Statement of James Moorman, President, Taxpayers Against Fraud, on introduction of the False Claims Act Corrections Act of 2007
Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund, Washington D.C., www.taf.org, September 12, 2007
Taxpayers Against Fraud applauds the introduction of a Senate bill designed to clarify certain provisions of the False Claims Act and close loopholes that were not envisioned when the Act was last amended in 1986.
The Senate bill, co-sponsored by Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA), Senator Richard Durbin D-IL), Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA), is a bipartisan and common-sense approach and makes no major changes to the Act -- it simply points up a law that has always been popular so that it remains strong for decades to come.
The False Claims Act has recovered more than $20 billion back to the U.S. Treasury in the last 20 years, making it the most successful anti-fraud tool in U.S. history. This is a law that has worked well at the Federal level; so well that it is being copied at the state level from coast to coast.
Of course, every legislative vehicle deserves to be pulled into the shop every 20 years or so, and now is an excellent time to do that with the False Claims Act. The good news is that the FCA remains a fundamentally solid vehicle, and major changes are not needed. What is needed is a simple matter of tightening a few bolts, and replacing a few worn gaskets.
These changes are needed because, after more than 20 years of attacks from corporations caught defrauding America's taxpayers, some courts have read into the Act escape hatches that simply do not appear in the law and that were never intended by Congress. The FCA Corrections Act of 2007 will close these loopholes, and clarify ambiguities that lead to misinterpretations."
Specific technical corrections and clarifications included in the bill:
