Speaker of House Nancy Pelosi issued a press release expressing her support for the whistleblower amendment to the stimulus bill. Speaker Pelosi stated that “It is inconceivable that the people’s business had been conducted for so long without ‘whistleblower’ protections to encourage every public employee to do the right thing.”
The Speaker’s press release is encouraging as we gear up for a fight in the Senate. Please contact your Senators IMMEDIATELY and urge them to include the same federal whistleblower protections in their version of the bill that the House passed.
Speaker Pelosi’s Press Release
For Immediate Release
01/28/2009
Pelosi Statement on Whistleblower Protections Added to American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
Washington, D.C – Speaker Nancy Pelosi released the following statement after permanent protections for federal ‘whistleblowers’ were added to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, to strengthen its unprecedented accountability measures, and to continue to root out waste, fraud, and abuse in federal spending for years to come. This bipartisan amendment, sponsored by Congressmen Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Todd Platts (R-PA), was passed by the House in the last Congress but never became law.
“We have worked for years to protect taxpayer dollars and improve services the federal government provides by protecting those most familiar with how the dollars are spent and the results achieved. Today, the worst economic downturn in decades requires recovery legislation of such a scope that these protections have become more critical than ever.
“It is inconceivable that the people’s business had been conducted for so long without ‘whistleblower’ protections to encourage every public employee to do the right thing. In many cases, these whistleblowers save extraordinary sums of money, protect the integrity of research done in federal labs, and restore public confidence in the work of our nation.
“At last we have a President who believes we must both shine a bright light on our government and let the voices of those who speak the truth be heard loud and clear.”