I 
110TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5467 
To amend the Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 (31 U.S.C. 
3321 note) in order to prevent the loss of billions in taxpayer dollars. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 14, 2008 
Mr. PATRICK J. MURPHY of Pennsylvania (for himself and Mr. BILBRAY) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Over-
sight and Government Reform 
A BILL 
To amend the Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 
(31 U.S.C. 3321 note) in order to prevent the loss of 
billions in taxpayer dollars. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Improper Payments 
Elimination and Recovery Act of 2008’’. 
SEC. 2. IMPROPER PAYMENTS ELIMINATION AND RECOV-
ERY. 
(a) SUSCEPTIBLE PROGRAMS AND ACTIVITIES.—Sec-
tion 2 of the Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 
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(31 U.S.C. 3321 note) is amended by striking subsection 
(a) and inserting the following: 
‘‘(a) IDENTIFICATION OF SUSCEPTIBLE PROGRAMS 
AND ACTIVITIES.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The head of each agency 
shall, in accordance with guidance prescribed by the 
Director of the Office of Management and Budget, 
annually review all programs and activities that the 
relevant agency head administers and identify all 
such programs and activities that may be susceptible 
to significant improper payments. 
‘‘(2) ANNUAL RISK ASSESSMENT.— 
‘‘(A) DEFINITION.—In this paragraph the 
term ‘significant’ means that improper pay-
ments in the program or activity in the pre-
ceding fiscal year exceeded— 
‘‘(i) 2.5 percent of all program or ac-
tivity payments made during that fiscal 
year; or 
‘‘(ii) $10,000,000. 
‘‘(B) 
RISK
ASSESSMENT.—The 
review 
under paragraph (1) shall include a risk assess-
ment that includes— 
‘‘(i) a systematic process for pro-
ducing a statistically valid estimate of the 
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level of improper payments being made by 
the agency; and 
‘‘(ii) an identification of the factors 
contributing to each assessment under 
clause (i).’’. 
(b) REPORTS ON ACTIONS TO REDUCE IMPROPER 
PAYMENTS.—Section 2 of the Improper Payments Infor-
mation Act of 2002 (31 U.S.C. 3321 note) is amended 
by striking subsection (c) and inserting the following: 
‘‘(c) REPORTS ON ACTIONS TO REDUCE IMPROPER 
PAYMENTS.—With respect to any program or activity of 
an agency with estimated improper payments under sub-
section (b), the head of the agency shall provide with the 
estimate under subsection (b) a report on what actions 
the agency is taking to reduce any improper payments, 
including— 
‘‘(1) a description of the causes of the improper 
payments identified, actions planned or taken to cor-
rect those causes, and the planned or actual comple-
tion date of the actions taken to address those 
causes; 
‘‘(2) in order to reduce improper payments to 
a level below which further expenditures to reduce 
improper payments would cost more than the 
amount such expenditures would save in prevented 
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or recovered improper payments, a statement of 
whether the agency has what is needed with respect 
to— 
‘‘(A) the internal controls, including infor-
mation systems; 
‘‘(B) the human capital; and 
‘‘(C) other infrastructure; 
‘‘(3) if the agency does not have sufficient in-
ternal controls under paragraph (2)(A), a descrip-
tion of the resources the agency has requested in its 
budget submission to establish such internal con-
trols; 
‘‘(4) a description of the steps the agency has 
taken to ensure that agency managers are held ac-
countable for establishing sufficient internal con-
trols, including an appropriate control environment, 
that prevent improper payments from occurring and 
promptly detect and recover improper payments 
made; and 
‘‘(5) a statement of whether or not the agency 
has— 
‘‘(A) developed and implemented improper 
payment control plans; and 
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‘‘(B) implemented appropriate improper 
payment detection, investigation, reporting, and 
data collection procedures and processes.’’. 
(c) REPORTS ON RECOVERY ACTIONS AND GOVERN-
MENTWIDE REPORTING.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 2 of the Improper 
Payments Information Act of 2002 (31 U.S.C. 3321 
note) is amended— 
(A) by striking subsection (e); 
(B) by redesignating subsections (d) and 
(f) as subsections (f) and (g), respectively; and 
(C) by inserting after subsection (c) the 
following: 
‘‘(d) REPORTS ON ACTIONS TO RECOVER IMPROPER 
PAYMENTS.—With respect to any improper payments 
identified in recovery audits conducted under section 2(g) 
of the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act 
of 2008, the head of the agency shall provide with the 
estimate under subsection (b) a report on what actions 
the agency is taking to recover improper payments, includ-
ing— 
‘‘(1) the types of errors from which improper 
payments resulted; 
‘‘(2) a discussion of the methods used by the 
agency to recover improper payments; 
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‘‘(3) the amounts recovered, outstanding, and 
determined to not be collectable, including the per-
cent these amounts represent of the total improper 
payments of the agency; and 
‘‘(4) an aging schedule of the amounts out-
standing. 
‘‘(e) GOVERNMENTWIDE REPORTING OF IMPROPER 
PAYMENTS.— 
‘‘(1) DEPARTMENT
OF
THE
TREASURY.—The 
Secretary of the Treasury shall include in each re-
port submitted under section 331(a) of title 31, 
United States Code, the improper payment informa-
tion reported by the agencies on a governmentwide 
basis. 
‘‘(2) OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET.— 
The Director of the Office of Management and 
Budget shall— 
‘‘(A) coordinate with the Secretary of the 
Treasury in the preparation of the information 
to be reported under paragraph (1); and 
‘‘(B) prescribe regulations for— 
‘‘(i) the information required to be re-
ported; and 
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‘‘(ii) a format of reporting such infor-
mation on a governmentwide basis to be 
used by agencies.’’. 
(2) TECHNICAL
AND
CONFORMING
AMEND-
MENT.—Section 331(a) of title 31, United States 
Code, is amended— 
(A) in paragraph (6), by striking ‘‘and’’ 
after the semicolon; 
(B) in paragraph (7), by striking the pe-
riod and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 
(C) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(8) the improper payments information re-
quired under section 2(e) of the Improper Payments 
Information Act of 2002 (31 U.S.C. 3321 note).’’. 
(d) DEFINITIONS.—Section 2 of the Improper Pay-
ment Information Act of 2002 (31 U.S.C. 3321 note) is 
amended by striking subsections (f) (as redesignated by 
this section) and inserting the following: 
‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) AGENCY.—The term ‘agency’ means an 
executive agency, as that term is defined in section 
102 of title 31, United States Code. 
‘‘(2) IMPROPER
PAYMENT.—The term ‘im-
proper payment’— 
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