today introduced a bill that would require strong safeguards to prevent student aid fraud.
Require strong safeguards to prevent student aid fraud.
Occurrences
The Student Aid Fraud Oversight and Accountability Act will create an oversight mechanism requiring the Education Department to identify institutions that disburse federal aid to applicants flagged for potential fraud, placing those institutions in a priority category that can allow for program reviews, audits, and other oversight activities.
The legislation provides an exception for institutions that verify student identity, through in-person or live video call verification, before dispersing student aid.
"Through this bill, we can ensure ghost students are unable to counterfeit identities and put a stop to federal student aid fraud," Rep. Thompson said.
Evidence
"today introduced a bill that would require strong safeguards to prevent student aid fraud." The release says the bill creates an oversight mechanism requiring the Education Department to identify institutions that disburse federal aid to applicants flagged for potential fraud, with an exception for schools that verify identity before disbursing aid.
The bill text amends the Higher Education Act to require the Secretary of Education to prioritize program reviews of institutions that disburse aid to students whose FAFSA presented a reasonable suspicion of identity fraud, while exempting schools that confirm identity through in-person or live synchronous audiovisual verification before disbursing aid.
Walberg said H.R. 7891 "strengthens federal oversight of institutions that disburse federal student aid to individuals suspected of identity fraud" and "requires the Department to prioritize program reviews of schools that disburse federal student aid to FAFSA applicants flagged for suspected identity fraud."
The Committee "passed seven bills today" including H.R. 7891, and said the package would "strengthen oversight of federal student aid, crack down on fraud and 'ghost students,' improve FAFSA verification."
At a May 26 White House anti-fraud task force event, Vice President JD Vance said the administration had blocked $60 million in student aid fraud and that the DOJ's new fraud division had already taken more than 450 actions.
Assessments
Thompson directly acted on the promise by introducing the Student Aid Fraud Oversight and Accountability Act in March 2026 and helping move it through committee markup, where the bill’s identity-verification and oversight provisions were formally advanced. That is a serious legislative effort closely aligned with the promised safeguard policy. But the evidence provided shows introduction, bill text, and committee passage only; it does not show final enactment or completed federal implementation of the required safeguards. Under the stated scoring rule, a serious attempt that did not deliver the promised outcome counts as never, with effort credit.
Thompson directly acted on the promise by introducing the Student Aid Fraud Oversight and Accountability Act and advancing it through committee markup. The bill’s text specifically created stronger anti-fraud safeguards for federal student aid, including Department of Education oversight of schools tied to suspected identity fraud and an identity-verification exception for compliant institutions. However, the evidence only shows bill introduction and committee passage, not enactment into law or completed implementation. That means the promise was materially pursued and partly advanced, but not fully delivered.