The Trump administration’s Treasury Department blocked $175 million in federal payments tied to deceased recipients during fiscal year 2026, a sharp increase from the $99 million identified only months earlier, as reported by Fox News.

The result came as the administration broadened government wide screening designed to catch improper payments before taxpayer money left Treasury.

Republican Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy, who spent years pushing to give Treasury greater access to Social Security death records, praised Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent for the results.

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Kennedy said the tighter controls were protecting taxpayers from fraudsters seeking to game federal payment systems.

“I applaud Secretary [Scott] Bessent for slamming the door on these fraudsters before they can pick taxpayers’ pockets,” Kennedy told Fox News Digital.

“Unless you were playing Frisbee in the quad during Econ 101, you know the federal government shouldn’t be sending taxpayer money to dead people,” Kennedy went on. “I fought for years to pass my common-sense bill to stop fraudsters from gaming the system, and now it’s the law.”

Kennedy helped pass a 2020 law that temporarily allowed the Social Security Administration to share its full Death Master File with Treasury. That three year data sharing program began in December 2023.

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President Donald Trump signed Kennedy’s Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act into law in February 2026, making Treasury’s access permanent.

The measure became part of Trump’s broader push to root out fraud, waste and abuse throughout the federal government while strengthening safeguards around taxpayer dollars.

White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers credited Trump with establishing stricter standards for preventing improper payments before the money leaves Treasury. Rogers contrasted the administration’s efforts with those of previous administrations.

“President Trump continues to deliver for Americans where previous administrations have fallen short. This Administration is setting new standards in record time to prevent fraud and improper payments before hard-earned taxpayer dollars leave the Treasury. Under President Trump’s leadership, there is no tolerance for waste, fraud, and abuse,” Rogers told Fox News Digital.

Treasury screened more than 1.1 billion federal payments totaling roughly $3.7 trillion in FY2026. Officials identified and returned about 13,500 payments worth $175 million that otherwise would have gone to people no longer eligible because of death.

“Treasury continues to transform how the federal government protects taxpayer dollars by using better data, stronger controls, and advanced technology to stop fraud and improper payments before money goes out the door,” Bessent said in a press release shared with Fox News Digital.

“In the past year alone, Treasury built and deployed new safeguards that verified more than $3.7 trillion in federal payments and increased Do Not Pay access from 4% of programs to 99%, ensuring agencies have access to the data they need,” Bessent added.

“We are moving beyond ‘pay and chase’ and making prevention the federal government’s first line of defense.”

More than 99% of federal programs now have access to Treasury’s Do Not Pay tool, compared with roughly 4% at the end of FY2025.

The expansion fulfilled key requirements of Trump’s March 2025 executive order directing the administration to strengthen safeguards against fraud, waste and abuse involving federal payments.

Treasury also screened more than 2.3 billion records against Do Not Pay data sources in FY2026. That total was nearly four times the 641 million records screened during the previous fiscal year.

The program expanded across the federal government alongside additional screening for states and new payment verification efforts.

Treasury also tested safeguards intended to confirm that bank accounts belong to the proper recipients and to check Taxpayer Identification Numbers connected to federal payments.

Those checks became fully operational Sept. 30. They allow Treasury to flag and return payments that fail verification before the money is sent, shifting the government’s focus toward prevention rather than attempting to recover taxpayer funds after payment.

The latest figures followed Treasury’s July announcement that it had screened more than 885 million payments worth roughly $2.77 trillion. At that point, the department had flagged more than 4,900 payments worth about $99 million tied to deceased recipients.

With access to death records now permanent and Do Not Pay available across nearly the entire federal government, Treasury’s fiscal year 2026 figures showed a substantial expansion in screenings.

The department reported both a larger volume of records checked and more improper payments stopped before distribution.

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