This week in Washington, a bipartisan group of senators led by Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) presented the ‘False Claims Amendments Act of 2021. The bill comes as an effort to beef up the Government’s toolbox to fight fraud. 

“The False Claims Act has clearly been the best tool to fight fraud against the government and recover lost taxpayer dollars. Tens of billions of dollars have been returned to the federal treasury since my updates of 35 years ago. The legislation we introduced today will help recoup even more money by clarifying confusion after the Escobar case,” said Grassley. 

Grassley noted that this legislation would improve the process of addressing small claims.

The False Claims Act is an important tool for combatting fraud against the federal government and American taxpayers, in addition to providing incentives for whistleblowers to come forward with knowledge of wrongdoing. In 2016, the Supreme Court weakened this critical tool by making it more difficult for plaintiffs and whistleblowers to succeed in lawsuits against government contractors engaged in fraud,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.). 

Another group of senators, also led by Grassley, introduced additional legislation that compliments The False Claims Act, to update the law that governs smaller and ‘potentially more frequent’ fraud cases committed against the U.S government. The legislation would merely raise the statutory ceiling on various claims from $150,000 to $1 million. The bill would also increase the number of Justice Department officials who can review said claims.