President Obama and Congressional Leaders, Make Whistleblowers a Priority in the Lame Duck
Dear Mr. President, Speaker Pelosi, Leader Reid, Leader McConnell, and Leader Boehner:
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.
Protecting whistleblowers is a reform that has strong support across ideological lines. The groups on this letter are united in this urgent request that federal employees, the foot soldiers in the war on waste, fraud and abuse, get the protections they deserve. They must be able to fight back when they are fired, harassed or demoted in retaliation for their efforts to protect the public health and safety and taxpayer dollars.
Unfortunately, under current law the Merit Systems Protection Board rules against 99% of whistleblowers who file suit to defend themselves against retaliation. Fear of committing career suicide leads federal workers to become silent observers when they witness fraud, waste or abuse. Congress can and must enact a whistleblower reform law that ensures that federal whistleblowers who are punished for speaking the truth have the tools they need to fight that retaliation, and win. Congress must significantly strengthen these protections, but time is running short. Passage of the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act must be a priority for the lame duck.
We know that whistleblowers save money. Each year, whistleblower lawsuits under the False Claims Act save taxpayers nearly one billion dollars. A recent PricewaterhouseCoopers study of corporations globally found that employee disclosures were responsible for detection of more fraud than auditors, internal compliance officers and law enforcement combined.
There is no reason for inaction on noncontroversial, bipartisan whistleblower protection legislation. 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.
Signed by:
- Affiliation of Christian Engineers
- American Association of Law Libraries
- American Civil Liberties Union
- American Federation of Government Employees
- AFGE Council 238
- Association of American Publishers
- Bill of Rights Defense Committee
- Californians Aware
- Center for Biological Diversity
- Center for Financial Privacy and Human Rights
- Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest
- Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger
- Coalition For Change, Inc.
- Concerned Citizens of Petersburg
- Congress Against Racism And Corruption in Law Enforcement
- Conservation Northwest
- D.C. Employment Justice Center
- Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO
- Disaster Accountability Project
- Energy Justice Network
- Ethics in Government Group
- FAA Whistleblowers Alliance
- Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association
- Fund for Constitutional Government
- Focus On Indiana - Legal Reform Campaign
- Foundation for Global Community/Atlanta
- Fund For Constitutional Government
- Government Accountablity Project
- Help Abolish Legal Tyranny (HALT)
- Homeowners Against Deficient Dwellings
- Implode-Explode Heavy Industry, Inc.
- International Association of Whistleblowers
- Liberty Coalition
- MPD Productions, Inc.
- National Coalition of Organized Women
- National Family Farm Coalition
- National Forum On Judicial Accountability (NFOJA)
- National Judicial Conduct and Disability Law Project, Inc.
- National Religious Campaign Against Torture
- National Taxpayers Union
- National Treasury Employees Union
- New Media Rights
- New Mexico Environmental Law Center
- New Orleans Women’s Shelter
- Northwest Environmental Advocates
- OAK - Organizations Associating for the Kind of Change America Really Needs
- OMB Watch
- OpenTheGovernment.org
- Oregon Wildlife Federation
- POPULAR, Inc- Power Over Poverty Under Laws of America Restored
- Private Citizen, Inc.
- Project On Government Oversight
- Public Citizen
- Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER)
- Semmelweis Society International
- Sustainable Energy and Economy Network
- Texas State Community Council - Abilene Division
- The Employment Law Group
- U.S. Bill of Rights Foundation
- U.S. Justice Watch
- Union of Concerned Scientists
- Voices for Corporate Responsibility
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