Statement Of Senator Patrick Leahy
On The Introduction Of The Leahy-Feinstein-Durbin-Clinton
War Profiteering Prevention Act Of 2003
November 3, 2003

Mr. President, today I am introducing with Senators Feinstein, Durbin, and Clinton the "War Profiteering Prevention Act of 2003." This bill creates criminal penalties for war profiteers and cheats who would exploit the relief and reconstruction efforts in Iraq to make an extra buck. Sadly, these very same provisions are missing from the final version of the $87 billion spending bill for Iraq and Afghanistan because House conferees refused to accept the amendment, offering no substitute and no willingness to compromise. Republican and Democratic Senate conferees consistently supported the provision, which had been unanimously accepted during Senate Appropriations Committee markup of the bill.

There are, of course, fraud statutes to protect against waste of tax dollars at home. But none expressly prohibit war profiteering and none expressly confer extraterritorial jurisdiction overseas. Technical jurisdictional elements in existing laws also make their applicability in these unique circumstances more difficult. The Leahy-Feinstein-Durbin-Clinton bill would criminalize "war profiteering" – overcharging taxpayers for any good or service with the specific intent to excessively profit from the war or reconstruction efforts in Iraq. The bill also prohibits fraud and false statements in any matter involving a contract or the provision of goods or services in Iraq. These new crimes would be felonies, subject to criminal penalties of up to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $1 million or twice the illegal gross profits of the crime. These are strong and focused sanctions that are narrowly tailored to criminalize and create tough criminal penalties for fraud or excessive profiteering in contracts, here and abroad, related to the war or reconstruction efforts in Iraq. Congress is about to send billions and billions of dollars to a place where there is no functioning government, under a plan with too little accountability and too few financial controls. That’s a formula for mischief. We need strong disincentives for those who would defraud taxpayers. It baffles me why House members would not want to provide this protection to taxpayers. Every penny of our taxpayer’s money must be scrupulously spent and protected from waste. The message sent by this bill speaks volumes; any act taken to financially exploit the crisis situation in Iraq for exorbitant personal gain is simply reprehensible. It demeans and cheapens the sacrifices that our military and civilian personnel are making in Iraq.

In post-war times, where U.S. taxpayers have been called upon to bear the burden of reconstruction contracts -- where contracts are awarded in a system that offers little competition and even less accountability -- concerns about wartime profiteering are of grave concern. Historical efforts to stem such profiteering have been successful: Congress implemented excessive-profits taxes and contract renegotiation laws after both World Wars, and again after the Korean War. Advocating exactly such an approach, President Roosevelt once declared it our duty to ensure that "a few do not gain from the sacrifices of the many." Then, as now, our government cannot in good faith ask its people to sacrifice for reconstruction efforts that allow so many others to unfairly profit.

There is urgency to this important measure because criminal statutes cannot be applied retroactively. These controls need to be in place now. We can only hope that the Senate will continue to press and support its prompt passage through Congress.

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[Click below for text of the bill]

S. 1813   -  War Profiteering Prevention Act of 2003