Government fraud equaling as much as 15% of overall spending “is just the tip of the iceberg,” Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., told Newsmax on Friday.
Meuser, appearing on Newsmax’s “Wake Up America,” said the scale of fraud involving taxpayer dollars could approach $1 trillion as the Trump administration and congressional Republicans push for tougher enforcement.
“The fraud is extensive,” Meuser said. “It literally could be as much as 10 to 15% of our overall spend. That gets into the neighborhood of almost $1 trillion.”
Meuser, chair of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, participated this week in a White House roundtable with Vice President JD Vance focused on combating fraud and abuse in government programs.
Vance said the White House Anti-Fraud Task Force has identified $230 billion in fraudulent payments from taxpayer-funded benefit programs and stopped another $56 billion from reaching suspected scammers.
He urged Congress to codify the administration’s anti-fraud efforts so a future administration could not simply reverse them.
Meuser said lawmakers are working on legislation that would increase penalties for fraud, strengthen the authority of law enforcement and state attorneys general, and better coordinate efforts among the FBI, the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, telecommunications companies, and social media platforms.
“We’re going to make a difference,” Meuser said, calling the effort his “top priority.”