On the recordJanuary 4, 2017
I am proud to speak today on behalf of our legislation to reauthorize the Office of Special Counsel for an additional 5-year period to protect whistleblowers, Federal employees who have the courage to come forward to expose waste, fraud, and abuse in the Federal Government and who are so important to our oversight responsibilities here in Congress. The Office of Special Counsel performs a variety of important responsibilities. Chief amongst them is investigating retaliation against whistleblowers from the executive branch agencies, as well as other prohibited personnel practices. Once again, this is vitally important to the work we perform in the Government Reform and Oversight Committee and ensures greater accountability from the executive branch to Congress. We are proud of the support this bipartisan bill has received from the whistleblower community and from those who care deeply about our efforts to perform effective oversight in our Federal Government. Since the last authorization expired in 2007, there are a number of necessary reforms for the OSC as the role of the Office continues to grow and evolve. By enacting this legislation, we can ensure the Office of Special Counsel will have access to Federal agency records that are absolutely necessary to perform their duty of protecting Federal employees who had the courage to speak up about malpractice, mismanagement, and fraud in the Federal Government.…
