I will continue working aggressively to end waste, duplicative programs, and fraudulent or improper payments.
John Kennedy promises to keep working to end waste, duplicative programs, and fraudulent or improper payments.
Occurrences
I will always prioritize ways to save taxpayer money.
Evidence
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Kennedy says he will continue working aggressively to end waste, duplicative programs, and fraudulent or improper payments.
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Kennedy sponsored S.269, a bill to permanently let Treasury use SSA death records to identify and prevent improper payments.
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Congress.gov shows S.269 became Public Law No. 119-77 on February 10, 2026.
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Kennedy introduced S.2492 in the 118th Congress to make Treasury access to SSA death records permanent to prevent improper payments.
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The Rescissions Act of 2025 became law and rescinded budget authority from selected programs; Kennedy publicly backed the package as cutting wasteful spending.
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WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump signed Sen. John Kennedy’s Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act into law. The release says the bill will curb erroneous payments to individuals who have passed away and permanently allow SSA to share the Death Master File with Treasury’s Do Not Pay system.
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Congress.gov lists S.269, sponsored by John Kennedy, and shows the tracker status as "Became Law."
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Public Law 119-77, approved on February 10, 2026, enacts the Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act and directs improvements to coordination between federal and state agencies and the Do Not Pay working system to help prevent improper payments.
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Kennedy's current priorities page says he will continue working aggressively to end waste, duplicative programs, and fraudulent or improper payments.
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Treasury announced a new government-wide payment verification process had screened over 885 million payments totaling about $2.77 trillion and identified more than 4,900 payments worth about $99 million associated with deceased payees before disbursement. The release says the February 2026 Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act gave Treasury permanent access to the Full Death Master File so the payment-integrity work can continue permanently.
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GAO reported that improper payments remain a government-wide issue, with agencies estimating $186 billion in fiscal year 2025 and about $3 trillion in payment errors since fiscal year 2003. GAO also found some agencies had not always met required reporting obligations for programs with significant payment errors.
Assessments
Kennedy did not win the 2008 Senate race tied to the original campaign context, but he later became a U.S. senator and materially advanced a specific part of the promise by sponsoring the Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act, which became Public Law 119-77 in February 2026 and was later implemented by Treasury to prevent some improper payments to deceased payees. That supports candidate credit in a later term. However, the broader promise to end waste, duplicative programs, and fraudulent or improper payments has not been fully delivered; GAO still reported major government-wide improper payments in fiscal year 2025. The best rating is partial, with an effort badge for concrete legislative action.
Kennedy did materially advance anti-waste efforts, including sponsoring and enacting the Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act, which directly targets improper payments. But the promise was broad enough to cover waste and duplicative programs generally, and the evidence shows only partial delivery on one slice of that agenda rather than full elimination of the problem. Because the concrete legislative result came in a later term, the timing is later_term.
Kennedy lost the 2008 Senate race, so no same-term federal office delivery is available from that campaign. In later Senate service, he sponsored the Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act, which became Public Law No. 119-77 on February 10, 2026. That is a concrete enacted result on fraudulent or improper payments and directly matches part of the promise. However, the broader promise covered ending waste and duplicative programs generally, and the evidence shows targeted progress rather than comprehensive elimination of waste, duplication, fraud, and improper payments. Later support for rescissions and current priority statements reinforce continued effort but do not establish full delivery of the whole broad outcome.
Kennedy lost the 2008 Senate race, so no same-term Senate delivery is possible from that campaign. In later federal office, he sponsored and advanced targeted improper-payment legislation, including S.269, which became Public Law No. 119-77 in 2026. That is a concrete delivered result on one specific part of the promise. However, the broader promise to end waste, duplicative programs, and fraudulent or improper payments is systemic and not fully achieved; other anti-waste outcomes such as the 2025 rescissions package were broader congressional actions rather than Kennedy-only delivery. Because he materially advanced a relevant enacted bill after the campaign but did not fully accomplish the broad outcome, partial credit with later-term timing is appropriate.