Grassley Works to Extend Whistleblower Protections to Congressional Employees

Senator Chuck Grassley wants Congress to live by the same rules as everybody else. It's a crusade he started in 1995, when he authored the Congressional Accountability Act which brought Congress under major civil rights, labor and workplace safety laws. Today, he's introducing legislation that would give the same whistleblower protections to employees in the legislative branch as provided already to employees of the executive branch of government.

"Whistleblowers in the executive branch have helped me do my job of oversight. It's simply not fair, nor is it good governance, for Congress to enact whistleblower protections on the other branches of government without giving its own employees the same consideration. This effort is about two things: making sure Congress practices what it preaches and making sure Congress values the importance of whistleblowers for increasing accountability in the representative branch of government," Grassley said.

The proposed legislation would help protect legislative branch employees from retaliation because those individuals disclosed information that they reasonably believed is evidence of a violation of any law, rule, or regulation. It will give congressional employees the same protections that workers in the other branches of government already possess by adding the Whistleblower Protection Act to the preexisting list of statutes that are applied to the Legislative Branch by the Congressional Accountability Act.

The Congressional Accountability Act was signed into law in 1995, and guarantees the same rights for congressional employees as private sector employees and ensures that members of Congress feel the impact of laws applied to private sector employers and small business owners across the country. The law brought Congress under major laws which address wage and hour questions, occupational safety and health issues.

Grassley has a long legislative history of supporting whistleblowers. He is the co-author of the Senate version of the 1989 Whistleblower Protection Act, which became law and established protections for federal employees who expose waste, fraud and abuse in federal agencies. Grassley has continued to work to safeguard the law, overturn court cases that erroneously limited the law, and apply it to newly created federal entities.

"Americans want an accountable and responsible federal government and whistleblowers can be a key component to ensuring that misdeeds are uncovered. All too often, though, whistleblowers are made to feel like a skunk at a picnic, simply for committing truth. It takes courage to stand up and point out wrongdoing and it's unacceptable that people would be retaliated against for doing the right thing," Grassley said.

Grassley is also the author of the 1986 amendments to the False Claims Act. The amendments Grassley championed 25 years ago along with Rep. Howard Berman of California strengthened the Civil War-era False Claims Act which was originally signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln. The 1986 Grassley-Berman qui tam amendments empowered whistleblowers from the private sector to file suit on behalf of the United States against those who fraudulently claim federal funds, including Medicare, Medicaid, contract payments, disaster assistance and other benefits, subsidies, grants and loans.

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