Senator Chuck Grassley: Bipartisan Fraud Fighting Bill Unanimously Passes Senate
This article features Government Accountability Project and was originally published here.
WASHINGTON – Sen. Chuck Grassley’s (R-Iowa) bipartisan Administrative False Claims Act has been unanimously approved by the U.S. Senate.
“The False Claims Act has clearly been the best tool to fight fraud against the government and recover lost taxpayer dollars. Tens of billions of dollars have been returned to the federal treasury since my updates 37 years ago. Fraud of any size should not be tolerated. The Administrative False Claims Act will significantly improve the process for smaller claims,” Grassley said.
The Administrative False Claims Act (AFCA), S.659, updates the law governing smaller, and potentially more frequent, instances of fraud committed against the government. The legislation raises the statutory ceiling on these types of claims from $150,000 to $1 million, expands the number of Justice Department officials who can review these claims and allows the government to recoup costs for investigating and prosecuting these frauds. The bill is cosponsored by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.).
The legislation now moves to the House of Representatives for consideration.
Full text of the Administrative False Claims Act can be found HERE.
The Administrative False Claims Act has been endorsed by several government accountability groups, including Empower Oversight, Taxpayers Against Fraud, Government Accountability Project, National Security Counselors, National Whistleblower Center, Project on Government Oversight, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and Whistleblowers of America.
In 1986, Grassley led the successful effort to update the False Claims Act, which allows the government to recover taxpayer dollars from entities that defrauded federal agencies. A key provision in that update, known as qui tam, allows whistleblowers to bring suites against alleged fraudsters on behalf of the government and share in any recoveries. That provision is credited with more than two-thirds of all False Claims Act recoveries since 1987.
In January, the Justice Department announced the successful recovery of over $2.2 billion through False Claims Act cases that would have otherwise been lost to fraud in FY2022. More than $1.9 billion of those claims were recovered through Grassley’s qui tam provisions. A total of more than $72 billion in taxpayer money has been recovered since Grassley updated the law in 1986.