On Tuesday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at reforming the federal government’s processes for tracking and managing trillions of dollars in transactions.
The goal of this initiative is to enhance transaction processing through the General Fund, which the White House refers to as “America’s bank account.”
Newsweek has reached out to the Treasury for comments via email.
Importance of the Order
Trump has prioritized reducing federal spending and eliminating “waste” in his second term, with Elon Musk’s Department of Efficiency (DOGE) tasked with implementing significant cuts and restructuring federal agencies.
Government estimates suggest that fraud and improper payments result in annual losses between $233 billion and $521 billion—an issue Trump intends to tackle with this new order.
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Key Information
The General Fund functions as a check-and-balance system for the U.S. government, processing cash operations such as deposits, tax collections, and withdrawals that finance federal functions.
In fiscal year 2024, the General Fund noted $33.9 trillion in cash inflows and $33.6 trillion in outflows, based on government data.
Trump’s recent executive order, titled “Protecting America’s Bank Account Against Fraud, Waste, and Abuse,” seeks to empower the Treasury Department to ensure that transactions are accurately recorded and managed.
The order states that the Treasury needs more financial information from executive departments and agencies “than they currently provide” to effectively combat fraud.
Under this initiative, the Treasury will obtain enhanced authority to examine and screen payments for fraud and wrongful disbursement prior to fund release.
All executive agencies will be mandated to furnish more detailed financial information to the Treasury for the “traceability” of every transaction.
Agencies that currently manage their own disbursements—termed non-Treasury disbursing offices (NTDOs)—will have their functions returned to the Treasury for improved centralized oversight and to mitigate redundant financial reporting.
According to the executive order, NTDOs were projected to handle 181 million payments amounting to over $1.5 trillion, making up 22 percent of total federal disbursements in fiscal 2024.
Trump signed an additional executive order to revolutionize the government’s financial transactions, shifting from “outdated paper-based payments to fast, secure electronic payments.”
He remarked that using paper-based payment methods related to the General Fund entails “unnecessary costs, delays, and risks of fraud, lost payments, theft, and inefficiencies.”
The maintenance of the infrastructure and technology for converting paper records to digital format costs taxpayers over $657 million in fiscal 2024.
While signing the order, Trump indicated that the transition to electronic payments for all federal disbursements and receipts should have occurred “25, 30 years ago.”
Public Reactions
President Donald Trump regarding the “Protecting America’s Bank Account Against Fraud, Waste, and Abuse” order: “The Department of the Treasury is the federal government’s largest financial payment manager, tasked with safeguarding the General Fund but lacking adequate controls to monitor transactions passing through it. To enforce adequate controls and ensure accountability to American taxpayers, the Department of the Treasury needs financial information from executive departments and agencies beyond what they currently provide.
“Financial fraud jeopardizes the integrity of federal programs and erodes public trust in government. Past underinvestment in technology and persistent challenges in accessing accurate data have made it difficult for agencies to fully protect taxpayer dollars from fraud and improper payments.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, speaking on X (formerly Twitter): “Thank you, Trump, for this vital order aimed at combating fraud, waste, and abuse at the Treasury Department. We are moving forward at full speed here.”
Trump, addressing reporters during the signing of the “Modernizing Payments To and From America’s Bank Account” order: “This is fundamentally a modernization of equipment and methods. We could leave this for the next person—whoever that may turn out to be—but it’s something that should have been done 25, 30 years ago.”
Next Steps
No specific timeline has yet been released for executive agencies to improve their transparency to the Treasury in terms of financial screenings.
As of September 30, the Treasury will cease issuing paper checks for all federal disbursements.
