Political Quotes

“I think we can all agree that we want the workers at our nuclear facilities to be proactive in reporting health and safety violations. It seems pretty obvious. In California, whistleblowers were key in pointing out critical safety problems at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. Had these brave whistleblowers not come forward, we could have had a Fukushima- like meltdown right next to the Marine Corps Base at Camp Pendleton and within 50 miles of 8 million Americans. We need more whistleblowers, not less. That is why I was flabbergasted to learn that the Department of Energy has allowed its contractors to force their employees to sign agreements not to disclose waste, fraud, or abuse. The DOE's allowance of nondisclosure agreements has been the subject of ongoing congressional investigations, which found that whistleblowers at the Hanford plutonium processing plant in Washington State were fired after raising safety concerns. Not only does this violate basic principles of workplace safety, but it circumvents Congress' constitutional duty to conduct oversight over governmental activities. This is a part of pattern of abuse by contractors using employment contracts to hide outrageous crimes within their organizations.…”