Welfare Fraud Deterrence and Recovery Act of 2026

Key Points

• The bill creates a special team at the Department of Justice to find and sue people who lie to get government help, like food stamps or child care money.
• People caught committing welfare fraud could face up to 15 years in prison. If they stole more than $100,000, they would have to serve at least 5 years.
• Naturalized citizens—people born in other countries who became U.S. citizens—would automatically lose their citizenship and be deported if convicted of welfare fraud.
• Noncitizens who are convicted of fraud would be deported quickly and blocked from coming back to the U.S. for at least 20 years.
• States would be required to share their records with federal investigators. If a state refuses to help, the federal government could take away 10% of that state's welfare money.
• To help catch scammers, the government would pay 'whistleblowers' who report fraud. These people could get a reward worth 15% to 30% of the money the government gets back.