{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.hassan.senate.gov/news/press-releases/passed-the-senate-bill-to-end-unintentional-government-payments-to-deceased-americans", "PASSED THE SENATE: Bill to End Unintentional Government Payments to Deceased Americans", "2025-11-19", "2025", "2025-11", "Democrat", "Senate", "NH", "Margaret Wood Hassan", "H001076", "www.hassan.senate.gov", "hassan", "https://www.hassan.senate.gov/news/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 In case you missed it, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed bipartisan legislation cosponsored by U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) that would save Americans\u2019 hard-earned taxpayer dollars by curbing unintentional payments to individuals who have died.\n\n\u201cOur government has a responsibility to safeguard taxpayer dollars and root out waste, fraud, and abuse,\u201d said Senator Hassan. \u201cThis bipartisan bill takes an important step forward by updating existing safeguards so that the federal government can better prevent payments from being unintentionally sent to deceased individuals.\u201d\n\nThe Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act would permanently amend the Social Security Act to allow the Social Security Administration to share the Death Master File \u2013 a record of deceased individuals \u2013 with the Treasury Department\u2019s Do Not Pay system. Because long-standing privacy restrictions limit how the Social Security Administration can share this information, federal agencies often do not receive timely notice when a beneficiary has died, which can unintentionally lead to improper payments. The bill would also allow the Treasury\u2019s Do Not Pay system to compare death information from the Social Security Administration with personal information from other federal entities and to share this information with any paying or administering agency that is authorized to use the Do Not Pay system.\n\nThis legislation is part of Senator Hassan\u2019s ongoing efforts to save taxpayer dollars and cut waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government. In April, in her role as Ranking Member of the Joint Economic Committee, Senator Hassan helped lead a hearing focused on ways to use artificial intelligence and data to improve government efficiency.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:52:45Z"]], "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://www.hassan.senate.gov/news/press-releases/passed-the-senate-bill-to-end-unintentional-government-payments-to-deceased-americans"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.326501999050379, "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"}