The House of Representatives is considering a collection of bills to combat welfare fraud, as several Democrats criticized the Trump administration’s record on consumer protection and government oversight.
The House Ways and Means Committee presented and advanced the bills last week, including Representative Jodey Arrington’s (R-TX) Preventing Waste Fraud and Abuse in TANF Act and others targeting fraud in state assistance programs.
“This critical legislation will provide much-needed oversight of the TANF program and ensure that the federal government is fulfilling its responsibility to safeguard American tax dollars,” Rep. Arrington said.
However, Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) was especially vocal about his concerns over the pieces of legislation, arguing that all bills fail to address President Donald Trump’s firing of multiple inspector generals and pardoning of others found guilty of fraud. He said the bills are “misleading” to the American people on what fraud looks like as a result.
“Today's bills won't restore watchdogs or provide the restitution that he's denied so many consumers,” Rep. Doggett said.
These concerns came the same day the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a six-month nationwide suspension of new Medicare enrollments for hospice and home care providers due to widespread fraud. It also followed a federal fraud conviction in Ohio last week, unveiling a multi-million-dollar scheme involving falsified Medicare claims tied to home health services.
"Today we're shutting the door on fraud — preventing new bad actors from entering Medicare while we aggressively identify, investigate and remove those already exploiting them,” CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz said.
But Rep. Doggett said the administration's anti-fraud efforts lacked credibility, pointing to the 850 agents and brokers who CMS suspended for fraud in 2024, but were all reinstated by May of 2025.
“No meaningful justification was offered for reinstatement, nor was any explanation provided as to what investigatory steps were taken to assure no criminal activity had occurred,” he said.
Rep. Doggett said the administration enforces fraud rules selectively, citing the proposed "anti-weaponization fund" for Trump allies as evidence of a double standard. He said its anti-fraud messaging is ultimately undermined by a broader pattern of protecting wrongdoing and restricting transparency.
“This is an administration that is not only known by its soft on crime, soft on fraud approach, but by its intense desire to hide as much of its wrongdoing from the public as it possibly can,” he said.
