The Time for Passage of the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act is Now

[Donnachaidh]

http://www.citizensforethics.org/support-whistleblower-protection-enhancement-act

For far too long federal workers have toiled in a work place with no safeguards and all too often endure retaliation for exposing waste, fraud and abuse in the government. Now, after nearly a decade of lobbying for greater protections for whistleblowers, good government groups like CREW are calling for final passage of the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (WPEA) as this congressional session comes to a close. The WPEA, for the first time, provides fundamental due process rights to challenge retaliation and safe channels within the government for disclosure of wrongdoing.

The bill has already passed in the U.S. Senate and now awaits action in the House. A Washington Post story, however, indicates that incoming chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Rep. Darrell Issa has decided to delay passage of this crucial legislation, citing "new areas of concern that have been raised by the WikiLeaks" disclosures. Contrary to Rep. Issa's suggestion, CREW strongly believes the WikiLeaks phenomena is exhibit A for why passage of the WPEA is so critical.

The issues surrounding Wikileaks in fact have nothing to do with the WPEA. The WPEA is an anti-leak measure. Without the WPEA, outlets like WikiLeaks remain the safest alternative for those who want to challenge waste, fraud and abuse without ruining their careers. Whistleblower protections are essential to prevent harmful or dangerous leaks. Former House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chair Peter Hoekstra (R-MI) captured the essence of the WPEA in 2006 when he stated,

eople feel free that if they are observing illegal activity or they are observing activity within their departments that they are uncomfortable with, that they feel there is an effective process to bring that to the attention of the management within the community or to the committees of jurisdiction ... that's why we need to make sure the whistleblower process is an open door, so that these folks are not faced with a, you know - believing they're in an environment where they don't have a choice, that they don't - see something they don't like, that they just go, "Well, I'll just go to the press."

More at the link -- take action from there!