Topline: The Environmental Protection Agency “did not follow standard operating procedures” for reviewing its spending and underestimated its improper payments in 2022 and 2023, according to Jan. 29 audit from the EPA inspector general.
Key facts: Improper payments are those sent by the government for the wrong reason, the wrong amount or to the wrong person. Every year, federal programs review a sample of their payments to estimate how much was spent improperly.
In 2022 and 2023, the EPA reviewed 751 payments from its two state revolving funds, which help states pay for clean drinking water and wastewater infrastructure. They determined that only 31 of the payments were improper.
That was inaccurate, according to the latest audit.
Waste of the Day 2.9.26
Open the Books
The inspector general reviewed just 20 payments the EPA had marked as proper and found that 19 of them were actually improper, as defined by the Payment Integrity Information Act of 2019. They totaled $63.2 million.
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