July 30, 2020 - Issue: Vol. 166, No. 135 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 2nd Session
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Whistleblowers (Executive Session); Congressional Record Vol. 166, No. 135
(Senate - July 30, 2020)
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[Pages S4605-S4607] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] Whistleblowers Mr. President, now I speak about an issue that each day, each year, every year for I don't know how many years I have spoken on this subject, but you will soon find out why this is an important day to me, as an advocate for whistleblowing and the protection of whistleblowers. Earlier this month, the Senate unanimously declared today National Whistleblower Appreciation Day. Every year, we honor whistleblowers on July 30, and I want to tell you the history of that. It was on July 30, 1778--I hope you heard that right: July 30, 1778-- at the height of the American Revolutionary war that the Continental Congress passed the first whistleblower law. It did so in support of American soldiers who had decided to blow the whistle on their supervisor. That supervisor was an American naval commander. It seems this commander had not been following the rules of war and had been brutally torturing British soldiers. Knowing his actions were against the Navy's code of ethics, the soldiers decided to blow the whistle to Congress. When they did blow that whistle, they got the full whistleblower treatment, the kind that I hear too often, even today. They were sued for libel and were thrown into jail. [[Page S4606]] Now, that doesn't happen to maybe a lot of whistleblowers in 2020, but whistleblowers are not treated correctly yet today. Well, Congress wasn't hearing of how they were being treated by being sued for libel and being thrown into jail. In response to what had happened on July 30, 1778, the Continental Congress passed the first whistleblower law, stating its unequivocal support for the soldiers and affirming that it is the duty of every person in the country--not just government employees but every single person--to report wrongdoing to the proper authorities. Congress even covered the legal fees of the jailed sailors. Now, 242 years later, we find ourselves in the midst of another crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, and today Congress and the American people depend on whistleblowers to tell us about wrongdoing just as much as our Founding Fathers did. In fact, we depend on them more because, as the government gets bigger, the potential for fraud and abuse, at the same time, gets bigger. So does the potential for cruel retaliation against our Nation's brave truthtellers. But here is the good news: For every rogue commander or manager, this country is filled with good, honest, hard-working people like those sailors--patriots--who are unafraid to step forward and blow the whistle just for a simple reason--to do the right thing, to get the government to do what the laws require, spend money according to how the law requires the money be spent. I can think of no better way of remembering and honoring the whistleblowers than doing exactly as the Continental Congress did on that day in 1778: by renewing our resolve and our commitment here and now to pass laws that encourage, support, and protect whistleblowers; by telling whistleblowers through strong legislative action that they are patriots and that Congress and the American people have their backs. I myself have several critical whistleblower bills pending before this session of Congress that are especially crucial in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. First and foremost, there is the legislation I have been working on to strengthen the False Claims Act. As we all know, the False Claims Act allows whistleblowers to file lawsuits and sue fraudsters on behalf of the Federal Government. The Federal Government should be doing that, but the Federal Government may not know about it. Or if the Federal Government does know about it, they may have so many cases they can't deal with. So we allow the citizens, through qui tam-type lawsuits, to act in the place of the government. This is what my amendments in 1986 to the False Claims Act did. Those cases, since 1996, have brought $62 billion back into the Federal Treasury. The False Claims Act has never been more important than it is right now this very year--34 years after I got it passed. That is because the massive increase on government funding to address the COVID-19 crisis has created new opportunities for fraudsters trying to cheat the government and steal hard-earned taxpayers' dollars. I heard some of this on Tuesday in my committee from people in Homeland Security who have been running down, either costing the taxpayers money or just receiving bad quality products to protect our healthcare people. It is especially ironic, considering all of this, that the Department of Justice has been continuing its recent practice of dismissing charges in many of the false claims cases brought by whistleblowers without the Department of Justice even stating its reasons. This is definitely not the right approach. If there are serious allegations of fraud against the government, the Attorney General should have to state the legitimate reasons for deciding not to pursue them in court. That is just common sense. My legislation clarifies the ambiguities created by the courts and reins in this practice that undermines the purpose of my 1996 amendments to the False Claims Act, which was to empower whistleblowers. And remember, you shouldn't weaken a piece of legislation that has brought $62 billion of fraudulently taken money back into the Federal Treasury. This legislation requires the Justice Department to state its reasons. What is wrong with telling people why you are dropping the case and provide whistleblowers who bring the cases an opportunity to be heard whenever it decides to drop a false claims case? These problems I am bringing up with the Department of Justice remind me of the initial carrying out of the false claims amendments that I got passed in 1986. The Department of Justice resented some citizen coming in and being able to go to court and get justice for the taxpayers because it made it look like the Department of Justice wasn't doing its job. So what? We are helping the taxpayers. We are enforcing the law. I thought around 1992 or 1993 that they got over it and moved ahead with it. But even yet in 1992, Attorney General Barr, then--and I don't know whether he was Attorney General then or just a citizen--even claimed that the False Claims Act's amendments I got passed were unconstitutional. By the time he got 30 years later, coming back into government--and my questioning him about it--he did say that he felt that the False Claims Act was constitutional. That is big progress from 1992, when you thought it was unconstitutional. We still seem to have some problems with the Justice Department, but this bill should not be necessary, but I have to pursue it anyway at the present time Mr. President, on another matter, during the pandemic, there has also been a dramatic increase in whistleblower complaints filed with the SEC. Whistleblowers have been calling attention to scam artists peddling counterfeit and substandard medical goods and phony cures to the consumers. The Whistleblower Programs Improvement Act, which I introduced last year, strengthens protections for SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission whistleblowers. It requires the SEC and CFTC to make timely decisions regarding whistleblower rewards. We are now waiting for the Senate Banking Committee to sign off on the SEC portions of the bill, which the SEC supports. I just had a conversation with the chairman of the SEC on this very point within the last hour. I am also working on legislation that will provide timely, critical protection to whistleblowers working in our nation's law enforcement agencies. Of course, I have been having a national conversation--we all have been having a national conversation lately--about the role of law enforcement in our country. I firmly believe that law enforcement officers play a critical role in maintaining our system of justice. They are there to protect the constitutional rights of our citizens and never, of course, to do harm or infringe upon those constitutional rights. For decades, it has been unlawful for law enforcement officers to work on any level to infringe on the constitutional rights of Americans. And whenever the Attorney General has cause to believe law enforcement is overstepping its bounds and infringing on those rights, he has the legal authority to intervene and pursue action on behalf of the United States to stop the practice and hold those responsible accountable. Of course, the Attorney General can't prosecute what he doesn't know about. It is law enforcement officers themselves who are out there on the frontlines protecting all of us. Congress and the American people depend on them to be vigilant and to speak up if they see something happening that they know is wrong. Those who do choose to step forward and report violations in accordance with our Federal laws deserve Federal whistleblower protections. That is why I am working to ensure that law enforcement whistleblowers who report violations of the constitutional rights of American citizens to Congress and the Justice Department are guaranteed simple whistleblower protections, which we give to a lot of other people. Another whistleblower bill currently awaiting passage is my Criminal Antitrust Anti-Retaliation Act. This legislation strengthens protections for private sector whistleblowers who report violations of antitrust laws. The bill was passed by the Senate last October and has been pending before the House of Representatives ever since. The House tries to argue that the Senate is the legislative graveyard. We [[Page S4607]] hear that from people across the Rotunda on almost anything and any day. But here is a case where its delayed action on this bill suggests that it isn't always the Senate that isn't considering this legislation. Each of these bills fills a critical void in our current whistleblower laws, and each one ought to receive consideration and an up-or-down vote before the end of this Congress. Of course, if that is going to happen, Congress needs to pick up its pace. It needs to take a cue from those strong actions taken by the Congress--the Continental Congress, let me emphasize, during the American Revolution, a body that saw the need, took the time, and devoted necessary resources to stand up for whistleblowers in the midst of a war for the very existence of our country. Today, let's all take a moment to reflect on the high standards that those early Americans set for us back on July 30, 1778, and let's remember never to let excuses or partisan differences keep us from pursuing our common interests in passing strong, meaningful whistleblower laws. I yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Fischer). The Senator from Wisconsin.
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