Whistleblower Protection Blog : Whistleblower Lawyer & Attorney : National Whistleblower Legal Defense and Education Fund : Whistleblower Protection, Fraud Claims : Washington DC

Last week the Congressional Budget Office released this report on the revenue-creating potential of current proposed legislation in the to amend the False Claims Act. Similar bills are now pending in the Senate (S. 2041) and the House of Representatives (H.R. 4854). This marks a turnaround in opinion for the CBO on this issue. In April, the CBO released a report stating that the Senate version of the bill would not significantly increase government revenues, but this most recent report (which officially only deals with the House version of the bill) indicates that they have improved their assessment with regard to both bills.

This 2-page document offers a concise description of the legislation (H.R. 4854), and states that: 

"[The] CBO originally estimated that S. 2041 would not significantly increase revenues and collections. However, based on additional information, CBO now expects that either H.R. 4854 or S. 2041 could increase revenues and collections."

This is another promising sign for this much-needed legislation. For more blog posts about the False Claims Act, click here.

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On November 21, 2008, the National Whistleblower Center (NWC) presented a seminar on the new whistleblower protection in the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008.

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In September, as Congress was racing to put together the Wall Street bailout legislation, the National Whistleblower Center was calling for whistleblower protections to be added to the bill. Despite their efforts, Congress did not listen. They authorized the Administration to distribute $700 Billion of taxpayer money, but refused to protect employee whistleblowers who would ensure that it would be spent correctly.

ABC News has this story detailing how the Administration and Congress have done nothing to exercise oversight while the Administration is doling out billions of bailout dollars. But, even if these measures (appointing an inspector general, and setting up a congressional oversight committee) were to materialize, they still will not be effective unless we protect employees who would step forward to report the fraud.

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Did you know that whistleblowers reporting under the False Claims Act have accounted for over $1 Billion in recovered federal and state taxpayer dollars this (fiscal) year alone?  This Marketwatch.com article details the biggest fraud recoveries in '08, including hundreds of millions of dollars from companies such as Amerigroup, Merck, Bechtel, CVS, and Pratt & Whitney. 

Despite these results, the False Claims Act (a civil war-era law that was last amended in 1986) is in need of some retooling. Senators Grassley and Leahy are pushing an amendment package (Bill # S. 2041) that would close the loopholes created by destructive Supreme Court decisions, such as Allison Engine Co. v. U.S. . this legislation should be enacted immediately. Further, because we know that the DOJ is letting hundreds of FCA cases languish without investigation, the DOJ needs to hire more civil fraud attorneys and focus more resources on ferreting out government contractor fraud.

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