Political Quotes

“Mr. President, last week, I introduced an amendment to the American Energy Innovation Act. My amendment addresses a critical shortcoming with whistleblower protections currently available to power sector employees and those who are responsible for maintaining and securing our Nation's electric grid. For those who are unfamiliar, the electric grid is managed by a patchwork of public and private entities. Unfortunately, that means patchy coverage for energy sector employees under our current whistleblower protection laws. Federal workers are covered under the Whistleblower Protection Act, but other workers have to rely on State and local laws for protection if they exist. For many on the frontlines, these whistleblower protection laws don't exist. Just last year, according to a news report, power company employees raised concerns about equipment introduced to improve efficiency that they believed posed a threat to starting wildfires. I hope we all remember the fires in California--I think 1 and 2 years ago or 2 and 3 years ago--with terrible destruction, terrible loss of life. Eighty-five people in California, I think, lost their lives because of that type of fire. One of these employees raised his concern about the threat of this equipment starting wildfires. It was reported that he was fired for simply blowing the whistle. If it turns out the employee was fired for blowing the whistle in the interest of public safety, that should be unacceptable to all of us.…”