In making its announcement, members of The Project on Government Oversight (POGO) stated: "During his 16 years in office, Senator Grassley has taken on certain ?unglamourous' issues, and has not let them go. He has a rare propensity to stick with an issue and continue to fight on principle to the end -- particularly targeting wasteful military practices and championing the False Claims Act. POGO has been honored to work with the Senator over the years and is proud to have him as our first award recipient."
The Project began its work in 1981, the same year that Grassley was sworn in as a member of the U.S. Senate. "It is a special honor to be the first recipient of this award," Grassley said. "The Project and I began our work together in the 1980s to expose wasteful and abusive spending by the Defense Department, including $7,600 coffee makers and $1,000 pairs of pliers. Since that time, each of our efforts to seek accountability from federal government programs, agencies and officials has expanded. We share a commitment to working for the public's interest over special interests. I appreciate the tenacity, integrity and standard of excellence that The Project demands in its investigative work. I hope to continue making a substantial contribution toward our mutual goal of good government."
The honor given to Grassley by POGO was created this year to recognize a person who is devoted to advancing the public interest over private gain, and who has initiated substantial public policy improvements. The award will be presented each year to a federal employee whistleblower, journalist, politician, or activist who has not been diverted by the appeal of headlines, but has instead pursued efforts to create a more accountable and responsive federal government.
In 1986, Grassley and Rep. Howard Berman of California co-authored changes to the False Claims Act, a Civil War-era law that allows anyone who knows about fraud against the taxpayers to sue private companies in partnership with the government. It entitles the government to recover three times its losses. The Grassley/Berman amendments adopted by Congress 11 years ago have been an extremely effective way to fight such fraud. Just this year, whistleblower lawsuits have returned to the U.S. Treasury more than $650 million, bringing the total amount that the government has recovered through whistleblower lawsuits since 1986 to more than $1.8 billion.
Grassley said the False Claims Act as updated also has saved the taxpayers a tremendous amount of money by deterring fraud. The former chief economist of the Senate Budget Committee estimated in a recent study that the whistleblower provisions of the law have already saved the government at least $35 billion by deterring fraud and could save the federal government an additional $105 billion to $210 billion between 1996 and 2006. Grassley said the False Claims Act was effective during the 1980s in combating fraud by defense contractors, among others, and that in recent years the law "has proven itself to be one of our most effective weapons against health care fraud."
POGO is a non-partisan, non-profit government watchdog group. Its membership is comprised of professional journalists working in Washington, D.C. Formerly named The Project on Military Procurement, the organization originally focused on military spending abuses. In 1990, the organization expanded its focus to investigate questions of waste, fraud and abuse in all federal agencies. POGO's methods include networking with government investigators and auditors whose findings have received little attention, working with whistleblowers inside the system who risk retaliation, and performing independent investigations into suspected problem areas.