Jim Sensenbrenner: “Madam Speaker, today is a historic day for the House, as we are about to consider, and likely pass, what Jack White at…”

“Madam Speaker, today is a historic day for the House, as we are about to consider, and likely pass, what Jack White at Time Magazine called ``the first new civil rights law of the 21st century.'' I, along with the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee), introduced H.R. 169, the Notification and Federal Employee Antidiscrimination and Retaliation Act of 2001, or the No FEAR Act, to address an outrage in the Federal Government. The Federal Government should serve as a model of the best practices for a fair and open work environment. But after a year-long investigation, I was surprised to discover that some Federal agencies appear to be allowing discrimination and retaliation against their own employees. The General Accounting Office has also investigated discrimination in the Federal workforce and found complaints grew tremendously in the 1990s. In fact, in fiscal year 1999, the number of complaints to the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission was about 120 percent greater than the number of complaints in 1991. The GAO also reported that complaints alleging retaliation against employees who had participated in the complaint process had increased as well. That very type of retaliation is what has brought us here today.”