False Claims Act Update & Alert
	Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund | Washington, D.C. | WWW.TAF.ORG           October 16, 2009
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		Subscribe to this FREE Newsletter Enter your Email Powered by FeedBlitz n TAF Home Page n Previous Newsletters n Email editor   Please take a moment to forward this FREE electronic newsletter to others who might be interested!	Taxpayers Against Fraud Integrity in Government Award to Senator Patrick Leahy congressman James Sensenbrenner The staff, board and membership of Taxpayers Against Fraud are very pleased to give our Integrity in Government Award to Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont and  Congressman James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin for their bipartisan leadership in shepherding FERA --  the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009 -- into law.  FERA is the first amendment to the False Claims Act in 23 years! Patrick Leahy of Burlington, Vermont was elected to the United States Senate in 1974 – the first (and only) Democrat elected to the Senate from Vermont since the Civil War.    Born in Montpelier, Senator Leahy graduated from Saint Michael's College in 1961, and received his Juris Doctorate from Georgetown University Law School in 1964.  After practicing law for two years, he was elected for four terms as State's Attorney of Chittenden County from 1966 to 1974.  In 1974, at the age of only 34, Mr. Leahy was elected to the United States Senate, becoming the youngest Senator ever to be elected from his state. Senator Leahy has served in the U.S. Senate for 35 years, and is now the third most senior member of the U.S. Senate, and the third highest ranking Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, and Chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs.  Of course, Senator Leahy is also Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, where he has been an invaluable friend to the False Claims Act, quickly recognizing its potential as a tool to ferret out fraud and restore confidence in such vital public programs as Medicare, Medicare, and national defense appropriations.   James Sensenbrenner, Jr., (Jim), represents the Fifth Congressional District of Wisconsin, which includes parts of Jefferson, Milwaukee, and Waukesha counties, and all of Ozaukee and Washington counties. Jim was born in Chicago and later moved to Wisconsin with his family. He graduated from the Milwaukee Country Day School and did his undergraduate studies at Stanford University, where he majored in political science. He then earned his law degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1968. After serving ten years in the Wisconsin State Legislature, Jim ran for a U.S. House seat and was elected in November, 1978. He has been reelected since 1980, serving 30 years in the U.S. House of Representatives. Congressman Sensenbrenner‘s current committee assignments include serving on the Judiciary Committee and the Science and Technology Committee, and he also serves as the Ranking Member on the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties, as well as the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. As the former Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Congressman Sensenbrenner established a strong record on crime, intellectual property and constitutional issues, and he has stood shoulder-to-shoulder with TAF in protecting the False Claims Act. Congressman Sensenbrenner comes to his appreciation of the False Claims Act the old-fashioned way; he simply hates fraud and wasteful government spending.  One of the most fiscally responsible Members of the U.S. House of Representatives, Congressman Sensenbrenner truly believes that a penny saved is a penny earned, and that fraud has no place in U.S. Government programs.
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