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May 3, 2006 -- Last week, senior Republican
leaders in the House of Representatives stymied two separate bipartisan
attempts to improve legal protections for government whistleblowers who
work with classified information.
On April 6, 2006, the Committee on Government
Reform unanimously approved, by a vote of 32 to 0, H.R. 5112, the "Executive
Branch Reform Act of 2006." This landmark bipartisan
bill, co-sponsored by the Chairman of the Committee, Tom Davis, and the
Ranking Minority Member, Henry A. Waxman, would create strong new
protections for national security whistleblowers. The bill:
- Bans reprisals against national security whistleblowers
reporting illegal actions, gross mismanagement, and abuse;
- Prohibits the suspension or revocation of security
clearances in retaliation for reporting government abuse;
- Provides access to jury trials in federal district court
for whistleblowers after an Inspector General investigates their
claims; and
- Clarifies that national security whistleblowers can report
abuses to authorized members of Congress and congressional
committees.
After the bill passed out of Committee, Reps.
Waxman and Davis asked that the national security whistleblower
provisions be considered as amendments on the House floor to two pieces
of legislation: (1) the intelligence authorization bill considered on
April 26; and (2) the lobbying reform bill considered on April 27.
In both cases, senior Republicans on the Rules
Committee refused to allow the amendments to even go to the House floor
for a vote.
Rep. Waxman stated: "It's a shame that the
Republican House leaders refuse to protect national security
whistleblowers. It's even more shameful when they prevent bipartisan
and unanimous proposals from coming to the House floor for a
vote."
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