Court Opinion

ID: 9495781
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 16:10:15.807536+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:57:11.825148
License: Public Domain

TACHA, Chief Circuit Judge,
dissenting, with whom KELLY and LUCERO, Circuit Judges, join.
I. IntROduction
This is the first case in which we have squarely faced the issue of whether a federal employee who (1) has a specific duty to report a specific kind of fraud, (2) discovered the alleged fraud at issue pursuant to her regular job duties, and (3) is participating in an ongoing fraud investigation as part of her job duties may bring a qui tam action based upon the alleged fraud that is the subject of the investigation. Our previous cases have expressly declined to address the question of when a federal employee may bring a qui tam action. United States ex rel. Fine v. MK-Ferguson Co., 99 F.3d 1538, 1541 n. 1 (10th Cir.1996); United States ex rel. Fine v. Advanced Sciences, Inc., 99 F.3d 1000, 1003 n. 1 (10th Cir.1996). Because MK-Ferguson expressly avoided this issue, it is no surprise that the four-part test we articulated there is inapposite here.
The MK-Ferguson test focuses exclusively on the public disclosure bar contained in section 3730(e)(4)(A). As such, the test assumes that jurisdiction exists unless the public disclosure bar applies. Neither MK-Ferguson nor any other case in this circuit, however, has analyzed the FCA’s initial grant of jurisdiction to determine whether and when its scope includes federal employees as potential rela-tors. This latter inquiry logically precedes the question of whether the public disclosure bar applies. I therefore disagree with the majority’s insistence that we rely on the MK-Ferguson test.
In a section titled “Actions by private persons,” the FCA provides that “[a] person may bring a civil action for a violation of section 3729 for the person and for the United States Government.” 31 U.S.C. § 3730(b)(1). This initial grant of jurisdiction plainly assumes a distinction between the government and the qui tam relator. Because such a distinction was not present in this case, I would hold that the district court lacked jurisdiction over Holmes’ qui tam suit. Accordingly, I would affirm the district court’s dismissal of Holmes from the case.
II. Discussion
Federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction. When considering federal subject-matter jurisdiction, we must presume that jurisdiction is lacking, require the party asserting jurisdiction to prove that it exists, and resolve all doubts against jurisdiction. For several reasons, there is grave doubt as to whether jurisdiction exists in this case, and dismissal is therefore required.
First, a person is only a proper qui tam relator if she is distinct from the government. This requirement follows from the qualifying language in section 3730(b)(l)’s initial grant of jurisdiction, which only confers jurisdiction over qui tam actions brought “for the [relator] and for the United States Government.” This distinction is absent where, as in this case, the relator is (1) a government employee whose job duties include uncovering and reporting the particular type of fraud that grounds the qui tam action, and (2) the relator is *1216participating in an ongoing investigation of that very same fraud.
Second, the Supreme Court has instructed us to employ statutory titles to resolve ambiguity arising from a discrepancy between the title and the text. Such ambiguity is present here, because the statute’s title refers to actions by “private persons,” while the text refers only to “a person.” Per the Supreme Court’s instruction, we must resolve this ambiguity by reading “person” as a reference to the “private persons” referred to in the title and not to persons acting as the government with regards to the fraud at issue.
Third, the ambiguity of the text and the fact that Congress did not expressly speak to the question of federal employee rela-tors require us to consult the purposes of the qui tam provisions. Permitting Holmes’ action would not serve any of the purposes of the FCA and its 1986 amendments and would, in fact, frustrate Congress’ goal of preventing parasitic suits.
Fourth, finding jurisdiction over Holmes’ action is glaringly inconsistent with specific prohibitions requiring federal employees to avoid conflicts of interest. Because the qui tam provisions do not per se exclude federal employee relators, they are necessarily in some tension with conflict of interest rules governing federal employees. The majority’s construction of the initial grant of jurisdiction as plenary maximizes that tension; a properly narrow construction of section 3730(b)(1) minimizes it.

A. The Presumption Against Jurisdiction

We must remember, at the outset and throughout our consideration of the statutory language, that federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction. The first step in our analysis is to presume that the district court lacks jurisdiction and to require the party asserting jurisdiction to allege and prove that jurisdiction exists. Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Ins. Co. of Am., 511 U.S. 375, 377, 114 S.Ct. 1673, 128 L.Ed.2d 391 (1994); Montoya v. Chao, 296 F.3d 952, 955 (10th Cir.2002); MK-Ferguson, 99 F.3d at 1543; United States ex rel. Precision Co. v. Koch Indus., 971 F.2d 548, 551 (10th Cir.1992). Moreover, we must strictly construe statutes conferring jurisdiction, resolving any doubts against jurisdiction. Advanced Sciences, 99 F.3d at 1004; MK-Ferguson, 99 F.3d at 1543-44. Thus, a scintilla of doubt as to jurisdiction over Holmes’ suit mandates dismissal.

B. The Distinction Between the Qui Tam Relator and the Government

In construing a statute, “our overriding purpose is to determine congressional intent.” Chickasaw Nation v. United States, 208 F.3d 871, 878 (10th Cir.2000) (citing Griffin v. Oceanic Contractors, Inc., 458 U.S. 564, 570, 102 S.Ct. 3245, 73 L.Ed.2d 973 (1982)). To determine a statute’s plain meaning, “ ‘[we] must look to the particular statutory language at issue, as well as the language and design of the statute as a whole.’ ” Id. (quoting K Mart Corp. v. Cartier, Inc., 486 U.S. 281, 291, 108 S.Ct. 1811, 100 L.Ed.2d 313 (1988)).
The FCA provides, in a section headed “Actions by private persons,” that “[a] person may bring a civil action for a violation of section 3729 for the person and for the United States Government.” 31 U.S.C. § 3730(b)(1). The Act does not make explicit the class of persons eligible to file civil suits under subsection (b). As the majority acknowledges, Congress did not explicitly consider the possibility of qui tam suits by government employees.1 Maj. op., supra at 1210, 1213. But while *1217we l'ack any direct congressional statement, or even any legislative history, the text of section 3730(b)(1) does provide direction. Our starting point must be the meaning of Congress’ statement that “[a] person may bring a civil action ... for the person and for the United States Government.” 31 U.S.C. § 3730(b)(1). Determining the scope of the initial grant of jurisdiction logically precedes any consideration of the public disclosure and original source inquiries.
The phrase “for the person and for the United States Government” reveals a fundamental assumption about the individuals filing qui tam suits — namely, that they are distinct from the government. The government is not a discrete organism; it exists and acts only through people. The government cannot get up out of its chair and pursue fraud; if it does so at all, it does so through its employees. The phrase, “for the person and for the United States Government,” then, requires that there be some distinction between a potential qui tam relator and the people acting as “the government” with regard to the fraud at issue. I therefore read the statute as authorizing qui tam actions only by those individuals who are distinct from the government.
When a federal employee acting pursuant to job responsibilities obtains information about possible fraud, that employee obtains that information as the government. A federal employee who is involved in an ongoing government investigation pursuant to employment duties is the government. The distinction between the individual federal employee and the government disappears in this context. Therefore, such an employee cannot use that information to file an action under section 3730(b) “for the person and for the United States Government.”
Holmes is such an employee.2 She initially learned of the alleged fraud while *1218acting in her capacity as postmaster. She learned that the alleged fraud was ongoing while acting as a postmaster trainer, a role within the scope of her employment. Once she had obtained information about this particular type of fraud, she had a specific duty as a postmaster to report it. Regulation 224.3 in the Postal Service’s Administrative Support Manual requires a postmaster to report by memorandum “[f]ailure to pay postage, violation of franking privilege, misuse of penalty mail, depositing of advertising material in mailboxes without payment of postage, and similar schemes to evade payment of postage.” (Emphasis added). Holmes does not dispute that this regulation applies to her. Nothing in the regulation limits its scope, and Holmes has provided no evidence to suggest that its scope is limited to fraud conducted or discovered at her home post office.3 In fact, Holmes concedes its applicability when she states in her brief that she “could have met her job description responsibility to report suspected fraud by simply sending a memorandum to the Postal Inspection Service.” I therefore conclude that Holmes, a federal employee with a specific duty to report the particular type of fraud at issue and a participant in the ongoing investigation, is outside the FCA’s initial grant of jurisdiction.
My statutory analysis has been criticized as requiring an unwarranted redefinition of the word “person.” It requires no such thing. We must read the word “person” in context. The relevant inquiry is what the first sentence of section 3730(b)(1) means, not what one word, removed from context, means.4 I can only conclude, therefore, that those who have criticized my analysis as a factually dependent redefinition of the word “person” have either ignored or rejected the premise of my analysis, which is that we should read all the language granting jurisdiction in order to construe its scope.
My reading of the statute does not focus on the word “person” or on any other word in isolation. I know of no principle of statutory construction that instructs us— or permits us — to apply the plain meaning of individual words of a statute in isolation, without considering the statutory context. See, e.g., United States Nat’l Bank of Oregon v. Indep. Ins. Agents of America, Inc., 508 U.S. 439, 455, 113 S.Ct. 2173, 124 L.Ed.2d 402 (1993) (“Over and over we have stressed that ‘[i]n expounding a statute, we must not be guided by a single sentence or member of a sentence, but look to the provisions of the whole law, and to its object and policy.’ ”) (internal citations and quotations omitted). Rather, my analysis seeks to understand from the statutory context what class of persons *1219Congress intended to be potential qui tam relators.
The majority construes section 3730(b)(1) as conferring jurisdiction over suits brought by “any person,” subject only to the four subsequent express exclusions. This construction ignores the remainder of the very brief statutory language, which qualifies the initial grant of jurisdiction.5 Moreover, this interpretation turns on its head the general rule that we must construe jurisdictional grants narrowly.
By construing the initial grant as plenary, the majority follows the Eleventh Circuit’s analysis in United States ex rel. Williams v. NEC Corp., 931 F.2d 1493 (11th Cir.1991). But the analysis in Williams turns upon the same crucial error made by the majority: instead of applying the entire sentence of section 3730(b)(1), it applies only the first two words (“a person”).
The Williams court makes a fundamental and crucial assumption: that the 1986 amendments begin by conferring jurisdiction upon everyone, then restrict it in the four express exceptions.
In defining the classes of persons eligible to bring qui tam actions, Congress had a choice:
It could have chosen to make eligible as qui tam relators only certain defined groups of persons and exclude all others or it could have chosen to include all persons as eligible qui tam relators with certain specific exceptions. It chose the latter scheme. The statute first permits any “person” to bring a qui tam action, and then specifically excludes four groups.... Government employees are included in the general universe of permissible qui tam plaintiffs unless, in the particular circumstances, they fall into one of the four specifically defined excluded groups.
931 F.2d at 1502 (quoting Erickson ex rel. United States v. Am. Inst. of Biological Sciences, 716 F.Supp. 908, 912-13 (E.D.Va.1989)) (emphasis added).
This analysis is rather conclusory and depends completely on the assumption that (1) the statute begins by conferring jurisdiction over “any person” and (2) the rest of section 3730(b)(1) is meaningless. According to Erickson, on which the Williams court relied for its construction of the jurisdictional provisions, the statute “permits any ‘person’ to bring a qui tam action”; and Congress therefore intended that “Government employees are included in the general universe of permissible qui tam plaintiffs unless, in the particular circumstances, they fall into one of the four specifically excluded groups.” Erickson, 716 F.Supp. at 912-13.
Taking the same view, the majority boldly states that the 1986 amendments “revised the qui tam provision to allow any ‘person’ to bring such a suit.” Maj. op., supra, at 1212 (emphasis added). But the statute does not begin by conferring jurisdiction upon “any person.” It says that “a person may bring a civil action for violation of section 3729 for the person and for the United States Government.” That is, the original grant of jurisdiction extends not to everyone but only to those persons in a position to bring suit on behalf of themselves and the government. If there is no distinction between the person and the government, section 3730(b)(1) does not confer jurisdiction on the person.6 *1220Following Erickson and Williams’ lead, the majority has simply reworded the statute.
Reading the words “a person” out of context distorts the meaning of the statute by ignoring the rest of the jurisdictional language. This we may not do. A unanimous Supreme Court recently reminded us that
[statutory] text consists of words living a communal existence ... the meaning of each word informing the others and all in their aggregate tak[ing] their purport from the setting in which they are used.... Over and over we have stressed that [i]n expounding a statute, we must not be guided by a single sentence or member of a sentence, but look to the provisions of the whole law, and to its object and policy.... Statutory construction is a holistic endeavor, and, at a minimum, must account for a statute’s full text.
United States National Bank of Oregon v. Independent Insurance Agents of America, Inc., 508 U.S. 439, 454-55, 113 S.Ct. 2173, 124 L.Ed.2d 402 (1993) (internal citations and quotations omitted) (emphasis added). If, as we must, we assume that Congress intended the entire sentence of section 3730(b)(1) to apply, we cannot begin the jurisdictional analysis with the assumption that there must be some express or clearly implied subsequent exclusion. Rather, we begin with the assumption that when Congress delineated the class of persons who may bring qui tarn actions, that class only included persons distinct from the government. The words “a person” do not confer jurisdiction over everyone unless they are read out of context.

C. The Section Title: ‘Actions by Private Persons”

The initial grant of jurisdiction in section 3730(b)(1) appears under the heading “Actions by Private Persons.” Although the Supreme Court has cautioned that a heading may not limit a statute’s plain and unambiguous meaning, see, e.g., Pennsylvania Dep’t of Corr. v. Yeskey, 524 U.S. 206, 212, 118 S.Ct. 1952, 141 L.Ed.2d 215 (1998), the Court has on numerous occasions employed headings and titles as “tools available for the resolution of a doubt,” Bhd. of R.R. Trainmen v. Baltimore & O.R. Co., 331 U.S. 519, 529, 67 S.Ct. 1387, 91 L.Ed. 1646 (1947).7 A title *1221or heading is useful when it “shed[s] light on some ambiguous word or phrase.” Id. If there is ambiguity, then, in the text of section 3730(b), and if its heading helps clarify matters, we should consult the heading as long as we do not invoke it to limit the text’s plain meaning.
In INS v. National Center for Immigrants’ Rights, 502 U.S. 183, 112 S.Ct. 551, 116 L.Ed.2d 546 (1991), a unanimous Supreme Court relied on the title of a regulation in circumstances similar to those in this case. INS required the Court to construe a section of a regulation entitled “Condition against unauthorized employment.” The text of the section referred only to “condition barring employment,” without specifying “unauthorized” employment. This inconsistency was sufficient to create ambiguity in the text: “The most critical ambiguity in the regulation is whether the proposed no-work conditions bar all employment or only unauthorized employment.... Although the relevant paragraph of the regulation is entitled ‘Condition against unauthorized employment,’ the text describes the restriction more broadly, as a ‘condition barring employment.’ ” Id. at 189, 112 S.Ct. 551. The Court indicated that, in such circumstances, it would read the text as if the omitted adjective were present:
In other contexts, we have stated that the title of a statute or section can aid in resolving an ambiguity in the legislation’s text. Such analysis obtains in this case as well. The text’s generic reference to “employment” should be read as a reference to the “unauthorized employment” identified in the paragraph’s title.
Id. at 189, 112 S.Ct. 551 (emphasis in original) (internal citations omitted).
Section 3730(b)(1) is ambiguous, and the section heading aids us in resolving that ambiguity. None of the individual words in section 3730(b)(1) is exotic or confusing, but we must construe the entire sentence, not individual words out .of context. To me, the qualifying phrase “for the person and for the United States Government” plainly assumes a distinction between the government and the qui tarn relator. In addition to the qualifying- phrase in the text itself, there is also dissonance between the title’s reference to “private persons” and the text’s more general reference to “a person.”
Thus, ambiguity resides in (1) the phrase by which Congress qualifies the “person” entitled to bring a qui tarn action and (2) the omission from the text of the adjective “private,” which modifies “persons” in the heading. To resolve this ambiguity, the Supreme Court instructs us to read the word “person” in the text as a reference to the “private persons” more specifically identified in section 3730(b)’s heading. INS, 502 U.S. at 189, 112 S.Ct. 551.
Holmes obtained information of fraudulent activity in the course of her employment; she was required to report that information pursuant to her specific job duties; and she was a participant, as part of her job duties, in the ongoing government investigation of that alleged fraud. She is clearly not a “private person” in this context, and she is therefore not a proper qui tarn plaintiff under the FCA. 31 U.S.C. § 3730(b)(1).
I strongly disagree with the majority’s assertion that employing section 3730(b)’s title mandates a conclusion either that (1) all federal employees are within “the class of ‘persons’ capable of filing suit under the qui tam provision,” or (2) all federal employees fall outside that class. Maj. op., supra, at 1209. This case has never been about a per se ban on federal employee relators, and the assertion fails for two reasons. First, the majority premises its argument on a faulty assumption — namely, *1222that my analysis is based upon an unwarranted redefinition of “person.” It is not. Rather, I consider the nexus present between the person and the government in deciding whether the potential relator satisfies section 3730(b)(l)’s distinctness requirement. Second, the only government employees outside the initial grant of jurisdiction are those acting as the government with regard to the particular evidence of fraud that grounds their qui tam suits. I do not argue — and the facts of this case make it unnecessary for me to argue — that Holmes should be barred merely because she is a federal employee. Rather, I would hold that she is outside the scope of the jurisdictional provisions because her job duties expressly require her to uncover and report the particular type of fraud that grounds her qui tam action. She therefore acts as the government with regard to that information and cannot bring a qui tam action for herself and for the government.

D. The Purposes of the FCA and the 1986 Amendments

It is well established that when statutory language and legislative history are inadequate, suggesting that Congress did not think about a particular problem that might arise when applying a statute, “we must analyze the policies underlying the statutory provision to determine its proper scope.” Rose v. Lundy, 455 U.S. 509, 516-17, 102 S.Ct. 1198, 71 L.Ed.2d 379 (1982); see also, e.g., United States v. Sisson, 399 U.S. 267, 297-98, 90 S.Ct. 2117, 26 L.Ed.2d 608 (1970) (“The axiom that courts should endeavor to give statutory language that meaning that nurtures the policies underlying legislation is one that guides us when circumstances not plainly covered by the terms of a statute are subsumed by the underlying policies to which Congress was committed”). The majority and I agree that “[i]t is not clear whether Congress intended by [the 1986] amendments to allow government employees to bring suit.” Maj. op., supra at 1211 (citation omitted). Congress apparently gave no thought to the issue. Id. We must, therefore, consider the purposes of the FCA’s qui tam provisions to determine the proper scope of section 3730(b)(1).
While my analysis remains grounded in the statutory language of section 3730(b)(1), the purposes of the FCA’s qui tam provisions and its 1986 amendments bolster the conclusion that jurisdiction is lacking. “Congress instituted the qui tam provisions of the FCA to encourage private citizens to expose fraud that the government itself cannot easily uncover.” United States ex rel. Fine v. Sandia Corp., 70 F.3d 568, 572 (10th Cir.1995). Moreover, the 1986 amendments’ expansion of jurisdiction over qui tam actions reflects Congress’ “concern that the government was not pursuing known instances of fraud.” Ramseyer, 90 F.3d at 1520 (quoting MK-Ferguson Co., 861 F.Supp. at 1551). The statute as amended aims “(1) to encourage private citizens with firsthand knowledge to expose fraud; and (2) to avoid civil actions by opportunists attempting to capitalize on public information without seriously contributing to the disclosure of the fraud.” Id. at 1519-20 (quoting Precision, 971 F.2d at 552).
Exercising jurisdiction over Holmes’ action would not serve the FCA’s purposes of encouraging exposure of fraud and would frustrate its goal of preventing parasitic suits. First, where a government employee has a duty to report fraud, as Holmes does as postmaster, the information underlying that employee’s suit does not constitute information that the government would not otherwise uncover. The duty to report itself assures that her information is the government’s information.
Second, a qui tam action by someone in Holmes’ position is not prodding the *1223government to pursue fraud allegations it would not otherwise pursue. The undisputed facts show that the government is engaged in active pursuit of the alleged fraud. In fact, Holmes’ own brief states plainly that encouraging government action was not the purpose of her suit: “After Relator was confident that the government was adequately investigating her information, she filed her lawsuit under the FCA to recover her lawful share of the proceeds.”8 Therefore, permitting Holmes’ qui tam suit would not serve the FCA’s purposes of exposing fraud or encouraging the government to pursue fraud allegations.
Nor are these circumstances ones in which a private person needs to be encouraged to expose fraud. On the contrary, having acquired the information in the course of her duties as a postmaster, Holmes had a specific obligation as a postmaster to report it. Again I note that, in the performance of her duties as a postmaster, she is the government. As such, she acquired the information for the government. Moreover, a federal employee who reports a private company’s fraud on the government does not have the same fear of reprisal as a company insider who acts as a whistleblower, further reducing the need for financial incentives to encourage them to disclose information about fraud.9
Finally, allowing federal employees’ qui tam suits in these circumstances would not serve, and would in fact frustrate, Congress’ goal of preventing parasitic suits. I agree with the majority that “the point of the public disclosure test is to determine whether the qui tam suit is a parasitic one.” Maj. op., supra, at 1207 n. 6. The public disclosure bar, however, does not address the problem of parasitic suits by government employees; it only addresses the problem of parasitic suits by private persons, who have no access to government information that has not been “publicly disclosed.”
Section 3730(b)(l)’s distinctness requirement furthers the FCA’s purposes. The statute’s authorization of suits by “[a] person ... for the person and for the United States Government,” along with the section heading “Action by Private Persons,” reflect a contrast between public and pri*1224vate, between the federal government’s information and private citizens’ independent knowledge. Our analysis in Ramseyer is instructive. In that case, we concluded that the public disclosure bar requires actual, not merely theoretical, disclosure. 90 F.3d at 1519. Underlying our reasoning was the assumption that potential qui tam relators do not have access to governmental information that has not been made public:
Information to which the public has potential access, but which has not actually been released to the public, cannot be the basis of a parasitic lawsuit because the relator must base the qui tam suit on information gathered from his or her own investigation. If a specific report detailing instances of fraud is not affirmatively disclosed, but rather is simply ensconced in an obscure government file, an opportunist qui tam plaintiff first would have to know of the report’s existence in order to request access to it.
Id. at 1520. This rationale, however, does not apply to government employees who know of the allegations because of their jobs. Government employees frequently have access to government information even though it has not been “publicly disclosed,” as defined in Ramseyer. Thus, there is a potential for parasitic qui tam suits by government employees before “public disclosure” occurs, just as there is a potential for such suits by private persons following public disclosure. In my view, Holmes’ suit is a parasitic one for precisely this reason.10 Holmes learned of the alleged fraud while acting in the scope of her employment as a federal employee, and she had a specific duty to report this particular type of information. As such, she obtained the information on behalf of the government, and the information belongs to the government. Of course, these facts also mean that she had access to the information regardless of whether it had been “publicly disclosed.” 11

E. Conflict of Interest

Federal employees’ obligations to avoid conflicts of interest further distinguish them from others who file qui tam suits. Clearly, Congress did not intend to adopt a per se ban against federal employee re-lators — the four express exclusions directed towards federal employees that follow the initial qualified grant of jurisdiction would otherwise be superfluous. Thus, the FCA will at times be in tension with conflict of interest provisions governing federal employees. But the glaring inconsistency between these limitations on federal employees and allowing federal employees to pursue qui tam suits based upon information obtained as part of their job duties, and which their jobs require them to report, supports the conclusion that Congress intended to minimize the extent to which the FCA derogated from the requirement that federal employees avoid conflicts of interest. The majority’s broad reading of the initial grant of jurisdiction maximizes the inherent tension between the qui tam provisions and the conflict of interest rules. We are, however, bound to construe statutes granting federal subject-matter jurisdiction narrowly; such a construction also minimizes the tension between section 3730(b)(1) and the conflict of interest rules.
*1225The most relevant among the specific prohibitions on federal employees is the prohibition on the use of “nonpublic Government information”12 to “further any private interest.” 5 C.F.R. §§ 2635.101(b)(3), 2635.703(a). Other regulations prohibit participation in a government matter in which the employee has a financial interest, id. §§ 2635.402, 2635.501, 2635.502; the use of public office for private gain, id. §§ 2635.101(b)(7), 2635.702; the use of government property or time for personal purposes, id. §§ 2635.704, 2635.705; and holding a financial interest that may conflict with the impartial performance of government duties, id. § 2635.403. Moreover, Congress has specifically imposed criminal penalties on government employees who participate in matters in which they have financial interests. 18 U.S.C. § 208.
Holmes based her qui tam suit on information that she acquired in the course of her employment as a postmaster and had a specific duty to disclose. At least while the government is conducting an ongoing investigation of the allegations, Holmes’ claim for a portion of the proceeds directly reduces the amount that the government may ultimately collect. To allow an employee in Holmes’ position to pursue qui tam claims in these circumstances would create a personal financial stake in the relevant information.13 “Rather than perform their jobs as they are required, government employees obligated to disclose suspected fraud may inappropriately hide fraud from their supervisors while preparing their qui tam actions for fifing.” United States ex rel. Biddle v. Bd. of Trustees, 161 F.3d 533, 542 (9th Cir.1998) (citation omitted). We cannot conclude that Congress intended to create an incentive for government employees to withhold information about suspected fraud contrary to their specific employment obligations.14
*1226The FCA does not specify how it applies to federal employees. The majority’s construction of the initial grant of jurisdiction as plenary exacerbates the inherent tension between the qui tam provisions and the conflict of interest rules, whereas a properly narrow construction of section 3730(b)(1) minimizes that tension. We must assume that Congress did not intend to abrogate the conflict of interest rules beyond what is required for a properly narrow construction of section 3730(b)(l)’s initial grant of jurisdiction. To do otherwise needlessly fosters incoherence and flies in the face of our obligation to construe statutes granting federal subject-matter jurisdiction narrowly. Assuming that Congress intended for federal employees to adhere to applicable statutes and regulations, we should construe the FCA in a manner that is consistent with federal employees’ obligations. In light of these obligations, along with the statute’s evident purposes and section 3730(b)(l)’s distinction between the government and the private relator, it is my view that Congress did not intend to permit a federal employee’s qui tam suit where she has a specific duty to report the specific kind of fraud that grounds the suit and is participating in an ongoing investigation as part of her job duties.
III. CONCLUSION
The words “a person” in the text do not indicate that section 3730(b)(l)’s initial grant of jurisdiction is plenary. The qualifying language in the text (“for the person and the ... Government”) must be given meaning, as must the adjective “private” in the title. The statute simply does not say that any person may bring a qui tam action. Such a reading ignores both the text of the qualifying phrase and the fact that the section refers to private persons, not federal employees participating as part of their job duties in the very investigations that ground their qui tam actions. It produces results that conflict with the statute’s purposes, and it maximizes the inherent tension between the FCA and conflict of interest rules that apply to federal employees — whereas an appropriately narrow reading of the initial grant of jurisdiction minimizes that tension.
Moreover, Holmes has confronted these obstacles in an atmosphere necessarily hostile to jurisdiction, for we must presume that no jurisdiction exists, and we are obliged to strictly construe statutes conferring jurisdiction on the federal courts. The burden is on Holmes to prove that the district court had jurisdiction. She has not done so.
For these reasons, I respectfully dissent.

. The majority does address subsequent attempts in Congress to address this issue. Maj. op., supra at-. These attempts *1217never resulted in amendments to the FCA, however, and discussions that fail to produce legislation cannot, by definition, constitute legislative history. Congress has not spoken to the issue, and, "in any event, the view of a later Congress cannot control the interpretation of an earlier enacted statute." O’Gilvie v. United States, 519 U.S. 79, 90, 117 S.Ct. 452, 136 L.Ed.2d 454 (1996) (internal citations omitted). Post-1986 congressional discussions are irrelevant to the meaning of the statute as a prior Congress wrote it.

. As the majority correctly points out, the reason Holmes knew of the fraud allegedly committed by CIG was because “she is the person responsible for ferreting it out in the first place.” Maj. op., supra, at 1207 (emphasis added). This is precisely the point. The outcome, in my judgment, is dictated by the facts in this case. At some point, a potential relator's specific duty to discover and report a particular kind of fraud aligns so closely with the alleged fraud grounding her qui tam action that the distinction required by section 3730(b)(1) — between the employee as private relator and the employee as the government— collapses. The test for when that distinction collapses is necessarily fact-driven, and I do not propose that we attempt to answer in advance every scenario that might arise. We should allow the caselaw to develop the contours of such a fact-specific test.
In this case, three facts situate Holmes outside the scope of section 3730(b)(1): (1) Holmes’ express duty as postmaster to discover and report the particular kind of postal fraud alleged against CIG; (2) the fact that she discovered the alleged fraud as part of her job duties; and (3) the fact that she is participating in the ongoing government investigation — which indicates that the government has neither declined to pursue nor covered up the alleged fraud. But the fact that Holmes may not bring this qui tam action in no way implies a per se ban on federal employee relators. It is the specific alignment of her job duties with the particular fraud alleged, along with her participation in the ongoing government investigation, that disqualify her. The relationship between a particular federal employee’s job duties and the particular fraud alleged will vary from case to case. For example, nothing in this decision would prevent Holmes from filing a qui tam action based upon information she obtained, outside the *1218scope of her federal employment, regarding bidrigging in the Department of Defense, because her express job duties do not direct her to discover and report such fraud. Likewise, nothing in this opinion would prevent a federal employee in the Department of Energy from basing a qui tarn action on the alleged fraud in this case.

. Moreover, Boyle’s affidavit specifically states that a postmaster who is acting as a postmaster trainer "is not relieved of his responsibilities as a postmaster, as they pertain to reporting fraud.”

. See, e.g., Things Remembered, Inc. v. Petrarca, 516 U.S. 124, 135, 116 S.Ct. 494, 133 L.Ed.2d 461 (1995) ("It is a fundamental principle of statutory construction (and, indeed, of language itself) that the meaning of a word cannot be determined in isolation, but must be drawn from the context in which it is used.”) (quoting Deal v. United States, 508 U.S. 129, 132, 113 S.Ct. 1993, 124 L.Ed.2d 44 (1993) (internal quotations omitted)).

. For this reason, the canon of expressio unius est exclusio alterius is inapplicable. The four subsequent, express exclusions operate only within the scope of the initial grant. The mere existence of subsequent express exceptions cannot ex ante transform a qualified grant of jurisdiction into a plenary one.

. In holding that the qui tam provisions of the FCA do not impose a per se ban on government employees as relators, the First Circuit *1220cited the same language from Ericlcson in United States ex rel. LeBlanc v. Raytheon Co., 913 F.2d 17 (1st Cir.1990). Neither court seems to have considered the language very carefully, and both repeat the Ericlcson construction of the language without apparent analysis, as if it were a fait accompli. It is not. Furthermore, at issue in Ericlcson was whether the statute imposed a per se ban on federal employee relators, an issue distinct from the one before us — whether relators in the course of their duties and thereby acting as the government are within the scope of the jurisdictional provisions.

. See, e.g., Almendarez-Torres v. United States, 523 U.S. 224, 234, 118 S.Ct. 1219, 140 L.Ed.2d 350 (1998) (quoting Bhd. of R.R. Trainmen, 331 U.S. at 528-29, 67 S.Ct. 1387) (noting that " 'the title of a statute and the heading of a section' ” are " 'tools available for the resolution of a doubt' " about a statute’s meaning, and relying on presence of the word "penalties” in title of section as evidence that the section dealt with substantive crime); Mead Corp. v. Tilley, 490 U.S. 714, 723, 109 S.Ct. 2156, 104 L.Ed.2d 796 (1989) (employing title of regulation to resolve "any possible ambiguity”); FTC v. Mandel Bros., 359 U.S. 385, 388-89, 79 S.Ct. 818, 3 L.Ed.2d 893 (1959) (noting that the "Title of [an] Act ... though not limiting the plain meaning of the text, is nonetheless a useful aid in resolving ambiguity” and beginning the Court's construction of false invoicing provisions of the Fur Products Labeling Act by looking to its title and its underlying purposes); Maguire v. Comm’r, 313 U.S. 1, 9, 61 S.Ct. 789, 85 L.Ed. 1149 (1941) (employing title of tax statute as evidence of congressional intent to confine application of its text to specific property owned by decedent at the time of death).

. The majority misreads both my analysis and the statute when it suggests that Holmes acted “as the government” when she obtained the information that grounds her qui tam actions and as a “person” when she filed that action to secure a "share of the proceeds”— thereby, the argument goes, satisfying section 3730(b)(l)'s requirement that she file on behalf of herself and the government. Maj. op., supra, at 1209-1210. First, my construction of the initial grant of jurisdiction is not premised on a factually dependent redefinition of the term "person”; thus, the majority's attempt to associate “person” with Holmes' “individual capacity” and “government” with her "official capacity” misses the point. It also, ironically, appears to engage in factually dependent reading of "person.” Second, if the qualifying language "for the person and for the United States Government" means anything at all, it means that there is some distinction between the two that is relevant to the existence of jurisdiction. The majority’s reading requires that a single individual can be both at the same time, simply because “the preparation and filing of her suit” need not occur at her workplace. Id. Such a construction renders the language meaningless-as does the majority opinion in general. Moreover, as Holmes acknowledges, the official investigation was already underway when she filed her action, and her sole reason for filing was her own financial gain. It is a parasitic suit, filed solely on her own behalf, not the government's.

. In addition to the financial incentives for a qui tam plaintiff, the statute addresses this particular concern by providing that an employee who suffers retaliatory action as a result of pursuing or assisting in an action under section 3730 "shall be entitled to all relief necessary to make the employee whole.” 31 U.S.C. § 3730(h).

. Again I note that Holmes' own brief evidences a specific intent to piggyback on the government's efforts.

. The majority concludes that the "original source” inquiry need not be conducted here because there has been no public disclosure. The majority nevertheless seems to assume that Holmes would qualify as an original source, for it states — borrowing a phrase directly from the statutory definition of "original source,” 31 U.S.C. § 3730(e)(4)(B)—that Holmes has "direct and independent knowledge” of the alleged fraud. Maj. op., supra, at 1207-1208.

. "Nonpublic information” means "information that the employee gains by reason of Federal employment and that he knows or reasonably should know has not been made available to the public.” 5 C.F.R. § 2635.703(b).

. Indeed, according to the majority opinion, it appears that Congress intended to authorize a federal employee to "cash in” whenever her job duties bring evidence of fraud across her desk — even if her job is to investigate fraud.

. I contrast my reasoning here with the primary policy arguments that the Eleventh Circuit rejected in ’Williams involving administrative difficulties — specifically, interference with the government’s case and premature disclosure of allegations to defendants. 931 F.2d at 1503. I agree that these concerns do not require excluding government employees from the class of eligible qui tam plaintiffs, and we accord them no weight. The statute demonstrates that Congress considered these concerns (though not specifically with respect to government employees) and chose to mitigate them by other means. 31 U.S.C. § 3730(b)(2)-(3) (requiring that a qui tam plaintiff file the complaint under seal, and allowing the government to seek an extension of the 60-day period during which the complaint remains under seal); (b)(4) (allowing the government to take over a qui tam action by intervention); (c) (limiting the qui tam plaintiff's rights when the government intervenes).
The Williams court, although it noted the government’s argument that "the False Claims Act should not allow a personal reward to government employees for the 'parasitical' use of information obtained and developed in the course of government employment,” 931 F.2d at 1503, did not consider the plaintiff's particular employment obligations in this context. Such obligations are an important aspect of my analysis of Holmes' case. Moreover, to the extent that I rely upon the obligations of federal employees, I use these to inform my interpretation of the statutory language in section 3730(b)(1). I thus disagree with the Eleventh Circuit's statement that "[t]he False Claims Act is devoid of any statutory language that indicates a jurisdictional bar against government employees as qui tam plaintiffs.” Williams, 931 F.2d at 1504.