House Passes Major National Fraud Enforcement Division Act

The House delivered a major bipartisan victory for President Donald Trump’s anti-fraud agenda, voting 352–72 to give permanent statutory standing to a Justice Department division charged with pursuing fraud.

H.R. 9576, the National Fraud Enforcement Division Act of 2026, drew support from every Republican who voted, along with 139 Democrats and one independent. All 72 votes against the measure came from Democrats.

The Republican tally was 212 in favor and none opposed. Nine House members did not vote, including three Democrats, and no members voted present.

The legislation now heads to the Senate. It must clear that chamber before reaching Trump’s desk.

Rep. Brad Finstad, R-Minn., introduced the bill July 2 with Rep. Derek Schmidt, R-Kan. Republican Reps. Abraham Hamadeh, Harriet Hageman and Michelle Fischbach subsequently joined Schmidt as cosponsors.

The proposal would write an existing Trump administration initiative into federal law.

The Justice Department established its National Fraud Enforcement Division administratively earlier this year. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche formally announced the operation in April as part of the administration’s broader campaign against fraud.

According to DOJ, the division investigates and prosecutes schemes targeting taxpayer funds, government programs, businesses, nonprofit organizations and private citizens. It also coordinates with federal agencies and law enforcement partners at the state, local, tribal and territorial levels.

The House bill would make that division a permanent statutory component of the department, placing it under the Attorney General’s authority.

An Assistant Attorney General for National Fraud Enforcement would lead the operation. The official would be appointed under existing federal law and designated by the president for the fraud-enforcement role, with duties prescribed by the Attorney General.

The legislation also applies federal political-activity restrictions to division employees, paralleling those covering personnel in DOJ’s Criminal Division.

Finstad pointed to fraud investigations in Minnesota as evidence of the need for a more durable federal enforcement structure.

“I’m proud to see my National Fraud Enforcement Division Act of 2026 pass in the House today,” he said.

He described the legislation as establishing “a permanent framework to strengthen our federal fraud prosecution efforts.”

Schmidt emphasized the damage that fraudulent claims inflict on taxpayers and programs intended to serve legitimate recipients.

“Fraud targeting federal programs and taxpayers costs Americans billions,” Schmidt said.

He called the measure “a commonsense step” toward improving the government’s ability to investigate and prosecute those schemes.

House Republican Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain likewise argued that weak enforcement has enabled abuse of public programs.

“Fraudsters have gotten rich exploiting government programs and weak enforcement for far too long,” McClain said.

She said the government needs “the tools and the determination” to pursue those stealing taxpayer money.

The scale of potential losses gives the debate substantial financial importance.

The Government Accountability Office estimated annual federal fraud losses at between $233 billion and $521 billion, using data from fiscal years 2018 through 2022. That range represented approximately 3% to 7% of average federal obligations during the period.

The estimate describes the potential scope of fraud losses, rather than money the new division has already identified or recovered. GAO has repeatedly recommended stronger data analysis, information sharing and government-wide management of fraud risks.

The House vote demonstrated broad support for giving the enforcement operation a lasting place within DOJ, even as a significant group of Democrats opposed the proposal.

The official vote tally does not establish why each opposing member voted against it. With 139 Democratic supporters, however, passage reflected a coalition extending well beyond the Republican majority.

Lawmakers considered the bill under a closed rule allowing one hour of debate and one motion to recommit. The legislation itself attracted substantially more support than the procedural vote governing its consideration.

Its scope is relatively narrow.

H.R. 9576 focuses on the department’s structure, the division’s leadership and employee political-activity restrictions. It does not create a new crime, revise sentencing rules or establish a separate fraud court.

Nor does the House-passed language appropriate a specific amount of money to the division.

Its principal purpose is institutional: turning an administratively established operation into a division expressly created by Congress.

For Trump and House Republicans, that represents progress toward making anti-fraud enforcement a lasting federal priority. Whether the division gains that statutory footing now depends on Senate action.