House Republicans are eyeing more money for increased anti-fraud initiatives and possibly prosecutions to help balance their $95 billion party-line defense spending and voter ID bill.
House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-TX) said the Trump administration’s anti-fraud initiative, led by Vice President JD Vance, was already providing a substantial return on investment.
“We’ve been working with Congressional Budget Office on what would the ROI be on investing in anti-fraud infrastructure, fraud prevention infrastructure, technology, investigators, prosecutors,” Arrington told reporters Wednesday morning, “because Dr. Oz has said there’s $100 billion a year in savings in [Medicaid and Medicare], and then he went on to say we’re getting $20-plus of savings in return for every dollar we spend on fraud prevention.”
The party-line spending bill tees up two legislative priorities for House Republicans: the White House’s Iran war supplemental request and enacting the SAVE America Act, which would require voter ID to cast a ballot and proof of citizenship to register to vote.
HOUSE GOP RELEASED BUDGET FRAMEWORK FOR $95 BILLION RECONCILIATION BILL
Arrington indicated the anti-fraud initiatives could help bring deficit hawks, who have long argued that any new federal spending should be offset by cuts to existing programs, on board. The push comes as Vance and Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, have led high-profile crackdowns on fraud in recent months.
As part of the effort, the White House has set a six-month pause on new Medicare enrollments for up-and-coming home healthcare and hospice providers earlier this year.
