Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I thank Ranking Member Cummings for yielding me time to speak about this important legislation to protect whistleblowers. Mr. Speaker, I share the concerns that were brought up yesterday in the Rules Committee and today on the floor about the procedure for bringing this bill to the floor without full House committee process. However, I will support the bill because it is so important. The Dr. Chris Kirkpatrick Whistleblower Protection Act will provide protection for employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs who blow the whistle on wrongdoing in the agency. As the ranking member of the House Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, I know full well that whistleblowers are vital to the VA to protect the health and well-being of the men and women who have so bravely served our country. Although we have numerous protections currently in place for whistleblowers, those who are committed to silencing them still manage to find ways to retaliate, which we saw with tragic consequences at the Phoenix VA Health Care System and in Dr. Kirkpatrick's case. In addition to serving on the House Veterans Affairs' Committee, my role as the founder and co-chair of the Bipartisan Heroin Task Force makes VA's retaliation against another VA doctor, Dr. Kirkpatrick, an especially troublesome tragedy.…”