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Tenth
Anniversary 1986 FCA Amendments
Remarks
Presented at TAF Reception
September 11, 1996
 Senator
Charles Grassley (R-IA)
.
. . I thank you for the special tribute .
. . and I'm obviously deeply honored to
receive it. And I accept it on behalf of
all you in this room, and of course
countless others who are not in this
room, because it has taken a partnership
to make this law a success . . . . I'd
like to pay tribute to those responsible
with some specificity and I of course
could start with Taxpayers Against Fraud.
You've devoted your resources to exposing
fraud and bringing back scarce dollars to
the Treasury and that's not only good for
the taxpayers, that's good for the
credibility of good government. . . .
There
are other private groups as well. You've
mentioned the attorneys . . . You have
been pioneers and you put together and
put into practice what we in Congress
could only hope for—an effective
weapon against fraud.
I'd
like to also salute my colleague here,
Congressman Berman, my partner throughout
the life of this law. And we still live
not to pass it, but to protect it and to
make sure it's a continued good tool. And
as you said, that's an ongoing
proposition. Today, it's one billion
dollars later, and no one can question
the effectiveness of Howard Berman's work
and how we worked together. We're equally
proud parents of this legislation. And
for me, its passage is the single
greatest accomplishment that I want to
refer to in my years in the Senate. . . .
And
then finally, as I just mentioned, the
courageous ones—the whistleblowers.
They're the ones who put their lives,
their careers, and sadly even their
families on the line. . . . They put
their reputations on the line and, as far
as I can tell from everyone I've dealt
with, they did it because it was the
right thing to do. It's the honorable
thing to do. Telling the truth is the one
thing that can stop fraud dead in its
tracks, and we'd be nowhere in this fight
without those who are willing to tell the
truth and blow the whistle. . . .
My
philosophy regarding qui tam is
simple: It works because it's a true
partnership. It's a partnership between
private citizens and the Government. It
joins private resources with government
resources. It's a successful formula that
we honor Lincoln for. In his wisdom,
President Lincoln knew that you could
create a team of public servants and
private citizens and that they would work
together for a common good serving the
American taxpayer. . . .
We're
celebrating the tenth anniversary and for
ten years we've managed to keep our
promise to the taxpayers. We're working
hard to protect the taxpayers'
hard-earned dollars. It's not often the
Congress does what it promises, and it's
because of all of you that we've done
that in the case of qui tam. This hasn't
been an easy proposition. It takes
dedication. And all of you have shown
that. . . .
 Representative
Howard Berman (D-CA)
Thank
you very much for choosing to honor us
today. . . . I consider the passage of
the False Claims Amendments as one of my
most significant legislative
accomplishments. . . . I take great pride
in being involved with this legislation
and what, most importantly, people have
done with the law since we passed it.
Because if you believe that government
has a role in helping people, in
accomplishing things and making our
country stronger, nothing can more
quickly undermine people's faith in
government than the notion that
inefficiencies, waste, fraud, and
cheating goes on and takes the taxpayers'
money. So in my sight, for me, the False
Claims Act Amendments affirm my belief in
what an honest government, and a vigilant
government dealing with the people it
does business with, can do on behalf of
the public's relationship to that
government. . . . . . .
I
note Taxpayers Against Fraud has
sponsored a study which essentially
concludes that over the next ten years we
can probably expect approximately 6
billion dollars in additional taxpayer
recoveries as a result of this law.
That's something to be proud of. But it's
another figure in that report that maybe
should give us even more sense of reward
and accomplishment in terms of this
legislation, because the real goal here
is the deterrent value. . . . According
to the report, approximately 100 billion
dollars in that same ten year period of
time will be saved to the taxpayers from
conduct not undertaken because of the
fear of the consequences that come from
all this.
I
want to join with Senator Grassley in
paying tribute to the parties that are
doing this: The U.S. Government —We
finally have a Justice Department who
thinks this is a constitutional law and
sees the benefits of it. I like that.
[Assistant Attorney General] Frank
Hunger, I noticed was here earlier. He's
been very helpful in testimony in front
of Senator Grassley's subcommittee on
this issue.
And
as to both the whistleblowers and their
lawyers . . . the risks personally, with
family and business, in terms of just
your own freedom and stability in doing
something like this, are tremendous. And
they're far greater than those
experienced by any of us who have been
involved in this as a matter of our jobs
as legislators. So I tip my hat to you as
well.
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