H.R. 428, Bonuses for Cost-Cutters and Fraud Preventers Act of 2025

H.R. 428 would expand agencies’ authority to pay cash awards to employees who identify wasteful spending and improper payments. Specifically, the bill would increase the maximum cash award from $10,000 to $20,000 and broaden eligible activities to include both cost savings and the prevention of erroneous payments. The bill also would require the Office of Management and Budget to issue guidance and the Office of Personnel Management and the Government Accountability Office to report to the Congress on those efforts.

Under current law, federal employees may receive bonuses for reporting such activities. Across the federal government, more than 70 Inspectors General (IG), with nearly 14,000 employees, spend roughly $4 billion each year to detect and deter fraud, waste, and abuse. CBO is unaware of any information related to bonuses for federal employees who identify wasteful spending or improper payments. Thus, CBO has no basis for estimating such reductions in spending nor the cost of the increased bonuses that could be awarded to employees under the bill. To the extent that the increased payments under H.R. 428 reduce wasteful spending by more than the reductions under current law, implementing the bill would reduce federal spending.

Based on the cost of similar administrative activities, CBO estimates that administering the program would have insignificant costs. Any related spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.

Similarly, enacting H.R. 428 could affect direct spending for administrative costs by some agencies that are allowed to use fees, receipts from the sale of goods, and other collections to cover operating costs. CBO estimates that any net changes in direct spending by those agencies would be negligible because most of them can adjust amounts collected to reflect changes in operating costs.

The CBO staff contacts for this estimate are Matthew Pickford and Lara Robillard. The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Director of Budget Analysis.