Protecting Those Who Blow the Whistle on Government Wrongdoing

Hearing
Date: Tuesday, January 28, 2020 Time: 03:00 PM Location: 2154 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515

There was no video broadcast for this event.

Agenda

CHAIRMAN CONNOLLY'S OPENING STATEMENT

CHAIRWOMAN MALONEY'S OPENING STATEMENT

BACKGROUND

  • Whistleblower disclosures promote an effective and efficient civil service and benefit the public interest by “assisting in the elimination of fraud, waste, abuse, and unnecessary Government expenditures.”
  • Whistleblowers play a critical role in the government, promoting government accountability and reform while curtailing abuses.
  • Numerous laws provide whistleblowers in the public and private sectors with important protections, including more than one-hundred federal laws that include either a whistleblower-related or retaliation-prohibition provision.  Among them are two key laws, the Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989 (WPA) and the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2012 (WPEA), which specifically protect whistleblowers who are federal employees. Additional legislation has extended whistleblower protections to federal contractors and grantees.

 

Witnesses

WITNESSES

David K. Colapinto
Founder and General Counsel
National Whistleblower Center

The Honorable Glenn A. Fine
Principal Deputy Inspector General
Department of Defense

Elizabeth Hempowicz
Director of Public Policy
Project on Governemnt Oversight

The Honorable Michael E. Horowitz
Inspector General
U.S. Department of Justice

Paul Rosenzweig
Resident Senior Fellow
National Security and Cybersecurity, R Street Institute