Mike Levin: “as a sponsor of S. 1734, the False Statements Penalty Restoration Act, I am pleased to join Senator Specter in urging…”

“as a sponsor of S. 1734, the False Statements Penalty Restoration Act, I am pleased to join Senator Specter in urging Senate passage of H.R. 3166, the House companion legislation with a Specter-Levin substitute amendment which is the Senate text; this legislation is to restore criminal penalties for knowing, willful, material false statements made to a federal court or Congress. Forty years ago, in 1955, the Supreme Court interpreted 18 U.S.C. 1001 to prohibit knowing, willful, material false statements not only to the executive branch, but also to the judicial and legislative branches. For 40 years, this government-wide prohibition was the law of the land, and it served this country well. But last year, in Hubbard v. United States, the Supreme Court reversed these 40 years of precedent and held that Section 1001 prohibits false statements only to the executive branch, and not to any co-equal branch. The Supreme Court based its decision on the wording of the statute which doesn't explicitly reference either the courts or Congress.”