Press Releases

Washington, D.C. -- Today, Rep. Ted Budd (R-NC) launched “Budd's Budget Busters,” a new effort to highlight and push for common sense ways that Congress can cut government waste and save taxpayer money.

Rep. Budd said in a statement:

“It’s time to get serious about tackling Washington’s spending addiction. I’m going to use this new series to highlight the simple, common sense ways that lawmakers can save hard-working taxpayers billions of dollars.” 

The inaugural Budd's Budget Buster highlights the absurdity of taxpayer dollars being sent to individuals who are not even alive. A 2015 Social Security Administration Inspector General report found 6.5 million people in the system that are implausibly 112 years old. The Department of Veterans Affairs paid out an estimated $37.7 million to deceased veterans in 2016. Over $1 billion has been paid to farmers who had been dead for over three years. Medicare paid for $3.6 million in prescription drugs for dead beneficiaries. 

Rep. Budd said:

“The fact that the federal government is unable to distinguish between the living and the dead is absurd, especially when a simple fix is available. That’s why I support H.R. 2543, the appropriately named Stopping Improper Payments to Deceased People Act. The bill grants federal agencies access to the Social Security Administration's Death Database, and puts new procedures in place that force agencies to consider death data when making payments. This common sense bipartisan legislation should be a no-brainer.”