Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2007

Floor Speech

WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTION ENHANCEMENT ACT OF 2007

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Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of H.R. 985, and I do so for a number of reasons. We all know that there are individuals who would love to simply be forthcoming with information. All of us have been places, all of us have worked places, all of us have known things, and we have all wanted to operate free and uninhibited. But unless individuals have the absolute protection, in many instances, of knowing that whatever it is that they would reveal that when they come forth that nobody can use that against them, because they also have concerns of their own relative to being able to maintain the job that they have got to take care of the security needs of their family.

Whistleblower protection could have been used more effectively even as we debated the issue of Iraq, as we made decisions based upon intelligence that supposedly we had but intelligence that obviously we did not have.

Whistleblower protection becomes very effective in helping to root out waste, fraud, and abuse. Some of the hearings that I have sat in on where we have discussed how we made use of our contracting resources in Iraq, for example, makes one wonder if we were just giving away the valuable resources of the American people.

So this legislation not only protects the taxpayers' money, but it also protects our troops, our soldiers, those who are in danger oftentimes because accurate information has not been deployed. Mr. Chairman, I urge passage of 985.

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Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to have joined Chairman Waxman and Ranking Member Davis in sponsoring the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2007.

The Whistleblower Protection Act of 2007 strengthens current law to protect whistleblowers in Federal agencies. Since 1994, the Whistleblower Protection Act has been gutted by judicial activism. The legislation would grant whistleblowers the right to challenge reprisals in Federal district court and clarifies that ``any'' protected disclosure applies to all lawful communication of misconduct. It would extend whistleblower protection rights to whistleblowers in the intelligence community and would extend these rights to federally funded contractors.

Extending whistleblower protection to the intelligence community is a critical aspect of this legislation. Most national security whistleblowers are not protected from retaliation by law. The National Security Whistleblower Coalition reports that the median number of years of government service for national security whistleblowers is 22 years. These employees are experienced and dedicated and their careers should not be put at risk when they report waste, fraud, and abuse. Protecting national security whistleblowers from retaliation is in the best interest of our national security.

I do have concerns about one group of workers that do not have whistleblower protection--postal workers. The Postal Service is not, by law, subject to the Whistleblower Protection Act--WPA. The Service's Employee and Labor Relations Manual--ELM--contains provisions adopted by the service that replicate the more significant protections found in the WPA for victims of unlawful reprisal. The ELM provisions, however, only concern ``corrective actions''; they do not mandate discipline for managers who retaliate against whistleblowers.

As chairman of the Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia, I will hold a hearing to examine the need to extend full whistleblower protections to postal employees.

Chairman Waxman, thank you for your advocacy in this area.

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