Statement by PRAC Chair Michael E. Horowitz on Bipartisan Legislation Reported Favorably in the House

Summary

A press release dated 03/26/2025, Statement by PRAC Chair Michael E. Horowitz on Bipartisan Legislation Reported Favorably in the House, the "Federal Accountability Committee for Transparency (FACT) Act of 2025." The statement supports the bill, which the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform reported unanimously. The bill would maintain the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee's (PRAC) data analytics center through December 31, 2026 and rename it the "Fraud Prevention and Accountability Committee." The statement says the center, had it been in place in March 2020, would have allowed critical data analysis before payments were made. It thanks Chairman James Comer, Gerry Connolly, Pete Sessions and Kweisi Mfume.

Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used

Full text

<Press Release>

Statement by PRAC Chair Michael E. Horowitz on Bipartisan Legislation Reported Favorably in the House, the “Federal Accountability Committee for Transparency (FACT) Act of 2025”

03/26/2025

Over the past five years, the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC) and its data analytics center have demonstrated the ability to prevent fraud and improper payments, and to assist law enforcement in pursuing billions of dollars in fraud. We have alerted agency leadership to potential risks and emerging fraud schemes, investigated thousands of pandemic fraud-related cases, and used data to identify potential fraud and other forms of improper payments more quickly. If the PRAC’s data analytics center had been in place in March 2020 at the outset of the pandemic, we would have been able to do critical data analysis upfront before payments were made to help prevent the billions of dollars of pandemic relief funds that were wasted through improper payments and fraud.

I support the bipartisan legislation, the “Federal Accountability Committee for Transparency (FACT) Act of 2025,” reported favorably and unanimously yesterday by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The FACT Act of 2025 would maintain this valuable fraud prevention and fraud-fighting tool through December 31, 2026 and rename it the “Fraud Prevention and Accountability Committee.” I thank Chairman James Comer and Ranking Member Gerry Connolly of the full Committee and Chairman Pete Sessions and Ranking Member Kweisi Mfume of the Government Operations Subcommittee for their bipartisan leadership on this antifraud initiative that will improve the integrity of federal programs, and protect taxpayer dollars from waste, fraud, and abuse. I look forward to working with the Committee and other Members of Congress to advance, and potentially expand on, this important reform and ensure the Inspector General community is equipped to both prevent and fight fraud with advanced technology and data analytics.

###

The PRAC was established by the CARES Act to promote transparency and support independent oversight of the funds provided by the CARES Act and other related emergency spending bills. In addition to its coordination and oversight responsibilities, the PRAC is tasked with supporting efforts to “prevent and detect fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement [and] mitigate major risks that cut across program and agency boundaries.”

If you have additional questions, please contact Lisa Reijula at lisa.reijula@cigie.gov .

Page last modified: 03/26/2025

File and source

File

PRAC_statement-by-prac-chair-michael-e-horowitz-on-bipartisan-legislation-reported-favorably-in-house-fact-act-of-2025_captured-2026-07-14.html

Size

67,631 bytes

SHA-256

6e552decb6e096bd227d498c53073d957a205a1570a7720cd2421bca7190252c

Our copy

PRAC_statement-by-prac-chair-michael-e-horowitz-on-bipartisan-legislation-reported-favorably-in-house-fact-act-of-2025_captured-2026-07-14.html

Original

www.pandemicoversight.gov