Executive Order No. 14395. Establishing the Task Force To Eliminate Fraud

• Citation: 91 FR 13485
• Executive Order No.: 14395
• Published date: 19 March 2026
• Date: 16 March 2026
• FR Document: 2026-05497
• Pages: 13485-13489
• Issuer: Executive Office of the President
• Section: Presidential Documents

Presidential Documents

13485

Federal Register

Vol. 91, No. 53

Thursday, March 19, 2026

Title 3—

The President

Executive Order 14395 of March 16, 2026

Establishing the Task Force To Eliminate Fraud

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the

laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:

Section 1. Purpose and Policy. American taxpayers fund a vast benefits

system for citizens in need that includes housing, food, medical care, cash

assistance, and more. States administer these federally funded programs,

and some States have embraced loopholes that avoid individual eligibility

validation, allow self-certification of eligibility, and expand eligibility far

beyond what the Congress intended. Worse, despite accepting Federal funds,

some States have refused to institute basic fraud controls such as providing

enrollee information to the Federal Government that would allow it to

verify eligibility. As a result, illegal aliens, criminals, foreign gangs, bureau-

crats, State and local officials, non-governmental organizations, and ineligible

providers exploit these programs—which are intended to provide a safety

net to lawfully eligible Americans—with ease. This exploitation and lack

of controls to prevent it have resulted in widespread fraud, waste, and

abuse at the expense of the American taxpayers who pay for and utilize

these programs, contributing substantially to the national debt.

Self-dealing political actors use such public benefits programs to solidify

control over their communities and our political systems. Due to lax immigra-

tion policy and immigration fraud, certain public officials admit into our

country, and provide sanctuary from Federal immigration laws to, migrant

populations who are likely to rely on means-tested, public assistance pro-

grams (welfare) and increase the political support and power of the public

officials providing the benefits. This increased support incentivizes public

officials to maximize the flow of welfare to these communities and makes

public officials who do so more powerful. Many of these public officials

then fail to police these programs—and in some cases, willfully turn a

blind eye to fraud, waste, and abuse within them—to ensure that welfare

flows to these migrants. Due to insufficient election integrity measures,

some migrants who are not eligible to vote do so anyway, with the same

public officials permitting widespread ballot harvesting schemes that com-

promise our election integrity and help these public officials remain in

power.

The staggering fraud and waste in Minnesota alone is a case in point.

Federal prosecutors in the State estimate that Medicaid fraud in recent

years could total in the billions. Nearly 9 percent of the roughly $866

million spent on food stamps in Minnesota each year is estimated to be

spent in error. The non-profit Feeding our Future engineered a scam that

stole nearly $250 million intended to feed needy children in Minnesota

by opening fake meal sites and submitting fraudulent claims for millions

of meals that were never served. One of the defendants in this scam was

also charged with submitting false claims to an autism services program

that was subject to widespread fraud. Hundreds of millions of dollars in

Federal childcare funding to Minnesota were stolen by an organized ring

of Somali immigrants and others who used the stolen money to purchase

cars, property, and luxury travel, and sent the funds overseas. The Federal

Government is investigating allegations that some of the United States tax-

payer dollars subject to fraud in Minnesota were even funneled to one

of Africa’s most heinous terror groups. All of this was ignored or undetected

by State officials. There is also strong reason to believe that similar problems

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exist in other States, including California, Illinois, New York, Maine, and

Colorado. In fact, Minnesota and 20 other States filed a lawsuit to block

the Federal Government from even conducting a basic review to determine

whether their enrollees are in fact eligible for taxpayer-funded benefits under

the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Such extensive, undetected

fraud could only exist in a system that ignores it.

Fraud and mismanagement in these programs constitutes theft of the hard-

earned tax dollars from Americans paying into these programs, and of the

benefits owed to Americans who need them. The failure to ensure sufficient

Federal oversight to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse has allowed irresponsible

State politicians to increase Federal spending in their own States, which

has contributed to inflation for health care services, housing, utilities, and

groceries.

Making matters worse, the previous administration adopted policies that

weakened the Federal Government’s oversight of State administration and

distribution of Federal funds under these programs, including by reducing

commonsense verification measures, expanding access without adequate con-

trols, tolerating unacceptable error rates, creating conditions in which fraud

was institutionally tolerated and therefore flourished, and enabling individ-

uals with substantial means to improperly access benefits.

My Administration will use all available resources and authorities to fight

fraud, close loopholes, enforce eligibility rules, and protect benefits for eligi-

ble Americans, while ensuring States administering Federal benefits programs

do the same.

Sec. 2. Establishment of the Task Force. (a) There is hereby established

within the Executive Office of the President a Task Force to Eliminate

Fraud (Task Force).

(b) The Vice President of the United States shall serve as the Chairman

of the Task Force. The Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission shall

serve as Vice Chairman of the Task Force, shall preside over the Task

Force at the direction of the Chairman or in his absence, and shall exercise

all powers of the Chairman herein defined at his direction or in his absence.

The Chairman shall designate an Executive Director, who shall administer

and execute the day-to-day operations of the Task Force, and who shall

report to the Vice Chairman. The Assistant to the President for Homeland

Security shall serve as the Senior Advisor to the Task Force.

(c) In addition to the Chairman, the Vice Chairman, and the Senior Advisor,

the Task Force shall include appropriate representatives from the following

executive departments and agencies (agencies), or components:

(i) the Department of the Treasury;

(ii) the Department of Justice;

(iii) the Department of Agriculture;

(iv) the Department of Labor;

(v) the Department of Health and Human Services;

(vi) the Department of Housing and Urban Development;

(vii) the Department of Education;

(viii) the Department of Veterans Affairs;

(ix) the Department of Homeland Security;

(x) the Small Business Administration;

(xi) the Office of Management and Budget; and

(xii) other agencies, inspectors general, or components within the Executive

Office of the President, as determined by the Chairman.

(d) The Chairman or the Vice Chairman shall convene regular meetings

of the Task Force, determine its agenda, and direct its work, consistent

with this order. The Executive Director shall assist in the performance

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of these duties. The Chairman may designate any member of the Task

Force to preside over meetings of the Task Force in the absence of the

Vice Chairman.

(e) The Task Force shall coordinate with the Homeland Security Council

on any matters related to law enforcement, public safety, national security,

transnational crime, and organized criminal activity.

Sec. 3. Operation and Priorities of the Task Force. (a) The Task Force

shall, on behalf of the President, coordinate and accelerate a comprehensive

national strategy to stop fraud, waste, and abuse within Federal benefit

programs, including programs administered jointly with State, local, tribal,

and territorial partners. The Task Force shall advise the President and,

on behalf of the President, shall coordinate the work of appropriate member

agencies to:

(i) develop measures to improve eligibility verification processes in Federal

benefits programs and maximize enforcement of eligibility requirements,

including program-specific requirements and the Personal Responsibility

and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996;

(ii) develop appropriate controls that operate before funds are obligated

or disbursed to prevent improper payments in Federal benefits programs,

including by coordinating agency action to determine when ongoing fraud

or potential fraud require proactively pausing certain types of funding

until such controls can be established;

(iii) evaluate indicators of fraud and high-risk vulnerabilities to fraud,

including major fraud trends and cross-program and large-scale schemes,

which shall include considering the current and potential use by member

agencies of third-party contractors to maximize efficacy in detecting fraud;

(iv) promote the facilitation of information and data sharing and coordina-

tion between State, local, tribal, and territorial governments and the Federal

Government, and benefit-providing agencies and law enforcement agencies;

(v) disrupt and dismantle fraud networks and facilitators, including pro-

viders, contractors, or other entities and repeat cross-program offenders

through interagency information sharing and coordination;

(vi) investigate and disrupt the mechanisms through which fraud is com-

mitted, including any mechanisms involving facilitation of fraud by Fed-

eral, State, local, tribal, or territorial officials;

(vii) prevent remittance transfers that involve the proceeds of Federal

benefits fraud, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law;

(viii) audit and ensure prospective compliance monitoring, including for

use in identifying fraud in Federal benefits programs; and

(ix) analyze identifying information for all providers or retailers associated

with redemption of benefits to inspect for fraud and develop a process

by which member agencies recommend policies for wide-scale revalida-

tions or reauthorization to deter fraudulent providers, as appropriate and

to the extent consistent with applicable law.

(b) Each agency administering Federal benefit programs shall, consistent

with applicable law, provide to the Task Force information concerning such

programs that the Task Force deems relevant to advising the President

and coordinating efforts to uncover benefits fraud and increase fraud-detec-

tion capability.

(c) The Task Force shall be subject to the President’s direct supervision

and control. The Task Force, through the Chairman, shall provide frequent

updates to the President regarding its work and shall ensure that its actions

are consistent with the President’s directions.

Sec. 4. Improved Controls and Fraud-Prevention Measures. (a) Each agency

administering Federal benefit programs represented on the Task Force shall

identify the agency’s benefit transactions and processes that are most suscep-

tible to fraud schemes, which may include new enrollments, redetermina-

tions, provider enrollments, eligibility self-attestation procedures, changes

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to payment destinations or payees, or transactions involving third party

intermediaries. Within 30 days of the date of this order, each such agency

shall submit to the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Task Force descrip-

tions of such transactions and processes and suggested measures to prevent

such fraud.

(b) Within 60 days of the date of this order, the Task Force shall coordinate

member agency efforts to adopt, as appropriate, minimum anti-fraud require-

ments for transactions and processes identified under subsection (a) of this

section to prevent fraud and loopholes that allow for systemic abuse and

exploitation. If such transactions and processes involving Federal funding

are administered by a State, local, territorial, or tribal jurisdiction, then

the Task Force and appropriate member agencies shall address how such

jurisdictions can demonstrate implementation of the anti-fraud requirements.

The Task Force and its member agencies also shall examine and recommend,

as appropriate, any ways that Federal funds may be withheld from jurisdic-

tions that do not have adequate anti-fraud requirements. Specifically, such

anti-fraud requirements may include:

(i) screening, proof of identity, and eligibility verification;

(ii) pre-payment integrity and risk controls, including affirmative docu-

mentation requirements concerning services provided;

(iii) information- and data-sharing processes, updated criteria, minimum

integrity checks, cross-program risk indicators, and coordinated recovery

and enforcement pathways to prevent immigration sponsor and beneficiary

and household-related related fraud, abuse, or improper usage;

(iv) appropriate use of providers, vendors, contractors, nonprofit organiza-

tions, intermediaries, and service organizations; and

(v) audit and remedial measures, including suspension, termination, repay-

ment, exclusion, and debarment actions, as appropriate.

(c) Within 90 days of the date of this order, each member of the Task

Force shall submit to the Chairman and the Vice Chairman of the Task

Force a measurable implementation plan concerning the measures identified

or developed under this order.

Sec. 5. Administration. The heads of other agencies shall, upon the request

of the Chairman or the Vice Chairman, provide administrative and technical

support, or information required by the Task Force to carry out its functions.

Sec. 6. Maximizing Taxpayer Pursuit of Fraud Involving Taxpayer Dollars.

The Attorney General shall:

(a) take appropriate action to promote the meritorious pursuit by private

persons of civil actions under 31 U.S.C. 3730 concerning fraud within Federal

benefit programs; and

(b) ensure prompt review of such actions, including within the 60-day

period contemplated by 31 U.S.C. 3730(a)(4) to the maximum extent prac-

ticable.

Sec. 7. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed

to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency,

or the head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget

relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and

subject to the availability of appropriations.

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(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit,

substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party

against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers,

employees, or agents, or any other person.

(d) The costs for publication of this order shall be borne by the Department

of the Treasury.

THE WHITE HOUSE,

March 16, 2026.

[FR Doc. 2026–05497

Filed 3–18–26; 11:15 am]

Billing code 4810–25–P

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