre-certification verification to prevent fraud and improper payments.
    • In order for Treasury to disburse funds, agency heads must comply with Treasury disbursement requirements, which include ensuring that sufficient funds are available before obligations are incurred, verifying payee information, standardizing information reporting formats, confirming funds are being disbursed from appropriate sources, and implementing other verification and certification measures.
  • Agencies must share relevant data with Treasury to enhance Treasury’s ability to detect and prevent fraud, subject to applicable law.
  • Agencies will consolidate core financial systems, including for non-CFO Act agencies, consolidating transactional financial management services under standardized solutions to improve financial reporting and traceability.
  • Non-Treasury Disbursing Offices (NTDOs) will be reduced as appropriate, with Treasury developing a plan to centralize and manage payments previously handled by NTDOs.

MANAGING TAXPAYER FUNDS RESPONSIBLY: President Trump recognizes that financial fraud threatens the integrity of Federal programs and undermines trust in government.

  • The Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimates the Federal Government loses up to $521 billion annually to fraud due to inadequate data and outdated systems.
  • The Treasury is responsible for safeguarding the General Fund (sometimes referred to as “America’s Bank Account”) but currently lacks sufficient controls to track transactions flowing through it.
    • Fragmented disbursing authority, with NTDOs handing 22% of Federal payments, creates duplicative reporting and diminishes Treasury’s ability to provide centralized oversight.
  • The Federal Government’s longstanding challenges when it comes to accessing accurate data across agencies has prevented it from more fully safeguarding taxpayer dollars against fraud and improper payments.
  • Transitioning to centralized systems and ensuring basic pre-certification and verification measures before funds are disbursed will enhance security and improve efficiency in managing Federal funds.

SAFEGUARDING AGAINST WASTE, FRAUD, AND ABUSE: Since Day One, President Trump has been steadfast in his commitment to get rid of waste, fraud, and abuse across the Federal Government.

President Trump implemented a cost efficiency initiative to ensure government contracts and grants are held to rigorous standards.

President Trump established the “Department of Government Efficiency” to examine how to streamline the operations of the Federal Government, eliminate unnecessary programs, and reduce bureaucratic inefficiency.

President Trump launched a 10-to-1 deregulation initiative, ensuring every new Federal rule is justified by clear benefits.

President Trump reduced unnecessarily large scopes of governmental entities and terminated numerous harmful Biden executive actions.