On July 25, 2023, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL.) introduced amendments to the False Claims Act (FCA), a law that protects the federal government from fraud, saving taxpayers billions. The FCA allows the government to recover funds from anyone who “knowingly presents, or causes to be presented, a false or fraudulent claim for payment or approval,” or “knowingly makes, uses, or causes to be made or used, a false record or statement material to a false or fraudulent claim.”
The FCA has been extraordinarily successful in deterring fraud and returning money to taxpayers, but in recent years, fraudsters have found ways to avoid accountability. The False Claims Amendments Act of 2023, which has received broad bipartisan support, hopes to change that.
Senator Grassley explained that “The False Claims Act continues to be the single greatest tool in the fight against fraud, returning $72 billion to the taxpayer since my update to the statute in 1986. Unfortunately, flawed court interpretations have created loopholes for fraudsters to avoid accountability even when their fraud is obvious and undisputed. Taxpayers deserve better than this sort of legal gymnastics. Our bipartisan bill clarifies our original intent to hold those accountable when they bill the taxpayer.”
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