Letter Urges Passage of Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act
(Washington, D.C.) – As the 111th Congress draws to a close, today the Make It Safe Coalition sent a unifying message to President Obama and congressional leaders that the American public cannot afford to delay passage of enhanced federal employee whistleblower protections. In a letter addressed to President Obama and congressional leadership, over 60 groups across the ideological spectrum banded together under one common goal: Pass the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (WPEA) without further delay!
In the letter, the groups write:
We have heard that you all agree on at least one issue: This country must address our growing federal debt and cannot afford to tolerate waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government. With this crisis looming, you must fulfill your commitments to taxpayers and enact strong legislation protecting federal whistleblowers in this lame duck session of Congress.
Federal workers who expose waste, fraud, and abuse are essential to safeguarding taxpayers. Now pending in Congress, the WPEA would provide enhanced rights for federal whistleblowers to defend themselves against workplace retaliation. This legislation overhauls the gutted Whistleblower Protection Act, which due to years of hostile judicial activism, has become a trap that rubberstamps retaliation against those who risk their own well-being to protect the public.
The letter concludes, “If you are serious about responding to American voters, reducing the debt, and ensuring the integrity of government, you will do all you can to make ‘best-practices’ whistleblower reform a reality this year.”
Legal director Tom Devine of the Government Accountability Project, which organized support for the letter, explained, “This is a litmus test whether voters can trust the rhetoric of politicians who pledged a war on fraud, waste and abuse. Whistleblowers are on the front lines risking their careers for the commitments in politicians’ campaign speeches.”
Government Accountability Project
The Government Accountability Project is the nation’s leading whistleblower protection organization. Through litigating whistleblower cases, publicizing concerns and developing legal reforms, GAP’s mission is to protect the public interest by promoting government and corporate accountability. Founded in 1977, GAP is a non-profit, non-partisan advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C.
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Contact: Tom Devine, Legal Director, GAP
Phone: 202.457.0034, ext. 124
Email: [email protected]
Contact: Emily Ryan, American Federation of Government Employees
Phone: 202.639.6421
Contact: Dina Long, National Treasury Employees Union
Phone: 202.572.5500, ext. 7058
Contact: Angela Canterbury, Project on Government Oversight
Phone: 202.347.1122
Contact: Celia Wexler, Union of Concerned Scientists
Phone: 202.390.5481