Political Quotes

“I rise to draw attention to important legislation that would ensure American taxpayers know how their hard- earned dollars are being spent. This morning, I was pleased to join Senator Lankford to introduce a bill that expands on similar legislation that I introduced with Senator Gardner last year, known as the Judgment Fund Transparency Act. The Judgment Fund is administrated 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 made available to the Federal Government to cover its own liability. The fund is not subject to the annual appropriations process. And even more remarkable, the Treasury Department has no reporting requirements. Because of this, the Judgment Fund payments are made with very little oversight or scrutiny. Because the Treasury Department has no binding reporting requirements, few public details exist about where the funds are going and why. This is no small matter, as the Judgment Fund disburses billions of dollars in payments every year. For example, between 2013 and 2015, the Federal Government paid more than $10 billion in Judgment Fund awards with scant transparency or oversight. Hard-working taxpayers and Members of Congress have every right to see exactly how tax dollars are being spent out of this Judgment Fund.…”