Iowans Talk Gas Prices and National Debt

Unlike Congress, families in Iowa can't spend more money than they bring in year after year. At least not without facing grave financial problems. Unlike Congress, Iowans can't increase their paychecks by passing a law to boost their income. On the contrary, the big spenders in Washington would like to pass laws that would decrease taxpayers' take-home pay by raising taxes. When rising gas prices squeeze... Read more

---

Disclose Industry Payments to Advocacy Groups

Professional medical associations and health care advocacy groups receive hundreds of millions of dollars from the pharmaceutical, medical device and insurance companies. I'm making the case for disclosure of those payments and the resulting accountability. These organizations have a lot of influence over the way taxpayer dollars are spent. They weigh in on the policy debates in Congress. Government agencies such as the Food and Drug... Read more

 

Justice Department Stonewalls While More Evidence Against the Agency Piles Up

When whistleblowers from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) first came to me with allegations that the ATF was allowing guns to be sold to known straw purchasers and illegally smuggled to Mexico, I couldn't believe it was true. How could the federal government knowingly allow guns to fall into the hands of the bad guys? ATF Special... Read more

---

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back in Fight Against Financial Fraud

This generally was a good week for taxpayers in the battle against bank fraud. Justice Department prosecutors filed a lawsuit against Deutsche Bank, alleging reckless lending practices and fraud against the taxpayers through a federal loan insurance program. The lawsuit seeks more than $1 billion for the taxpayers. It's a landmark case. The buzz is that more cases against other banks accused of exploiting government housing programs might be on the way. This case invokes a major update of the federal False Claims Act that I wrote amid the housing crisis clean-up in 2009. The update reversed a number of court decisions that had weakened the law and were the first major legislative changes to... Read more