Obama Signs Improper Payments Legislation

President Barack Obama today signed into law the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act, proving that he is determined to not only talk the talk, but to walk the walk when it comes to reigning in excessive government spending.

The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Pa.), will force the federal government to look for ways to eliminate overpayments involving benefit checks, as well as Medicare and Medicaid outlays. According to the White House, it will help achieve the President’s new goal of lowering wasteful, improper payments by $50 billion between now and 2012.

“This goal is fully achieveable,” said the President.

Today’s event could demonstrate to Americans that less than 24 hours after Obama signed a bill aimed at holding Wall Street more accountable, he is committed to doing the same within his own government. In fiscal year 2009, the federal government misspent almost $110 billion. In addition to wasting tons of money on entitlement programs, the government sent millions of dollars worth of checks to dead people, and frequently overpaid contractors.

With the nation’s debt level slowly approaching $14 trillion, the President pledged earlier this year to take serious steps to crack down. Obama issued executive orders and memos establishing “do not pay” lists for fraudulent contractors, forcing departments to spend less on construction costs and reforming the federal hiring process. Signing Carper-Murphy marks yet another effort by the administration to combat waste and abuse.

“I think we’re headed in the right direction,” said Obama.