The U.S. Department of the Treasury has prevented nearly $99 million in federal payments from being disbursed to deceased individuals using a new verification system deployed under President Donald Trump's executive order targeting government fraud, waste and abuse.

Following Executive Order 14249, "Protecting America's Bank Account Against Fraud, Waste, and Abuse," the Department of the Treasury and the Bureau of the Fiscal Service implemented a verification process that reviewed more than 885 million payments totaling approximately $2.77 trillion.

That screening flagged more than 4,900 payments totaling nearly $99 million that were associated with deceased individuals, returning the payments to the originating federal agencies for review before any funds were disbursed.

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"So far, we've saved about $100 million, payments that didn't go to deceased people… We think that there's up to $350 million that we can stop before the end of this year," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on "Mornings with Maria" Tuesday. "The [Government Accountability Office] estimates that… this number might be up to $500 billion, which is about 1.66% of GDP. So that could go a long way towards paying down the debt, providing more services, and this is just the start."

"In the Biden administration, HHS got rid of about 50 or 60 of the people who were charged with monitoring fraud. And, Maria, what's important here is that we are stopping the money from going out. So once the money gets out, trying to retrieve it, it's very, very difficult. So stopping it at the source here is our goal," he continued.

The initiative relies on permanent access to the Social Security Administration's Full Death Master File, access that was initially granted on a temporary three-year basis in 2021 through the Consolidated Appropriations Act, according to a Treasury press release.

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Following initial projections estimating $330 million in net benefits between 2024 and 2026, Congress made the verification authority permanent through the "Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act," which President Trump signed into law in February.

"This new safeguard addresses a longstanding vulnerability and helps ensure every dollar the federal government spends reaches its intended recipient," Bessent also said in the press release. "Treasury will continue efforts to modernize the federal payment system, strengthen safeguards against fraud and improper payments, and protect taxpayer dollars."

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