[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 135 (Thursday, July 30, 2020)]
[Senate]
[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.

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  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

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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.