House Hearing Set for Federal Whistleblower Protection

May 12th, 2009. By Evelyn Pringle

“This is a critical hearing in which whistleblower advocates will present testimony rebutting the extensive backroom lobbying of federal executive agencies bent on defeating federal employee whistleblower protections,” the NWC said in a May 12, 2009 press release.

In March 2009, as part of the federal stimulus package, the House enacted whistleblower protections for all federal employees. Federal executive agencies, which are one of the last segments of the federal economy to escape meaningful whistleblower protections, spiked the bill in the Senate and it was struck from the final stimulus package, the Center notes. 

The whistleblower advocacy community is continuing to urge Congress to pass whistleblower protections this year.

On May 11, 2009, thirteen national security whistleblowers wrote President Barack Obama an open letter asking him to take immediate steps to end the “second-class status” of federal employees like themselves and to criminalize bureaucratic retaliation against government workers who exercise their free speech rights in the public interest.

“In the years before your presidency, each one of us undertook a largely solitary battle in favor of the values we share with you,” the whistleblowers wrote. “And in doing so, each one of us, together with our families, and sometimes our friends and colleagues, have paid a heavy price for our ethical dissent.”

“As the federal government of necessity grows in response to the many crises that you have inherited from your predecessor, the lack of protection currently afforded to whistleblowers means that federal workers – the front line in the fight against fraud and waste, and best guarantee that taxpayer dollars are spent wisely and government works effectively – must either sit on the sidelines or, still forced to look over their shoulders for signs of reprisal, risk their careers,” they told the President.

The National Whistleblowers Center has put out a petition with a link for signers which states:

WHEREAS, recent financial scandals and multi-billion dollar bail out legislation highlight the urgent need to protect those honest Americans who report wrongdoing in the government and in the private sector.

WHEREAS, courageous whistleblowers are responsible for recovering billions of dollars stolen by government contractors engaged in fraud.

WHEREAS, retaliation against whistleblowers targets the very people who we need to tell the truth about fraud and misconduct.

BE IT RESOLVED: That Congress MUST enact a national whistleblower protection law that provides all whistleblowers with the right to federal court proceedings, a trial by jury and reasonable damages as endorsed by President-Elect Obama.

To sign the petition click here

Tags: Whistleblowers

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