[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 113 (Thursday, August 1, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Page S6214]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mrs. FISCHER (for herself, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Crapo, and Mr. 
        Risch):
  S. 1420. A bill to amend title 31, United States Code, to provide for 
transparency of payments made from the Judgment Fund; to the Committee 
on the Judiciary.
  Mrs. FISCHER. Mr. President, I rise to discuss legislation that I am 
introducing in the U.S. Senate today, the Judgment Fund Transparency 
Act.
  As my colleagues may or may not know, the Judgment Fund is 
administered by the Treasury Department and is used to pay certain 
court judgments and settlements against the Federal Government. It is 
essentially an unlimited amount of money available to pay for Federal 
Government liability. It is not subject to the annual appropriations 
process, and even more remarkably, the Treasury Department has no 
reporting requirements, so these funds are paid out with very little 
oversight or scrutiny.
  This is no small matter, as the Judgment Fund disburses billions of 
dollars in payments per year. In recent years, Treasury has paid the 
following from the Fund: fiscal year 2012--$2.9 billion, fiscal year 
2011--$2.2 billion, fiscal year 2010--$1.1 billion, fiscal year 2009--
$2.3 billion, fiscal year 2008--$790 million, fiscal year 2007--$1 
billion, and fiscal year 2006--$628 million.
  Before the Judgment Fund was established, claims against the 
government were assigned to a Congressional committee that would 
appropriate funds in order to pay liability, attorneys' fees, and costs 
associated with the claim. Once the Judgment Fund was established in 
1956, however, Congressional committees stopped appropriating funds 
explicitly for this purpose. Now, if a government agency does not use 
its own annual budget to cover the costs, Treasury simply pays the bill 
out of the Fund.
  Because the Treasury Department has no binding reporting 
requirements, few public details exist about where the funds are going 
and why, and the information that is readily accessible is only made 
available at the administration's discretion.
  The U.S. Chamber of Commerce highlighted the nature of this problem 
in an article about the Judgment Fund written by Bill Kovacs on 
February 1, 2013:

       Without knowing who is being paid under the Judgment Fund 
     and for what reason, not to mention the validity of the 
     claim, Congress cannot oversee and control the federal 
     governments litigation costs, risks and exposure. Simply, 
     without disclosure Congress is being denied the opportunity 
     to take effective mitigation measures against improper agency 
     action that results in claims against the federal government. 
     Non-disclosure of Judgment Fund payments hides from Congress 
     what might be excessive markers of agency mismanagement and/
     or structural defects in statutes and programs. And due to a 
     lack of reporting, Congress is denied the opportunity to 
     understand claims against agencies that might shed light on 
     how to improve agency operations.

  The National Cattlemen's Beef Association has also decried the lack 
of oversight of the Judgment Fund by stating, ``Certain groups 
continuously sue the federal government, and Treasury simply writes a 
check to foot the bill without providing Members of Congress and 
American taxpayers basic information about the payment.''
  The Judgment Fund Transparency Act seeks to address these problems by 
requiring a public accounting of the taxpayer funds distributed via the 
Judgment Fund to parties who bring successful claims against the 
Federal government.
  The Judgment Fund Transparency Act promotes transparency and 
oversight by requiring the Treasury Department to post on a publicly 
accessible website the claimant, counsel, agency, fact summary, and 
payment amount for each claim from the Judgment Fund, unless a law or 
court order otherwise prohibits the disclosure of such information.
  The Judgment Fund Transparency Act would increase transparency and 
oversight of the Fund and would provide Members of Congress and the 
public with the ability to see how taxpayers' dollars are being spent.
  I am proud to introduce the Judgment Fund Transparency Act today and 
invite my colleagues to cosponsor this legislation.
                                 ______