Government Accountability Project is proud to reflect on its work and is honored to receive the Civic Champions of 2021 Award from political activist, attorney, and author Ralph Nader.
NJ Today: Groups demand whistleblower protections
Groups demand whistleblower protections
This article features our Legal Director Tom Devine and was originally published here.
Over 200 groups called on President Joe Biden and congressional leadership on Thursday to enact stronger whistleblower protection laws, especially to ensure that the government is fairly spending trillions of dollars in pandemic relief funding.
A diverse group of 264 organizations, led by the Government Accountability Project, sent the letter to leaders to emphasize the important role whistleblowers play in holding the government accountable.
They argued that current whistleblower laws––such as the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act, 1989 Whistleblower Protection Act and 2012 Whistleblower Enhancement Act––are outdated and insufficient to protect “courageous” individuals who disclose wronging.
Nation of Change: Democratic legislators introduce COVID Whistleblower Protection Act
Democratic legislators introduce COVID Whistleblower Protection Act
This article features our Legal Director Tom Devine and was originally published here.
To guard against waste, fraud, and abuse, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), along with Representatives Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) and Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), recently introduced the COVID-19 Whistleblower Protection Act to establish strong whistleblower protections for the employees of entities that receive federal COVID-19 relief funds.
According to the bill, the multi-trillion-dollar COVID-19 relief effort is unprecedented in the nation’s history, and this legislation would ensure protections for whistleblowers guarding against corruption. In a one-pager describing the bill, the legislators wrote, “Unfortunately, all too often employees who come forward to report wrongdoing experience retaliation.”
Democracy Won. Now Whistleblowers Will be Critical to Maintaining Good Government.
Democracy Won. Now Whistleblowers Will be Critical to Maintaining Good Government.
During the Trump presidency, whistleblowers took center stage. Brave individuals stood up against the administration’s wrongdoing – sometimes at great professional and personal cost – for what was right. While this should have been celebrated, whistleblowers were repeatedly attacked by the president. Now, as a new administration takes office, President Biden has a responsibility to shine a different light on whistleblowers.
Corruption plagued the last four years, leading to whistleblower disclosures from all sectors of government. One of the most notable, the anonymous Ukraine whistleblower, came forward in August 2019. They filed a complaint detailing the months-long effort by President Trump to influence the 2020 election by pressuring Ukraine to investigate his then opponent, Vice President Joe Biden. This le