The federal government overpaid welfare and social services recipients by a stunning $186 billion in fiscal year 2025, a startling surge of $24 billion from the previous year’s total.
According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), 15 federal agencies made up the massive improper payments overage spanning 64 programs, with approximately 82% of the overages the result of overpayments.
And these are just the mistakes that the government caught — usually not outright fraud, like the billions alleged in Minnesota.
The GAO’s analysis comes as a fraudtask force helmed by Vice President JD Vance seeks to apply pressure to states, including New York, to root out the sources of fraud or risk losing federal funding.