More than 140 House Democrats crossed party lines Wednesday to support legislation making President Donald Trump’s National Fraud Enforcement Division a permanent fixture inside the Justice Department. The bill passed the full House in a lopsided 352-72 vote, with all Republicans in favor and every opposing vote coming from Democrats.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York was among the Democrats who voted for the measure. Every lawmaker who voted no was on the Democratic side, though the majority of the caucus ultimately backed the bill.
What the Legislation Would Do
The Trump administration established the National Fraud Enforcement Division earlier this year to investigate and prosecute fraud connected to the federal government, federally funded programs and private citizens. The House bill would codify the division into law rather than leave it reliant on executive action alone. It would also create a new Senate-confirmed assistant attorney general position to oversee federal anti-fraud efforts targeting taxpayer-funded programs.
The division has already drawn political controversy. Vice President JD Vance referred Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and state Attorney General Keith Ellison for possible investigation over fraud in state-administered programs. Both officials have acknowledged that significant fraud occurred but have rejected Republican claims that they facilitated it. According to the House vote on the fraud division bill, the legislation now heads to the Senate before it can reach the president’s desk.
Raskin’s “Tepid Support” and Van Drew’s Defense
Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland offered a blunt assessment of the bill, saying he would give it only “tepid support” and arguing the Justice Department has maintained fraud-fighting operations for decades. On the House floor, Raskin called the measure “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.”
Rep. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey pushed back, framing the legislation as a necessary step beyond executive action. “It’s not a partisan initiative. It’s a permanent, nonpartisan commitment that we do something better because the people who are listening here, the people who are watching, they’re getting tired of it,” Van Drew said. “They’re getting tired of all the money that has been wasted.”
Rep. Harriet Hageman of Wyoming pointed to alleged fraud cases in Minnesota as evidence of why stronger federal enforcement is needed. “What has come out of Minnesota over the last year, what has been exposed, is absolutely criminal in nature,” Hageman said. “I think what is coming, what is being exposed in blue cities and blue states run by Democrats, demonstrates that it’s probably higher by an order of magnitude.”
Senate Vote Still Required for Final Passage
Despite his broader criticism of the Trump administration, Raskin made clear his opposition would not stop him from supporting the bill. “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,” he said, adding that he wanted Republicans to address what he called pardons for white-collar fraudsters.
The House vote gives the division strong bipartisan backing, but the legislation must still clear the Senate before it can be signed into law. If the Senate passes the bill, the National Fraud Enforcement Division would shift from an executive creation to a statutory agency with a confirmed leadership structure and a permanent mandate.
