Chuck Grassley: “I believe whistleblowing in the Federal Government should be protected and encouraged. People in the executive branch of…”

“I believe whistleblowing in the Federal Government should be protected and encouraged. People in the executive branch of government that work in there every day want the Federal Government to enforce the laws the way they are written and spend money according to that law. And when they see something that is not right in government, they have a responsibility to blow the whistle and tell somebody and, hopefully, they work with the immediate superiors, but a lot of times they don't get any respect for the shortcomings of government that they expose. Eventually, they come to Congress and at that point are covered by whistleblower protection legislation, and if we want to continue the good work that whistleblowers do to expose wrongdoing in government, particularly fraud, waste, and abuse, we should make sure that the whistleblower laws are faithfully followed. One aspect of whistleblower protection is to make sure that everybody in government knows about whistleblowers and the protection that they can receive. One aspect of that is what we call anti-gag rules that need to be followed. So I am here to speak about my efforts to ensure that the Federal Government complies with all whistleblower laws. Unfortunately, the government has made efforts to gag whistleblowers before they can make legally protected disclosures, including to Congress. The illegal conduct has happened no matter which political party controls the executive branch of government.”