Q&A: Protecting American Taxpayers Act

Q&A: Protecting American Taxpayers Act

With U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley

Q: What drives your decades-long work as a taxpayer watchdog?

A: It boils down to a simple principle. Taxpayers work hard for their money. The U.S. Treasury is not a piggy bank for fraudsters to exploit and drain public assistance programs for profit. Four decades ago, I resurrected a Lincoln-era law known as the False Claims Act to empower whistleblowers to help root out fraudulent and wasteful spending. It's turned out to be the nation's most powerful tool to fight fraud and return money to taxpayers. When my bipartisan updates were signed into law in 1986, I couldn't have imagined they would help recover more than $85 billion and save untold billions more by deterring would be fraudsters. Most of that is thanks to patriotic whistleblowers, and I've pushed the Department of Justice to encourage more whistleblowers to come forward. Tax season is still fresh on the minds of American families. Every tax dollar sent to the federal treasury is one less dollar families have to make ends meet. To strengthen our system of voluntary tax compliance, it's important to ensure tax dollars aren't squandered or pilfered by bad actors or sophisticated crime rings. In fiscal year 2025, the IRS collected more than $5.3 trillion in gross tax receipts. The burr that bristles the most under the taxpayer's saddle is when their hard-earned money is lost to fraud.

The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimates the federal government loses between $233 billion and $521 billion annually to fraud. Every dollar lost to fraud is a dollar added to our $39 trillion national debt. That's what drives my decades-long crusade to fight fraud, including my advocacy for whistleblowers and legislative efforts to boost transparency. Transparency brings accountability. Improving data collection and data sharing among federal agencies will help reduce the risk of improper payments. That's why I continue to push the Social Security Administration to improve its verification systems and deploy tools to weed out improper payments. Recently, my oversight work exposed UnitedHealth Group's record of what appears to be a multi-billion dollar gambit to game the Medicare Advantage system.

Q: How will the Protecting American Taxpayers Act help prevent fraud?

A: I'm an original cosponsor of this comprehensive anti-fraud legislative package led by my fellow Iowan and colleague, Sen. Joni Ernst, who has devoted a lion's share of her time in Washington to stop fraud and return money to the taxpayer. The Protecting American Taxpayers Act combines 17 fraud-fighting bills to crack down on theft ripping off the taxpayer, from federal food assistance and welfare benefits to health care and programs supporting veterans, farmers, small businesses and the workforce. The sweeping legislative tool kit will help claw back unobligated COVID-19 funds and expand the statute of limitations for the False Claims Act related to pandemic relief funds. My bipartisan bill to strengthen whistleblower protections is part of this package. The Expanding Whistleblower Protections for Contractors Act would close loopholes that leave federal contractors vulnerable to reprisal for reporting waste, fraud and abuse in federal agencies. We need all eyes and ears within the federal bureaucracy to stay wide open and remove the muzzle that federal agencies use to intimidate patriotic whistleblowers from reporting wrongdoing. The shocking fraud scandal in Minnesota and elsewhere was a wake-up call to ramp up fraud prevention and enforcement across the federal government. Beefing up whistleblower protections is a proven tool to combat bad actors and recover tens of billions of dollars lost to fraud. For example, I'm working with Iowa Rep. Zach Nunn to ensure whistleblowers receive financial awards for blowing the whistle on fraudulent schemes under the umbrella of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I led the confirmation hearing for Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald who is leading the first-ever National Fraud Enforcement Division at the Department of Justice. In just one week, the new division announced enforcement actions against fraudulent schemes exceeding $340 million. From unlawful kickbacks for fraudulent Medicare billings to crimes skimming Social Security disability payments and pandemic relief funding, including defrauding the Paycheck Protection Program, the newly christened National Fraud Enforcement Division has hit the ground running to investigate and prosecute criminals who steal or fraudulently misuse taxpayer dollars. Stealing from taxpayer-funded programs that feed hungry kids, help veterans, care for the elderly and support farmers and small businesses deserves prosecution by the long arm of the law. Our Protecting American Taxpayers Act seeks to rip out criminal schemes root and branch and prevent would-be fraudsters from plucking one feather from Uncle Sam's golden goose.

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