WASHINGTON – Senator Chuck Grassley today said that the federal False Claims Law has recovered an additional $3 billion to the U.S. Treasury. Grassley is the author of the 1986 qui tam amendments to the law as well as an update to the False Claims Act in 2009. According the U.S. Department of Justice, the qui tam amendments alone recovered $2.3 billion of taxpayer money. The total amount recovered through the False Claims Act since Grassley’s 1986 provisions were signed into law is now more than $27 billion.
“This law is the most powerful tool in rooting out fraud againstthe federal treasury. Not only does the law help recover billions of taxpayer dollars, but it also deters untold more,” Grassley said. “Our amendments have empowered whistleblowers to come forward and risk their careers to do what was right. Taxpayers and whistleblowers have a real friend with this law.”
The amendments Grassley championed 24 years ago along with Rep. Howard Berman of California strengthened the Civil War-era False Claims Act which was originally signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln. The 1986 Grassley-Berman qui tam amendments empowered whistleblowers to file suit on behalf of the United States against those who fraudulently claim federal funds, including Medicare, Medicaid, contract payments, disaster assistance and other benefits, subsidies, grants and loans.
In 2008 Grassley introduced legislation that would further update the federal False Claims Act. Many provisions of this legislation were included in the Fraud Enforcement Recovery Act that was signed into law in 2009. The legislation overturned several court decisions that threatened to limit the scope and applicability intended by Congress in the 1986 update. Grassley said the update helps ensure that no fraud will go unpunished because of legal loopholes.
Grassley said his amendments to the False Claims Act have enabled whistleblowers to help fight fraud against the government. Fraudulent claims by defense contractors during the 1980s prompted Grassley’s initiative. Today the qui tam amendments recoup billions that would otherwise be lost to health care fraud.
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