Taxpayers would have greater ability to see how the Treasury Department uses a little-known account to pay court judgments and settlements under legislation reintroduced by U.S. Sens. Deb Fischer (R-NE) and Cory Gardner (R-CO) on Friday.
Under the Judgment Fund Transparency Act, the Treasury Department would be required to publicly disclose details of payments disbursed from the Judgment Fund. Currently, the Treasury Department does not face any binding reporting requirements for the Judgment Fund, and the fund does not fall under the congressional appropriations process.
“The Treasury Department’s Judgment Fund contains taxpayer money that is used by federal government to cover its own liability,” Fischer said.
The bill “builds on our past efforts to increase transparency of this fund and promote greater government accountability,” she added. “Congress has a responsibility to conduct oversight and ensure our citizens’ hard-earned dollars are used responsibly.”
U.S. Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Mike Crapo (R-ID) cosponsored Fischer and Gardner’s bill.
“The federal government pays out billions of dollars under the Judgment Fund with little information made available to the public, and some bad actors continually sue the government and abuse the fund for their own gain,” Gardner said. “This legislation aims to change that behavior by promoting transparency in the Judgment Fund and providing the American taxpayers with more accountability.”
The Obama administration used the Judgment Fund to transfer $1.3 billion to Iran’s Central Bank in 2016 without congressional approval.