{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://walberg.house.gov/media/press-releases/house-acts-crack-down-fraud-federal-workers-comp-program", "House Acts to Crack Down on Fraud in Federal Workers Comp Program", "2026-07-20", "2026", "2026-07", "Republican", "House", "MI", "Tim Walberg", "W000798", "walberg.house.gov", "walberg", "https://walberg.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "The House today unanimously passed H.R. 8823, Putting Patients First by Strengthening Provider Accountability in FECA Act, bipartisan legislation to strengthen the Federal Employees\u2019 Compensation Act (FECA) and crack down on fraud in the program.\n\nChairman Tim Walberg said:\u201cFederal workers who are navigating an injury deserve timely, honest, and compassionate care\u2014not to become the target of fraud. Unfortunately, certain medical providers have treated FECA like a personal ATM, submitting fraudulent claims and abusing the system at the expense of both taxpayers and the very people they were entrusted to help. This legislation puts an end to that abuse and reaffirms that these funds are meant to serve injured workers\u2014not line the pockets of fraudsters.\u201d\n\n\u201cAs Chairman of the Workforce Protections Subcommittee, I\u2019m committed to protecting workers\u2019 benefits from fraudsters,\u201dsaid Congressman Mackenzie. \u201cEvery dollar that goes to a fraudulent provider is one less dollar going towards providing high-quality care to an injured federal worker. Federal workers deserve commonsense protections in the law that safeguard their benefits against fraudsters. That\u2019s why my bill, H.R. 8823, gives the Department of Labor permanent authority to suspend payments to medical care providers who are convicted of fraudulent activity.\u201d\n\nH.R. 8823, Putting Patients First by Strengthening Provider Accountability in FECA Act, authored by Rep. Mackenzie:\n\nStops payments to medical providers convicted of fraud involving FECA or other government health care programs.\n\nPrevents taxpayer dollars from going to fraud.\n\nEnsures FECA funds go toward workers who need them\u2014not scammers.", 1, "2026-07-25T07:13:44Z", "2026-07-25T07:15:09Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://walberg.house.gov/media/press-releases/house-acts-crack-down-fraud-federal-workers-comp-program"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6402807086706161, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}