President Donald Trump signed two federal laws Wednesday that will change how the Social Security Administration handles certain identity-theft cases and require agencies to publicly identify taxpayer-funded projects that have fallen dramatically behind schedule or over budget.
The White House announced October 7 that Trump signed H.R. 5345, the Improving Social Security’s Service to Victims of Identity Theft Act, and S. 766, the Billion Dollar Boondoggle Act of 2025. The measures address separate issues, but both establish new federal accountability requirements.
New Help For Social Security Identity-Theft Victims
H.R. 5345 requires the Social Security Administration to establish a single point of contact for people whose Social Security numbers have been misused in ways involving SSA benefits or records, or serious enough to prompt a request for a new Social Security number.
The requirement is contained in the enrolled legislation signed by Trump.
It also covers people whose Social Security cards are lost while being transmitted to them.
Under the law, the contact will consist of a team or subset of specially trained SSA employees capable of coordinating with other agency units. The employees will be responsible for tracking cases through resolution and maintaining continuity when personnel change.
The provision takes effect 180 days after enactment.
The legislation addresses a process lawmakers said can leave victims navigating multiple offices while attempting to correct Social Security-related problems.
“In recent years, the theft and misuse of Social Security numbers has become a serious problem in our country,” House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith said during December 2025 debate on the bill.
Smith said more than 3,000 data breaches were reported in 2024 and that more than half involved compromised Social Security numbers.
“For victims, the fallout can be overwhelming,” Smith said. “Instead of finding clear guidance at the Social Security Administration to deal with this stressful situation, too many folks are bounced from one office to another, receiving conflicting instructions and spending months trying to resolve what should be a straightforward issue.”
The law does not make SSA the federal government’s general identity-theft agency.
SSA currently directs people who believe they are victims of identity theft to the Federal Trade Commission. SSA separately handles problems involving an individual’s agency records, benefits, or requests for a new Social Security number.
The issue also has surfaced in North Texas. The Dallas Express previously reported on a federal case involving a boarding-home operator accused of aggravated identity theft and stealing government money after allegedly redirecting a resident’s Social Security benefits.
Billion-Dollar Federal Projects Face Disclosure
The second law Trump signed Wednesday targets unusually expensive or delayed federal projects.
The Billion Dollar Boondoggle Act requires annual reporting on taxpayer-funded projects that are either more than five years behind their original completion schedules or at least $1 billion above their original cost estimates.
The enrolled bill covers executive agencies and independent regulatory agencies and applies to major acquisitions, defense acquisition programs, procurements, construction projects, remediation and cleanup efforts, and other qualifying federal projects.
Agencies will have to disclose information including original and revised completion dates, original and current cost estimates, reasons for delays or cost increases, changes in project scope, federal funding associated with the project, and primary contractors and grant recipients.
The law also calls for disclosure of awards, incentive fees, or other bonuses related to covered projects and explanations for why those payments were made.
The Office of Management and Budget will compile the information into an annual report for Congress and make it publicly available.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated that implementing the reporting requirements would cost $1 million between fiscal years 2025 and 2030.
Ernst Targeted Billions In Cost Overruns
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), who sponsored S. 766, pursued the legislation after her office identified more than a dozen federal projects that collectively accumulated more than $162 billion in cost overruns.
“A billion dollars over budget isn’t a rounding error, it is a trainwreck,” Ernst said after the Senate passed the legislation in December 2025.
Among the projects identified by Ernst were the Department of Veterans Affairs’ electronic health-record modernization program, a Bay Area rail-transit extension, and NASA Artemis moon-mission booster and engine contracts.
Ernst’s August 2025 report listed the VA project at $33.7 billion over its original estimate, the Bay Area project at $8.1 billion over its original estimate, and NASA’s Artemis booster and engine contracts at $6 billion over budget.
The law does not automatically cancel a project or cut its funding when it crosses one of the thresholds. Instead, it requires agencies to disclose qualifying projects and explain their costs and delays.
Both measures cleared Congress before reaching Trump’s desk. The Senate passed the Social Security bill without objection on September 17, according to the official Congressional Record.
With Trump’s signature Wednesday, the Social Security Administration has 180 days before the identity-theft provision takes effect, while the new federal-project reporting requirements will begin moving toward implementation.
Provided by Dallas Express
