Politics

Obama to order federal agencies to compile ‘do not pay list’

interns Contributor
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President Obama will order federal agencies Friday to establish a national “do not pay list” to prevent the government from paying benefits, contracts, grants and loans to ineligible people or organizations, according to senior administration officials.

The moves are part of a series to cut government waste and fraud and come amid calls for more fiscal restraint from Republicans and moderate Democrats.

A memo Obama is set to sign Friday instructs the Treasury Department, Office of Management and Budget and General Services Administration to establish a government-wide database to ensure agencies no longer send government checks to dead people, delinquent or jailed contractors and other debarred or suspended firms, said officials familiar with the memo and not authorized to speak on the record. About 20,000 separate payments totaling $182 million were sent to dead people in the last three years, according to OMB.

Full Story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/17/AR2010061705618.html