The House voted 352-72 on Sept. 16 to make the Trump administration’s National Fraud Enforcement Division a permanent part of federal law — one of the most lopsided bipartisan votes of the year, passed just hours before lawmakers left Washington for a roughly seven-week recess.
Why it matters: The vote hands President Trump a rare bipartisan win on a signature anti-fraud initiative heading into the midterms, and cements the legal footing of the DOJ unit Vice President JD Vance has already used to refer Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison for a potential criminal investigation.
Driving the news:
The National Fraud Enforcement Division Act of 2026 (H.R. 9576) codifies into law a DOJ unit Trump created by executive order in January 2026 to combat fraud in federal programs.
More than 140 Democrats, including Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, joined all Republicans in voting yes; all 72 "no" votes came from Democrats.
The bill passed the night of Sept. 16, hours before Speaker Mike Johnson adjourned the House for recess, with Johnson saying, "The House has done its work. It’s time for our members to go home to their districts and make their case to the American people."
Vance has already referred Walz and Ellison to the division over alleged fraud in Minnesota’s welfare programs.
By the numbers:
352-72: the final House vote.
$233 billion–$521 billion: GAO’s estimated range of annual federal fraud losses.
$6.5 billion+: value of healthcare fraud charges the division announced against 455 defendants in June 2026.
What they’re saying: Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), one of the Democrats who voted yes, called the bill "hardly some kind of great breakthrough in law enforcement or criminal justice, but ... perhaps the least offensive piece of legislative flotsam and jetsam that has washed ashore in the last 48 hours of Republican chaos and retreat here in the House of Representatives." Asked about backing an administration-aligned bill, he said: "It would be very easy for me to say I reject everything you do because you’re on the side of this pro-fraud president, but I’m not doing that." Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.) pointed to the bill’s Minnesota target: "What has come [out of Minnesota] over the last year, what has been exposed, is absolutely criminal in nature."
The other side: Bill sponsor Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.) framed the measure as simple anti-waste policy, not a partisan attack — "This conversation is about a piece of legislation ... that we want to be enacted into law," he said, adding that voters "are getting tired of all the money that has been wasted." Raskin’s yes vote came with a pointed caveat: he pushed Republicans to "cross the aisle and say it’s wrong for them to be pardoning white-collar fraudster after white-collar fraudster, or at least pardoning them from having to pay the fines and the restitution back" — support for the fraud unit itself, paired with continued criticism of the administration’s broader record.
What’s next:
The bill heads to the Senate, which remains in session through September.
If passed, it goes to Trump’s desk; the White House is expected to sign administration-backed legislation.
The DOJ’s fraud division is expected to continue its inquiry into the Walz/Ellison referral.
The bottom line: A bill that started as a flashpoint over a Trump-created enforcement unit ended up passing by nearly 5-to-1 — a sign that even skeptical Democrats didn’t want to be on record against "fraud enforcement" heading into the midterms, even as some kept swinging at the administration’s own fraud-adjacent record on pardons.
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