Executive Calendar

Floor Speech

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Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, as I often have to come to the floor to clear things up, I am back once again.

I have been seeing reports--reports that are wrong--that individuals within our Federal law enforcement agencies who want to talk to Congress about problems they have seen on the job have a fear that if they do that, they could be punished. The reports say these individuals then want to be subpoenaed by congressional committees rather than come forward voluntarily. There is a perception that without a subpoena, they have no legal protection against retaliation for their cooperating with Congress.

That is nonsense, and that is a misrepresentation that has been fomented by the FBI's and the Department of Justice's leadership for many years under both Republican and Democratic administrations. I have worked hard to strengthen legal protections, especially for FBI employees. FBI employees have a right to cooperate with congressional inquiries just as they have a right to cooperate with the inspector general. Anyone who tells these FBI agents anything else is lying. FBI agents and all Federal law enforcement are protected if they want to provide information to the Congress. That is true whether it is by subpoena or not.

If that is news to law enforcement people, including the FBI, I would encourage you to research the law individually. It is found at title 5, U.S. Code, section 2303.

As you will see in the law, nowhere in that language do its protections require a subpoena, nor do they require the approval of an agent's chain of command or congressional affairs staff approval.

Moreover, Federal appropriations law also forbids the use of taxpayers' dollars to pay the salary of any individual who interferes with or attempts to interfere with a Federal employee's right to communicate directly with Congress.

The Government Accountability Office recently found that an Obama Housing and Urban Development congressional affairs official did interfere that way in 2013, so paying that salary violated the restrictions Congress had placed on the money. Based on that ruling, Housing and Urban Development initiated collection efforts to recover a portion of the salary paid illegally, as a debt owed back to the United States from this executive branch staffer, as a result of interfering with somebody's right to talk to Congress.

Congress has the power of the purse, and bureaucrats need to understand that funding for their salaries comes with strings attached. Federal employees cannot be prevented from talking directly to Congress--pretty plain--period.

There can be no interference with any Federal employee talking directly to Congress. I should add that you shouldn't even try.

If unelected bureaucrats have so much contempt for an employee who voluntarily informs the people's elected representatives of facts necessary to do our constitutional responsibility of oversight, then we still have a lot of work to do. That kind of thinking is dangerous. It leads to irresponsible government, and is totally contrary to law. If that perception is persisting throughout law enforcement, including the FBI or, indeed, throughout government generally, then the leaders of those agencies are not doing their job. They are failing in their responsibility as leaders, they are failing the workforce, and they are failing the American taxpayer.

I don't want anyone out there to be confused. It is pretty simple. If you are a Federal employee and you want to disclose wrongdoing and waste to the Congress or you want to cooperate with a congressional inquiry, you are legally allowed to do so. You should not have to fear retaliation. No FBI agent or other government employee should be afraid to cooperate with Congress or with the inspector general.

Any FBI agent who has information to provide, or questions about their rights to provide it, should not hesitate to reach out and ask. Contact the committee. Contact the inspector general. There are people there who can tell you more about what protections may apply to your specific situation.

It seems to me that if you know something is wrong, you have a patriotic responsibility to expose it. Transparency brings accountability, and what we don't have enough of in the U.S. Government is accountability.

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