Speaking Up for the Whistle-Blowers

They have job duties taken away, so they are marginalized in the office. They get stripped of their security clearances, so they can't work. They are blacklisted, so they can't find employment. They are reassigned to new locations, so they have to choose between moving or losing their jobs.

Those are typical forms of retaliation carried out against federal employees who blow the whistle on waste, fraud and abuse at their agencies.

Yesterday, advocates for whistle-blowers urged Congress to strengthen protections for federal employees who suffer reprisal in the workplace. The advocates were greeted with bipartisan support at a hearing held by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

"Federal employees are on the inside," Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), the committee chairman, said. "They see when taxpayer dollars are wasted. They are often the first to see the signals of corrupt or incompetent management. Yet without adequate protection, they cannot step forward to blow the whistle."

Waxman said the committee's bill would for the first time extend whistle-blower rights to those who work at the FBI and in intelligence agencies, and to people employed by federal contractors. The bill would also extend protection to passenger and baggage screeners at the Transportation Security Administration and to federal scientists who report political interference with their work, he said.

Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.), the ranking minority member on the committee, said the bill would clarify congressional intent as to what type of whistle-blowing is protected. He said "the most significant reform" in the bill would guarantee federal employees a right to a jury trial in federal district court if the Merit Systems Protection Board, a federal agency that hears complaints from whistle-blowers, did not take action on a whistle-blower's claim in 180 days.

Although Congress has passed laws to protect federal employees from reprisals when they speak up, whistle-blower advocates contend that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which has sole jurisdiction over federal whistle-blower cases, has interpreted the laws in a way that makes it almost impossible for federal employees to defend themselves.

At yesterday's hearing, advocates for whistle-blowers -- William G. Weaver, an associate professor at the University of Texas at El Paso; Nick Schwellenbach, an investigator with the Project on Government Oversight; Tom Devine, legal director for the Government Accountability Project; and Mark Zaid, a lawyer and executive director of the James Madison Project -- testified in support of the Waxman bill.

"Whistle-blowers risk their professional survival to challenge abuses of power that betray the public trust," Devine said. "This is freedom of speech when it counts."

He cited several whistle-blowers who spoke out on vital issues of public concern, including a law enforcement officer who sought improvements in the federal air-marshal program and was then was investigated and assigned to desk duty.

Although the committee members at the hearing, including Todd R. Platts (R-Pa.) and Christopher Shays (R-Conn.), signaled support for the bill, its prospects are uncertain.

Previous legislative efforts have faltered, largely because the Justice Department has objected to expanding whistle-blower rights. Department officials have contended that more protection for whistle-blowers could hinder agency operations and compromise classified information.

Platts sponsored a whistle-blower bill last year that was approved by the committee on a 34 to 1 vote but did not reach the floor. Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii) moved a whistle-blower measure through the Senate as part of a defense bill, only to see it dropped during House-Senate negotiations.

Akaka, joined by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), reintroduced whistle-blower legislation in January. The bill, which has a more limited scope that Waxman's measure, is pending before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Waxman plans to put his bill before the House committee today, if weather permits, for amendments and debate.