RM

Responsibility Meter

Current-event accountability

DashboardNew
legislationFederal Payments LawWashington, D.C., United Statesstable 88.0

Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act signed into law

President Donald Trump signed S. 269, the Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act, into law. The statute permanently authorizes federal data-sharing arrangements designed to identify deceased individuals and prevent improper payments across government programs.

curated-2026launch-packunited-statesfederal-paymentsdata-sharingcongressoversight

Published

2/10/2026

Current public event date

Source base

1 sources

Evidence records attached to this event

Actor field

3 ranked

Actors currently scored in public view

Incident links

1

Analyses connected to this incident

Editorial note

Curated from the White House signing notice for S. 269.

Event harm

45.6

Overall event-level harm score

Top culpability

26.5

Congressional sponsors of S. 269

Confidence

88.0

How stable the current public reading is

Top responsibility

58.2

Highest actor responsibility before event harm is applied

Event harm

Harm context

The public harm score is grounded in who bears the harm, what protections are in play, and the broader social fallout.

Who is harmed

The people, communities, or institutions whose safety, rights, or daily conditions are changed by the event.

Rights or laws at risk

Statutory protections, equal treatment, and the downstream rights framework created by the law are at risk.

Societal impact

The law can reshape policy incentives, who bears risk, and how rights are distributed or enforced across affected communities.

Overview

Highest ranked actor

Start with the strongest current attribution before moving into the full ranking and supporting detail.

Congressional sponsors of S. 269

Rank #1 with the highest weighted culpability in the current public reading.

Culpability

26.5

Weighted contribution

Confidence

84.0

Attribution stability

Rank #1originatorlegislatureUnited States

Congressional sponsors of S. 269

Ranked in the public field as a originator with a current responsibility band of peripheral.

stable 84.0

Responsibility

58.2

Actor-level role score before event harm is applied.

Culpability

26.5

Final contribution after event harm weighting.

Confidence

84.0

Current stability of the attribution.

Evidence links

1

Attached source links for this actor.

Why this actor is ranked here

Congress originated and passed the statute, so the bill's sponsors and supporting coalition carry the main authorship role in the legal change.

1 evidence link

Chart views

Score breakdown

Switch between ranked culpability, top-actor dimension mix, contribution balance, and revision timeline.

Ranked actors

3

Actors represented in the ladder and contribution views.

Top actor

Congressional sponsors of S. 269

Highest-ranked actor in the current public reading.

Revisions

13

Entries contributing to the synthetic timeline chart.

Active chart

Ladder

Current visualization mode.

Ranked field

Other ranked actors

Review the rest of the ranked field, with confidence warnings and supporting detail for each actor.

Rank #2authorizerpersonUnited States

President Donald Trump

Ranked in the public field as a authorizer with a current responsibility band of peripheral.

stable 96.0

Responsibility

55.8

Actor-level role score before event harm is applied.

Culpability

25.4

Final contribution after event harm weighting.

Confidence

96.0

Current stability of the attribution.

Evidence links

1

Attached source links for this actor.

Why this actor is ranked here

The president's signature converted S. 269 into operative law, making the office the clearest authorizing actor in the event.

1 evidence link
Rank #3executoragencyUnited States

Federal payment-integrity and data-sharing apparatus

Ranked in the public field as a executor with a current responsibility band of peripheral.

stable 84.0

Responsibility

49.2

Actor-level role score before event harm is applied.

Culpability

22.4

Final contribution after event harm weighting.

Confidence

84.0

Current stability of the attribution.

Evidence links

1

Attached source links for this actor.

Why this actor is ranked here

The agencies and systems carrying out payment-integrity checks are the operational executors once the law is in place.

1 evidence link