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Dan Lips is a senior fellow at the Foundation for American Innovation and a former policy director with the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
丹•利普斯(Dan Lips)是美国创新基金会的高级研究员，曾任参议院国土安全与政府事务委员会政策主任。
When the US Congress returns from its summer recess in September, lawmakers will have a month to negotiate a spending deal to avoid a government shutdown. This debate will further expose partisan divisions on fiscal policy and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency’s cost-cutting moves. Behind the scenes, however, the Trump administration is working with Congress to enact comprehensive reforms to prevent wasteful spending, which have long-standing bipartisan support.
当美国国会(US Congress)在9月结束夏季休会后复会时，议员将有一个月的时间协商支出协议，以避免政府关门。这场辩论将进一步暴露出在财政政策和所谓的政府效率部(Doge)削减开支举措上的党派分歧。然而，在幕后，特朗普政府正与国会合作，推动全面改革，以防止浪费性开支，这是长期以来两党都支持的。
Altogether, the US government’s misspending costs hundreds of billions of dollars each year. In 2024, federal departments and agencies made $162bn in improper payments.
总体而言，美国政府的资金浪费每年造成数千亿美元的损失。2024年，联邦各部门和机构的不当支付金额达到1620亿美元。
In 2010, President Barack Obama established a “Do Not Pay List” for federal agencies, which would vet planned federal payments against a “network of databases” to verify eligibility. The aim was to shift the federal government’s strategy for stopping fraud and misspending from a “pay and chase” model to one of prevention. However, laws limiting data sharing between federal agencies undermined the Obama administration’s plans for the list. Since Obama established Do Not Pay, the federal government has misspent more than $2tn.
2010年，时任美国总统巴拉克•奥巴马(Barack Obama)为联邦机构设立了“禁付名单”(Do Not Pay List)，通过与“数据库网络”比对，核查联邦付款计划的资格。其目的是将联邦政府防止欺诈和滥用资金的策略，从“先支付后追查”模式转变为预防为主。然而，限制联邦机构间数据共享的法律削弱了奥巴马政府对该名单的规划。自奥巴马设立禁付名单以来，联邦政府已经误支出超过2万亿美元。
As bad as misspending continues to be, the government loses even more to fraud. The Government Accountability Office estimates that annual losses due to fraud total between $233bn and $521bn — as much as 7 per cent of total federal spending. Foreign adversaries and transnational criminal organisations are often to blame. A 2024 congressional review estimated that half of all lost pandemic-era unemployment assistance was stolen by foreign actors.
尽管不当支出问题依然严重，因欺诈造成的政府损失更为巨大。美国政府问责局(Government Accountability Office)估计，每年因欺诈造成的损失总额在2330亿美元至5210亿美元之间，约占联邦总支出的7%。外国对手和跨国犯罪组织往往是主要责任方。2024年国会审查估算，疫情期间失业救济金损失中有一半被外国对手盗取。
Doge has captured the public’s attention by dismissing thousands of federal workers and halting billions in federal grants and contracts. Lost in the hype has been the White House and Treasury Department’s worthwhile campaign to prevent fraud and misspending.
政府效率部因解雇数千名联邦雇员并暂停数十亿美元的联邦拨款和合同而吸引了公众的关注。然而，在种种热议中，白宫和财政部(Treasury Department)为防止欺诈和滥用资金所做的有益努力却被忽视了。
In March, President Donald Trump issued three executive orders that aimed to reduce improper payments by strengthening financial controls and moving all government transactions to secure electronic formats. Like Obama, Trump directed federal agencies to improve data and information sharing. These reforms could substantially reduce misspending and fraud. However, their success again depends on Congress authorising necessary data and information sharing between federal agencies and allowing the Treasury to access certain private-sector information, including credit reporting, for improved vetting.
今年3月，美国总统唐纳德•特朗普(Donald Trump)发布了三项行政命令，旨在通过加强财务控制并将所有政府交易转为安全的电子格式，以减少不当支付。与奥巴马一样，特朗普要求联邦机构改进数据和信息共享。这些改革有望大幅减少浪费和欺诈。然而，这些改革能否成功，再次取决于美国国会是否授权联邦机构之间必要的数据和信息共享，并允许财政部获取包括信用报告在内的部分私营部门信息，以便更好地进行审查。
Republican Senator Joni Ernst recently sponsored a bill to codify and authorise the data access reforms included in Trump’s executive orders. This would allow the Treasury to access certain databases and establish an information-sharing protocol with the Internal Revenue Service to verify individuals’ eligibility for certain means-tested benefits. Democratic lawmakers could provide critical bipartisan support. In 2024, Senators Gary Peters, Dick Durbin, and Ron Wyden sponsored similar legislation and should now back Ernst’s bill. Such a reform could generate significant savings. An unpublished analysis by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service estimated that providing the Do Not Pay system with access to additional data streams could reduce federal fraud and improper payments by tens of billions of dollars. Treasury officials say the savings could be significantly higher.
美国共和党参议员乔尼•厄恩斯特(Joni Ernst)最近提出了一项法案，旨在将特朗普行政命令中涉及的数据访问改革进行立法和授权。这将允许财政部访问特定数据库，并与美国国税局(Internal Revenue Service)建立信息共享机制，以核查个人是否有资格获得某些有收入限制的福利。民主党立法者有望为该法案提供关键的两党支持。2024年，参议员加里•彼得斯(Gary Peters)、迪克•德宾(Dick Durbin)和罗恩•怀登(Ron Wyden)也曾提出类似法案，如今他们应该会支持厄恩斯特的提案。此类改革有望带来显著节省。美国财政服务局一项未公开的分析估算，为“禁付”系统提供更多数据流的访问权限，可能会使联邦欺诈和不当支付金额减少数百亿美元。财政部官员表示，节省金额可能远高于此。
In late July, a Senate committee unanimously approved a narrower bill to establish permanent information sharing between agencies to prevent payments to dead people. Broader legislation to stop misspending should be on the agenda this fall. The US government cannot afford to let fraudsters, including foreign adversaries, steal hundreds of billions from taxpayers. Lawmakers from both parties should now help Trump finish what Obama started.
今年7月底，参议院委员会一致通过了一项更为有限的法案，旨在建立各机构之间的永久信息共享机制，以防止向已故人员支付款项。更广泛的立法以遏制不当支出应当列入今年秋季的议程。美国政府不能容忍包括外国对手在内的欺诈分子从纳税人手中窃取数千亿美元。两党议员现在应当协助特朗普完成奥巴马开启的工作。