Budget For Reducing Improper Payments May Go To $4.5 Billion

From the Federal Times:

The budget would set a base level for funding to be spent on reducing improper payments at each of those programs [including Social Security], and then give Congress the option to increase that funding up to a predetermined ceiling. Many budgets dedicated to reducing improper payments could more than double over the next few years as a result.

At the Social Security Administration, for example, the base funding level for reviews to ensure benefits are correctly distributed is set at $273 million. The ceiling for 2010 would allow Congress to add another $485 million above that level — effectively tripling the program’s budget. That ceiling is raised for each of the next five years, so by 2014, the program’s budget could reach $4.5 billion.