Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2010

Floor Speech

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Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of S. 372, the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2010.

I would like to thank Senator AKAKA, and the other Senators who have worked so hard to advance this bill to provide stronger whistleblower protections. This effort has spanned over a decade, and I am hopeful that it will come to a successful conclusion today.

Whistleblower protections are a critical component in bringing about a more effective and accountable government. As the Congress considers proposals to address the deficit, our work needs to be pursued on numerous fronts. Whistleblowers risk their careers to challenge abuses, and gross waste of government resources. They deserve to be protected so they can carry out their important work conscientiously, and with the taxpayers best interests in mind.

By providing new rights, remedies, and protections for government whistleblowers, this bill takes an important step toward curbing waste, fraud, and abuse. This will aid our deficit reduction efforts.

S. 372, as passed by the Senate, reflects a bipartisan compromise between the original Senate bill and H.R. 1507, legislation I sponsored with Representatives PLATTS, Chairman TOWNS, and Representatives WAXMAN and BRALEY.

The Oversight and Government Reform Committee has reported similar legislation, on a bipartisan basis, in each of the last two Congresses. The House of Representatives has twice passed similar bills, once in 2007 with 331 votes and again as a bipartisan amendment to the Recovery Act.

Unfortunately, H.R. 1507 was stripped out of the Recovery Act during the conference with the Senate.

Over the course of the last two years, we have worked with the Obama administration and the Senate to work out a compromise that retains the core protections for federal workers and national security personnel that were included in bills passed by the House in 2007 and 2009.

The bill before us today restores Congress' intent to protect an employee for any lawful disclosure of waste, fraud, abuse, or illegality. S. 372 addresses several court decisions that have limited the protections Congress made available to federal employees under the 1989 Whistleblower Protection Act. These decisions quite frankly have gutted the protections available to federal employees.

This bill provides the opportunity for whistleblower cases before the Merit Systems Protection Board to be reviewed by all of the Federal Circuits. Moreover it provides an opportunity for certain cases to receive jury trials. This expansion of opportunity for judicial review is critical. While I would have preferred broader criteria for review and that this enhanced judicial review be made permanent, I have reluctantly accepted the changes made by the Senate to narrow the circumstances under which cases can receive judicial review and to sunset these provisions in 5 years.

This legislation also protects federal employees for disclosures related to distortions of government science and extends to employees of the Transportation Security Administration.

S. 372 is a good bipartisan, bicameral compromise, and should be sent to the President without further delay. This bill, as passed by the Senate, included important protections for national security employees. These provisions had been included with significant input from the national security community and passed the Senate by unanimous consent. Unfortunately, jurisdictional disputes within the House have prompted us to remove these protections in the interest of passing the rest of these essential reforms. I regret the loss of these provisions and look forward to working with incoming Chairman ISSA to advance these protections for national security employees in the next Congress.

I want to thank my cosponsor and partner on this bill, TODD PLATTS for his assistance and strong leadership. I also want to thank Chairman TOWNS and Ranking Member ISSA for their strong support throughout this Congress to advance this important legislation.

I'll close by simply noting that this legislation is long overdue. Without whistleblowers and the unfiltered information that government insiders can provide, the oversight functions vested in Congress would be seriously compromised, as would our efforts to rein in the federal budget deficit. I encourage all Members to support this important bill.

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