The Nation : Exposing Fraud May Pay

The House passed and sent to President Reagan legislation providing substantial rewards for whistle blowers who prevail in fraud suits against military contractors. The bill would provide for rewards of up to 30% of the money recovered. It was sponsored initially by Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), who said he based it on the 1863 Federal False Claims Act, which President Abraham Lincoln intended to combat Civil War-era contractors who sold the government boxes of sawdust labeled “Muskets” or who repeatedly sold the same horses to the cavalry.