With U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley
Q: What is Sunshine Week?
A: Open government is good government. Sunshine Week celebrates transparency and why it’s important to our system of self-government and U.S. economy. Transparency brings accountability. Throughout my service representing Iowans in the U.S. Senate, I’ve led a legislative and oversight crusade to root out fraud, waste and wrongdoing by sharpening sunshine laws to help sweep out cobwebs of corruption and misconduct. As a watchdog for good government, I work to stop bad actors from hitching their wagon to the federal government’s gravy train or taking unfair advantage in the marketplace through murky pricing regimes. More on that below.
During my first term in the U.S. Senate, I sunk my teeth into wasteful spending at the Pentagon. I joined forces with Rep. Howard Berman of California to steer a bipartisan, bicameral anti-fraud bill through Congress. We revived a law enacted on March 2, 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln to stop corrupt contractors during the Civil War. Honest Abe understood he needed more eyes and ears on the ground to report war profiteers who were shilling shoddy horses that couldn’t walk, selling guns that wouldn’t fire and peddling bags of ammunition that were filled with sawdust, not gunpowder. The law was based on qui tam actions, a tool of accountability dating back to the Middle Ages in England. It means “he who sues for the king in this matter sues for himself as well.” Our updates empowered...
The internet is full of people promising effortless tax refunds. For many, the business model is simple: invent expenses, file claims at volume, and take a cut. These “refund factories” exploit HM...