The United States Government Accountability Office (GOA) has found that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is paying millions of dollars in farms subsidies to thousands of deceased individuals.

The GOA report, issued in July, states that the USDA is not effectively reviewing farm subsidy recipients to ensure that they are eligible for payments. Of the 181 estates that the GOA reviewed, some 40% did not undergo an eligibility review between 1999 and 2005. Some of these estates received more than $500 000 in farm subsidies.

"The USDA cannot be assured that millions of dollars in farms payments are proper," says the report. "It does not have the management controls to verify that it is not making payments to deceased individuals."
 
Indeed, during the 1999-2005 period, some $1.1 billion in farms subsidies were paid in the names of 172, 801 deceased individuals, some of whom had been dead for seven years or more. The USDA relies on the farm subsidy recipients to notify them of any changes, including a death, which may change an estates' eligibility to receive subsidies.

The GOA report, which was requested by Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA), a ranking member of the Committee on Finance, concludes that the USDA needs to be proactive and determine itself whether the recipients of farms subsidies have died.
 
The GOA report in available on-line by clicking here.