No Aid for Ghost Students Act of 2026

Floor Speech

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Mr. WALBERG. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 1333, I call up the bill (H.R. 7892) to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require to the Secretary of Education to use an identity fraud detection system to review each FAFSA to determine whether the FAFSA presents a reasonable suspicion of identity fraud, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

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Mr. WALBERG. 7892.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 7892, the No Aid for Ghost Students Act of 2026, a simple and commonsense piece of legislation to fight fraud in our Federal student aid system.

This legislation, authored by Representative Burgess Owens, also includes key provisions from Representative Glenn ``GT'' Thompson's H.R. 7891, the Student Aid Fraud Oversight and Accountability Act of 2026, which further strengthens this important bill.

Student aid should go to real students. This is simple but somehow contested, an idea that Republicans are committed to protecting.

Over the past few years, it has become increasingly apparent that fraudsters are exploiting Federal programs at every level. Instead of helping children get meals or supporting students' educations, Americans' tax dollars have been lining criminals' pockets, helping fraudsters get rich while Americans suffer the consequences.

At the Committee on Education and Workforce, Mr. Speaker, we have been examining this issue closely and working hard to expose the rampant fraud in our Federal assistance programs.

While childcare and hospice care have dominated the headlines in recent months, our Federal student aid programs have also fallen victim to fraud.

The most pressing threat comes from ghost students, fraudsters who use stolen or synthetic identities to submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, and steal student aid dollars. These fraudsters commonly operate in foreign or domestic crime rings, submitting large numbers of FAFSAs to net huge amounts of cash. Until recently, these schemes were far too often successful.

This was largely possible because the Biden-Harris administration removed critical, commonsense guardrails during the COVID-19 pandemic that weakened fraud prevention measures and made it easier than ever to loot our Federal student aid programs.

Those foolish policies didn't help students. In fact, they did the opposite by creating more opportunities for fraudsters and criminals to endlessly exploit Federal student aid assistance programs and steal from taxpayers.

The good news, Mr. Speaker, is that under Education Secretary Linda McMahon's leadership, the Department of Education has made great strides in combating this fraud, restoring key safeguards, increasing identity screenings, and strengthening verification requirements. As a result, the Department blocked more than $1 billion in attempted fraud in 2025.

Those efforts, while effective, are not guaranteed to remain in place under future administrations, as we saw under the Biden administration. That is why committee Republicans are advancing legislation that not only builds on the Trump administration's efforts to stop fraud but also puts effective fraud prevention measures where they belong, in the law.

I know we all want to help students pursue an education and obtain a degree if they choose to do so. Unfortunately, that opportunity is stolen from students and borrowers when we allow fraud to continue unchecked.

H.R. 7892, the No Aid for Ghost Students Act of 2026, creates an invaluable opportunity to stop this kind of incessant fraud and protect access to higher education.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 7892, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my good friend, colleague, and ranking member's comments. I am a bit surprised because I had hoped that he could support this bill since in committee he supported this bill. In fact, one of the two bills in this bill that has been combined was unanimous in support by my Democratic colleagues.

In response to weaponization that this bill could provide, the bill does not single out any State, student, or institution. The bill's identity fraud detection system simply screens and assesses each FAFSA submission, which is working now, for indicators of fraud risk. When an application is flagged for identity verification, it is based on real fraud risk, not political agenda.

Further, the bill's program review priority categories applies only to institutions that display a pattern of disbursing aid to flagged applications, and only after giving those schools an opportunity to demonstrate compliance with the bill's reasonable, commonsense identity verification requirements. In other words, the bill simply requires institutions to do their part in ensuring that taxpayer dollars are going to real students, not fraudsters.

Additionally, the bill promotes transparency. It requires the Department to provide Congress with a written description of the system, notice of substantial changes, and annual reports on the system's use and effectiveness.

Mr. Speaker, bottom line, this bill keeps the focus where it belongs: on stopping fraud and protecting legitimate students.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my colleague from Texas' concern about students and not missing one. We certainly don't want to do that. However, we have been doing that for years until the reforms that have taken place in FAFSA, and we know they are working now. It has come down to days as opposed to weeks and months before in getting feedback. Now, in fact, most recently it has gotten down to immediate feedback in most cases.

We are seeing it work, and we have no evidence that it is unjustly pulling out certain groups or certain individuals. Again, we don't want that to take place, but we do not want fraudsters and ghost students, and that is what we are dealing with.

FAFSA finally, finally is working, and people--parents and students-- are calling my office, and I bet other offices, as well.

Mr. Speaker, with great appreciation, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Kiley), the chairman of the Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education Subcommittee of the Committee on Education and Workforce.

Mr. Speaker, I was caught with the first entity that was mentioned, AFT, the American Federation of Teachers', concern about higher education.

They have messed up our K-12 education and the pipeline going into higher education. I don't see them as any voice that we ought to be listening to, especially dealing with fraud, waste, and abuse.

It is important to recognize the progress the Department has made, Mr. Speaker, in addressing ghost student fraud. In just its first 2 weeks, the Department's new real-time identity fraud detention tool blocked over $60 million in ghost student fraud. That is real money for students.

That is real success, and it is exactly why this bill is drafted this way.

The bill makes clear that the Department may satisfy the bill's identity fraud detection requirement, in whole or in part, through a system already in use, while also giving the Department room to adapt its system to evolving threats.

The trouble is that without this bill, strong safeguards against fraud are not guaranteed, as we said, to remain in place and could change from administration to administration. Especially if the AFT is pushing, we know that push is real because of the Biden administration's failures.

If we agree the current safeguards are working, we should make sure they remain in place to protect students and taxpayers alike, not just for now, but far into the future.

Mr. Speaker, fraud has no place in America. I think we can all agree with that, at least in word. Unfortunately, fraud has spiraled out of control and allowed criminals to steal billions from American students and taxpayers.

H.R. 7892, No Aid for Ghost Students Act of 2026, is a powerful opportunity to put a stop to fraud in our Federal student aid programs and expand the dream of higher education for the next generation of Americans.

While Democrats and the Biden-era administration allowed fraudsters to steal from students and taxpayers, Republicans and the Trump administration are committed to righting that wrong and ensuring Federal student aid goes to the people who are meant to receive it: students.

As lawmakers, it is imperative we do everything in our power to ensure taxpayer dollars are spent correctly. That means stopping fraud and putting an end to the parade of criminals who have exploited our Federal student assistance programs. It makes sense to me.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 7892, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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