Neil Abercrombie: “I find it very unfortunate that my good friend from Virginia has taken a position that the bill in any way encourages…”

“I find it very unfortunate that my good friend from Virginia has taken a position that the bill in any way encourages the whims of prosecutors. As Mr. Scott has pointed out, the standard is very high and applies to any contract, whether it's in the United States or overseas. There is nothing applied to the contracts overseas that is not applied to a contract here in the United States when it comes to the question of fraud or overcharging or deliberate deception with regard to the contract. That standard has to be met in any court and has to come before any judge meeting such a standard. There is no differentiation whatsoever. The reason the bill is here, and the reason we're bringing the legislation, is the courts have ruled that there is, at best, an ambiguous situation, if not an outright gap between the capacity for prosecution of such a crime, should the standard for the crime be sustained by a prosecutorial investigation, and what is possible in Iraq. It can't be prosecuted in Iraq, and the courts found that it wasn't. We did not have legislation sufficiently clear in the United States in order to prosecute it. Thus, far from arbitrary or capricious prosecution, we have the opportunity for arbitrary defrauding of the United States taxpayer with no consequences. That's why the legislation is here.”