Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act
Lets Social Security share its full death records with the Treasury system that checks payments before they go out, so agencies stop paying people who have died.
What this law changes
From a secondary sourceLets Social Security share its full death records with the Treasury system that checks payments before they go out, so agencies stop paying people who have died.
This account is written from the official description of the bill. We have saved the law's official text and have not finished checking the account against it.
Transparency Score
The Transparency Score is the share of this law’s dollars that goes to what the law says it is for.
Transparency Score
Share of the text within the stated purpose:Not checked yetThe text of this law provides and authorizes no dollar amount. The score is the share of its text within the stated intent. That share is "Not checked yet": no reading of this law is approved by a person yet.
How this is counted
- Transparency Score: dollars in sections a person approved as within the stated intent, divided by total dollars in the law. Shown as a percentage. Higher means more of the money goes to what the law says it is for.
- Beside it, the same two numbers the other way round: total dollars divided by dollars within the stated intent. 1.00 means every dollar is within the stated intent. When no dollar is within the stated intent this ratio cannot be computed, and the answer says so.
- Total dollars: appropriated dollars plus authorized dollars, read from the law's text by the rules below. Dollars in a section whose reading is unclear or was not read count in the total and are shown apart as unclear.
- A law whose text provides and authorizes no dollar amount reads "No money in this law". Its score is the share of its words that are in sections within the stated intent.
- The score reads "Not checked yet" until a person approves the law's reading of which sections are within the stated intent. The dollar totals need no reading and are shown before that.
- The dollar totals read "Not checked yet" when more than 10 percent of the dollars read could not be sorted by the rules.
- Every dollar amount in our saved text of the law is read: "$1,234,567", "$5 billion", "$2.5 million". Margin notes, page marks and the table of contents are left out. Each amount is kept with the words printed around it.
- Appropriated: the sentence says "there is appropriated", "is hereby appropriated" or "out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated"; or the amount is the one an appropriations paragraph ("For ..., $X") provides under an account heading of an appropriations act.
- Authorized: the sentence says "authorized to be appropriated". An authorization lets a later law provide the money. It provides none itself.
- A list under such a sentence ("there is appropriated the following: (1) ...; (2) ..."): an amount that begins an item is counted the same way as the sentence says, unless the sentence gives a total first. Then the items are parts of that total.
- "$X for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2030" is counted as X times the number of years named (here 5). The yearly figure, the years and the product are all kept. "For each fiscal year" with no years named is counted once, and the answer says so.
- Open-ended: "such sums as may be necessary" names no amount. It is counted as an item and adds no dollars.
- Rescinded: "is hereby rescinded", "permanently cancelled", or an item of a list headed "the following funds are hereby rescinded". Shown apart. Not subtracted from the total.
- Not spending, and left out of the total: an amount after "not to exceed", "not more than", "up to", "less than", "in excess of" and like words; a fine or penalty; a limit the law raises ("the limitation is increased by $X"); a figure the law strikes from another law; and a figure inside words it writes into another law ("striking $X and inserting $Y"), unless the same sentence says the figure is authorized or appropriated.
- Counted once: an amount after "of which", after "Provided, That", or after "of the amounts made available" is a part of a total already counted. Where a paragraph ends "in all, $X", that total is counted and the amounts before it are its parts.
- An amount the rules cannot sort is "not classified". It is listed with its words and left out of the total. Nothing is guessed.
- Total dollars: appropriated dollars plus authorized dollars. The two are also shown apart.
What the law says it is for
Confirmed from the official recordThese are the law’s own words, and the words of Congress’s records, about what the law is for.
Official title
“To improve coordination between Federal and State agencies and the Do Not Pay working system.”
The words under "An Act", Public Law 119-77, official text · Saved October 5, 2026 · Fingerprint 1dd9e36d17e059a6
Short title
“Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act”
The sentence that names the Act, Public Law 119-77, official text · Saved October 5, 2026 · Fingerprint 1dd9e36d17e059a6
Congress's summary · Congressional Research Service
“Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act This act permanently allows the Department of the Treasury to access certain death records maintained by the Social Security Administration (SSA) to help prevent and recover improper payments (e.g., payments to deceased individuals). The act also establishes evidentiary requirements the SSA must meet before identifying an individual as deceased. Current law requires the SSA to share its Death Master File with the Do Not Pay system maintained by Treasury for three years. The act makes this requirement permanent. Treasury must enter into an agreement with the SSA related to Treasury's share of the cost of state death data. The act also prohibits the SSA from recording a death in the master file unless the SSA has clear and convincing evidence that the individual should be presumed deceased.”
The quote stops here. The source has the full text.
Summary of the version: Public Law, Congressional Research Service summary: Public Law · Saved October 6, 2026 · Fingerprint aa17fbae4a41679c
The law has no findings or purpose section.
The bill's record names no committee report.
Dollars in this law
Confirmed from the official recordThe text of this law provides and authorizes no dollar amount.
Source: Public Law 119-77, official text · Saved October 5, 2026 · Fingerprint 1dd9e36d17e059a6
Other measures
Each measure has its own status. None is added into the score.
- Dollars in sections added along the way
- No money in this law
- Member-requested dollars as a share of appropriated dollars
- Not checked yet
No list of member-requested spending is printed in the 18 official records saved for this law, and no committee report says there is none.
- Open-ended amounts (“such sums as may be necessary”)
- 0 passagesConfirmed from the official record
- Other bills whose text this law contains
- 1 billConfirmed from the official record
- How the House passed it
- Voice vote, January 12, 2026Confirmed from the official record
- How the Senate passed it
- Unanimous consent, September 19, 2025Confirmed from the official record
- Committee report saved
- None in the official recordConfirmed from the official record
The bill's official record names no committee report.
- Hearing saved
- None in the official recordConfirmed from the official record
The bill's official record names no hearing.
A voice vote or unanimous consent leaves no record of how each member voted.
How these are counted
- Added along the way, sections: sections of the final law marked "added later", divided by the sections compared.
- Added along the way, words: words in those sections, divided by the words in the sections compared.
- Each text is read as a list of words. A run is 5 words in a row. For each section of the final law we count the share of its runs that appear anywhere in the first published text of the bill. 90 percent or more: in the first text. From 20 to 90 percent: changed. Under 20 percent: added later. A section with fewer than 20 words is not compared.
- Sections outside the stated intent: sections a person approved as outside the stated intent, divided by the sections read. The same count is given in words.
- Member-requested spending: the number of items in the lists Congress printed for the law, and the sum of their dollar amounts.
- A part that is not checked yet is shown as "Not checked yet". It is never counted as zero. No single blended number is given.
Added along the way
Confirmed from the official record0 of the 1 section compared are added after the first published text of the bill. 1 is changed. None is in the first text. 1 heading or short section is too short to compare.
A section counts as added later when under 20 percent of its wording appears in the first published text.
The first published text (Introduced in Senate, January 28, 2025): S. 269, Introduced in Senate · Saved October 7, 2026 · Fingerprint 7e9716d280b117e2
Published texts of this bill, in order: Introduced in Senate (January 28, 2025), Engrossed in Senate (September 19, 2025), Enrolled Bill.
Sections added later
No section compared is added later.
Amendments adopted
1 adopted of 1 listed for this bill
- S.Amdt. 3912Replaces the whole text of the bill
Sponsor: Sen. Kennedy, John [R-LA]. The Senate adopted it on September 19, 2025, by unanimous consent.
In the nature of a substitute.
An adopted amendment in the nature of a substitute replaces the whole text of the bill. Its sponsor is named here. It is not tied to single sections.
Other bills whose text this law contains
The Congressional Research Service, a part of the Library of Congress, marks 1 other bill with the words “Public law contains the text”. That means this law includes text from that bill. This page does not compare its text with the law.
- H.R. 2716 Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act
Member-requested spending
No list foundNo list of member-requested spending is printed in the 18 official records saved for this law, and no committee report says there is none.
Sections outside the stated intent
Not checked yetA person reviews each reading before it appears here.
On the record
On the record: Not started.
Press releases by members of Congress
From a secondary sourceThese are press releases from members' official websites that name this law. We save a copy of each one.
1 press release
-
Congressman Bean: “Let’s Stop Writing Social Security Checks to Dead People”
“WASHINGTON —This week, DOGE Caucus founder and co-chair, U.S. Congressman Aaron Bean (FL-04), delivered remarks in support of S. 269, the Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act, legislation to protect taxpayer dollars from fraud and to prevent Social Security benefit checks from going to deceased Americans.”
Read from 539 of 539 members' sites, releases since January 3, 2025, through October 7, 2026.
Press releases by organizations
No saved press release from these organizations names this law.
Read from 510 of 510 organizations' sites, releases since January 3, 2025, through October 7, 2026.
What it touches
Kind of law: New or changed rules. Budget effect: No direct effect on agency budgets.
Government
- Audits and corrective action
- Budgets and expenditures
The economy
- Federal spending
Daily life
- Household budget
Agencies it funds or directs
Dollar amounts:Not checked yetHow it passed
The Senate passed it without objection on September 19, 2025. No individual votes are recorded.
The House passed it by voice vote on January 12, 2026. A voice vote records no individual votes.
How each member votes
Both chambers passed this law without a recorded vote, so no individual votes exist. The House: passed by voice vote (no individual votes recorded). The Senate: passed without objection (no individual votes recorded).
Lobbying reports that name this bill
Confirmed from the official record1 saved lobbying report names S. 269. The amount is what the report gives for the whole quarter: everything the registrant did for that client, all issues together. A linked name opens that organization’s page on this site.
| Registrant | Client | Amount for the whole quarter | Quarter | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NATIONAL POTATO COUNCIL | NATIONAL POTATO COUNCIL | $72,500.00reported as expenses | April to June 2026 | Open the report |
See the lobbying page for S. 269
Senate Office of Public Records cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from LDA.gov.
Lobbying Disclosure Act reports, LDA.gov. This copy was read October 7, 2026 at 4:39 PM Eastern.
Where this comes from
The links below open the official files for this law. A code beside a file is its fingerprint, a short code that changes if the file's contents change.