Oversight of America’s welfare system is still falling short of protecting taxpayers and preventing waste, fraud and abuse. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has found that the Department of Health and Human Services must do more to monitor states’ use of welfare funding under the TANF program – including strengthening the department’s fraud risk management efforts to improve outreach and coordination with states and establishing better guidance to improve accountability. The House Committee on Ways & Means released this resource that provides a background on the congressional watchdog reports, including the original request made to the GAO in 2023.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has engaged with Emergency Rental Assistance grantees across the country to identify program strategies that promise to speed up program implementation, more efficiently deliver program benefits, enhance program integrity, and improve tenant and landlord access to programs. This Treasury webpage highlights a promising practice, Implementing Program Integrity Measures, including advantages, strategies, and examples.

Chapter 1, “Best Practices for Strengthening Federal Programs,” from the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee’s Blueprint for Enhanced Program Integrity, highlighted strategies and concrete steps from pandemic programs that can be adopted in current and future federal programs that provide critical financial assistance and services. To help agencies in preventing and deterring fraud, waste, and abuse prior to releasing funds in a timely manner, this chapter identifies key recommendations related to the development, implementation, and maintenance of strong internal controls, even during crises.

This Chief Financial Officers Council playbook provides a four-phased approach with 16 plays drawn from successful practices from the federal government and private sector to help combat the risk of fraud. Combating government fraud is an ongoing challenge, but this playbook will provide practical and actionable guidance to help in the antifraud journey.

In December 1995, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) asked the President’s Council on Integrity and Efficiency (PCIE) to determine if there were sufficient provisions for accountability in Federal block grant programs. This PCIE resource responds to the original OMB request primarily by focusing on the statutes of 13 Federal programs commonly referred to as block grants. It concentrates on the statutes because of their fundamental significance in establishing a framework for accountability.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is committed to combating Medicaid provider fraud, waste, and abuse which diverts dollars that could otherwise be spent to safeguard the health and welfare of Americans. This Medicaid webpage explores CMS’ responsibilities under the Medicaid Integrity Program, including but not limited to state program integrity reviews, compliance and fraud referral toolkits, and program integrity review report lists.

Families and individuals working in low-wage jobs make too little income to meet the minimum standards of living in their community. The Living Wage Calculator was developed to help individuals, communities, employers, and others estimate the local wage rate that a full-time worker requires to cover the costs of their family’s basic needs where they live. Users can review the living wage in any county, metro area, or state for households with up to two working adults and zero to three children.

This Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network primer was developed to offer service providers basic information about federal programs that can be used to finance kinship services and programs. Information for each source includes which federal agency administers the funding source, services the funding source can finance, and basic eligibility information. This funding primer is not intended to be an in-depth explanation of each source but, rather, a high-level overview that can be used to aid further research.