In an interim briefing to Congress by the Government Accountability Office, the agency said more than two-thirds of whistleblowers reported retaliation during the five-year review period.
Key lawmakers are pushing to strip a much criticized whistleblower office of its primary powers just a few years after it was heralded as a transformational reform in enforcing civil service laws.
The Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection would shift ongoing investigations of whistleblower retaliation to the Office of Special Counsel.