WASHINGTON - Senator Chuck Grassley yesterday won approval of his amendment to give whistleblower protection to employees in the Judicial Branch. The amendment was added to a federal judgeships bill that was being debated in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
While the underlying bill is riddled with problems, and Grassley did not support it, the whistleblower provision is a positive step in allowing employees to challenge reprisals and retaliation that they have suffered simply for reporting wrongdoing.
"It's a constitutional responsibility for members of Congress to conduct oversight on the laws we pass. Whistleblowers are a key component to helping with that very important job. It's about holding each branch of government accountable," Grassley said.
A long-time advocate for whistleblowers, in addition to co-authoring the 1989 whistleblower law, Grassley sponsored changes made in 1986 to the President Lincoln-era federal False Claims Act to empower private sector whistleblowers. Since the 1986 amendments were signed into law, the False Claims Act has brought back more than $27 billion to the federal treasury, and has deterred even more fraudulent activity. In 2009, in coordination with Senator Patrick Leahy, Grassley worked to pass legislation to shore up whistleblower protections in the False Claims Act that had been eroded by the courts after years of litigation by defense and healthcare contractors.
Grassley is also the author of 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.
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