Executive Calendar

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, before I get into the substance of my remarks on a very serious subject, I want to thank my dear friend from Kansas for his nice words about Johnny Isakson.

There is no word short of ``beloved'' that you would affix before Johnny Isakson's name in terms of this Chamber, and I think that would probably be true for every single Member--certainly the Senator from Kansas and certainly the Senator from New York.

On July 30, 1778, the Continental Congress passed unanimously the following resolution: ``Resolved, that it is the duty of all persons in the service of the United States . . . to give the earliest information to Congress or other proper authority of any misconduct, frauds or misdemeanors committed by any officers or persons in the service of these states.''

That was in the Continental Congress before our Nation was even formed--a duty of citizens to protect the American people from those in government who might conduct misconduct, fraud, or misdemeanors.

From the earliest days of our Republic, our government has acknowledged the vital role that whistleblowers play in ensuring good governance and rooting out corruption, malfeasance, and self-dealing.

Two nights ago, appallingly, at a political rally, President Trump and a Member of this Chamber, the junior Senator from Kentucky, publicly and explicitly urged the press to disclose the identity of the Federal whistleblower whose complaint triggered an impeachment inquiry in the House of Representatives.

A few days later, the same junior Senator threatened to reveal the identity of the whistleblower himself.

I cannot stress enough how wrong and dangerous--dangerous--these efforts are.

The United States is a nation of laws. Whistleblower laws have existed since the founding of our Republic to protect patriotic Americans who come forward and stand up for our Constitution. We don't get to determine when these laws apply and when they don't. We don't get to decide if the law applies whether you like what the whistleblower said or whether you don't. These are laws. No person--no person--is above the law.

This whistleblower, whose complaint was deemed credible and urgent by a Trump appointee, is protected by these statutes. There is no legal doubt about that. Every single Member of this body--every single one-- should stand up and say that it is wrong to disclose his or her identity. That is what my colleague Senator Hirono will ask us to do in a moment.

Before she does, I want to thank my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who have spoken up in defense of whistleblower protections. Some of my Republican colleagues have spent their careers defending whistleblowers. We need them today. We need these Republican colleagues, who should be here standing up for the protection of whistleblowers.

The threats we have seen over the last few days are so egregious--so egregious--that they demand bipartisan outrage from one end of this Chamber to the other, whether you are a Democrat, Republican, Independent, liberal, moderate, or conservative.

What is happening here is another erosion of the values of this Republic for political expediency. Exposing the whistleblower's identity would endanger their health and safety and that of their families. It would also be a chilling message to future patriots that they do their duty to report wrongdoing at the risk of exposure, retaliation, and retribution.

Why don't we see a single other Republican stand up in favor of this today? We should.

Let's send a message today that the Senate reaffirms our Nation's longstanding tradition of defending whistleblowers. I urge every single Member of the Senate to support it, and I recognize somebody who has been valiant in this fight to protect the duty enshrined by the Continental Congress and the Constitution, my good friend, the Senator from Hawaii.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source