[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 97 (Wednesday, June 17, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Page S4252]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. GRASSLEY (for himself and Mr. Leahy):
  S. 1599. A bill to provide anti-retaliation protections for antitrust 
whistleblowers; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, today I am joining again with Senator 
Grassley in introducing the Criminal Antitrust Anti-Retaliation Act, 
legislation that will provide protections to employees who come forward 
and disclose to law enforcement agencies pricefixing and other criminal 
antitrust behavior that harms consumers. This bill includes changes 
that we made in the Judiciary Committee last Congress, which enabled it 
to pass the Senate unanimously. Senator Grassley and I have long worked 
together on protecting whistleblowers, and this legislation continues 
those efforts.
  Whistleblowers are often instrumental in alerting the public, 
Congress, and law enforcement agencies to wrongdoing in a variety of 
areas. These individuals take risks in stepping forward and deserve to 
be protected from retaliation. Congress should encourage employees with 
information about criminal antitrust activity to report this 
information. The Criminal Antitrust Anti-Retaliation Act does exactly 
that by offering meaningful protection to those who blow the whistle on 
illegal behavior such as pricefixing.
  This legislation is modeled on whistleblower protections that Senator 
Grassley and I authored as part of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The 
protections are narrowly tailored and do not provide whistleblowers 
with an economic incentive to bring forth false claims. Last Congress, 
we made modest changes to the bill in the Judiciary Committee to 
improve the definition of a covered individual and clarify that 
protections only apply to employees reporting criminal violations. The 
protections in this bill build on recommendations from key stakeholders 
in a 2011 Government Accountability Office report to Congress.
  The antitrust laws offer critical protections for consumers that 
promote free enterprise. By extending whistleblower protections to this 
area of the law, this bipartisan bill will help to ensure that criminal 
antitrust violations do not go unreported. This bill passed the Senate 
unanimously last Congress. I urge the Senate to pass it again.

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