GovernmentExecutive.com

The Democratically-led Congress may be headed for a showdown with the White House over whistleblower protection legislation that easily passed in the House earlier this week.

The Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (H.R. 985) is directed at guarding federal employees at security and scientific agencies, as well as contractors. House members passed it by a vote of 331-94; the White House has threatened a veto.

The legislation would allow the Merit Systems Protection Board 180 days to take action on cases alleging retaliation for reporting potential waste, fraud or abuse. If MSPB failed to meet that deadline, whistleblowers would have the option of taking their cases to federal district courts.

The bill, which has yet to be considered in the Senate, also contains provisions to protect whistleblowers' security clearances - essential for national security workers - from being used as leverage to punish or discipline them. The Senate has not yet set a date to consider the bill.

"Abuse of the government security clearance process is the single most widely used method of punishing government whistleblowers," said Daniel Hirsch of the Concerned Foreign Service Officers group, formed to advocate improvements to the clearance process.

The White House opposes the legislation, and in a strongly worded statement Tuesday, argued the bill's passage would "compromise national security." The statement also said the measure is unconstitutional. "Rather than promote and protect genuine disclosures of matters of real public concern, it would likely increase the number of frivolous complaints and waste resources," the administration stated.

The legislation would effectively negate a Supreme Court ruling finding government whistleblowers are not entitled to First Amendment protections when they report concerns up their workplace chain of command.

Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., who was among the legislation's sponsors, lashed out at the White House, saying "the Bush administration has done everything it can to operate in secret, to avoid public scrutiny and to limit congressional oversight."

During consideration of the bill, Waxman warned his colleagues of the consequences of inadequate whistleblower protection by highlighting the White House's preparation for war in Iraq.

"There are a lot of federal officials who knew the intelligence on Iraq was wrong," Waxman said. "Officials in the CIA and the State Department knew that Iraq did not try to import uranium from Niger. Officials in the Energy Department knew the aluminum tubes were not suitable for nuclear centrifuges. It is imperative that national security employees be protected against retribution so they will not be afraid to report national security abuses to members of Congress."

One Capitol Hill source familiar with the bill said that the Senate will likely pass it and send it to the White House even in the face of a veto threat. The margin by which the bill first passed the House would be sufficient to override any veto; a two-thirds vote in the Senate also would be needed.

COMMENTS

• Given the Bush administration's record on abuses of power and retaliation against whistleblowers, I can't imagine why a veto would be threatened against any legislation which might protect those whistleblowers. Just ask Valerie Plame! Larry R. Doane Posted March 19, 2007 8:16 AM
• The problem as I see it is most people don't understand President Bush. Bush, with his limited intelligence, just doesn't understand the differences in being “president” and being a “dictator.” Ninety percent of the American public could say they are against amnesty for illegal aliens and Bush would say "That doesn't matter, I'm going to do what I feel is right and dictate the way I feel I and my friends can benefit most." The bad part of it is, a lot if not most of our politicians aren't listening to what most Americans are saying either. I'm not especially pro-union but something has to be in place to protect workers. It's evident that Bush doesn't want anybody to know what he and his buddies are doing and certainly doesn't want anybody able to stand up and blow the whistle when they see he and his cronies doing something wrong. That's evident by the day to day revelations we see on the news. I see Bush as a make believe leader who needs to take some real serious leadership courses. Bush has surrounded himself with "yes sir, you're right sir" people and clearly doesn't want people around him with differing opinions. Bush also makes a big show about what he's going to do if there are wrongs but never follows through with his promises. Just this morning, I heard one of his kiss-up military leaders saying we can't put a time table on leaving Iraq, which just isn't right. We have to review our goals and make decisions based on these goals. Well I'm sorry to say but we've had years to meet goals and we haven't met any. As I see it we're worse off today than we were when we started. I'm not a Democrat or a Republican. I voted for Bush because there was no other choice. It was either vote for the Republican dummy or the other Democrat fiasco. Now, I can only say if Bush was gone tomorrow, it wouldn't be soon enough. GovExec.com reader Posted March 19, 2007 7:53 AM
• This administration has done everything in its power to undermine the federal worker, i.e. Max HR, dismantling employee protection clauses via the dismemberment of the MSPB. This is another way of covering up gross mismanagement, fraud, waste and abuse in the highest levels of government. Case in point, billions of dollars in unaccounted for funds that have been embezzled, stolen or misappropriated in Iraq. Who has been called to the carpet on this waste of precious tax dollars, no one, why, no protection for the whistleblowers? Agencies like ICE, DEA and the like can’t hire new agents or effectively do their jobs because the billions being wasted and squandered in Iraq. Shameful and disgraceful for the this administration, grade f for failure overall! GovExec.com reader Posted March 18, 2007 5:38 PM