“Too often those who fraudulently divert tax dollars in amounts below what is typically accepted by prosecutors are not fully held accountable, impacting agency programs and leaving the taxpayer footing the bill,” said Horowitz in his prepared opening statement.
Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, a longtime advocate for whistleblowers and oversight, said last year, during the pandemic the law is more important now than ever. The False Claims Act, originally enacted in 1863 during the Civil War, allows ordinary individuals to file lawsuits on behalf of the federal government in attempts to identify fraud. Gary Peters, D-Mich., committee chair, what more he needs to be successful, Horowitz said enactment of the bipartisan 2021 Administrative False Claims Act “would make a difference.” The work of the committee and its partner IGs have led to 1,272 indictments and complaints, 949 arrests, and 455 convictions, he added. Horowitz, who is also the Justice Department inspector general, said IGs are tasked with overseeing 426 pandemic relief programs across more than 40 agencies. The membership of the committee – one of the three oversight entities established by the CARES Act – consists of IGs from across the government.
#Goverment oversight full
“As you know when we were created back in March 2020, we were only overseeing about $2 trillion of federal funds, it grew to over $5 trillion.” Although he acknowledged did have some challenges in accessing full data and spending information from agencies as outlined in several of the committee’s reports. “I do think we’ve been very effective in addressing this herculean task,” said Michael Horowitz, chair of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee. Meanwhile, four federal officials testified before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Thursday in a hearing that reflected on the last two years of spending and oversight on coronavirus relief and programs. The White House is pressing for more after a COVID-19 supplement was stripped from the fiscal 2022 omnibus and is warning of the severe consequences if Congress doesn’t come to an agreement on it. Over the past two years, Congress has approved over $5 trillion in COVID-19 relief.
#Goverment oversight update
The head of a pandemic watchdog testified on Thursday that an update to a Civil War era law could help his team better fight fraud and build on their success over the past two years.
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