[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 47 (Wednesday, March 12, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1700-S1701]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             SUNSHINE WEEK

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, every year, Sunshine Week is held 
around March 16, the birthday of James Madison, who not only is a 
former President, but the acclaimed ``Father of the Constitution.''
  On its 20th anniversary, Sunshine Week continues to be a crucial 
reminder of the need for transparency and open government. To control a 
government as big as ours, it takes a lot of very bright light shining 
on every Agency. As Justice Brandeis wrote in 1913, ``Sunlight is said 
to be the best of disinfectants.''
  Transparency brings accountability and the public's business ought to 
be public. That attitude and approach is an important check on the 
Federal Government. It reminds bureaucrats that they ultimately work 
for and answer to ``We the People.''
  One transparency tool I value is the Freedom of Information Act. This 
law, first enacted in 1966, requires our government to proactively make 
material public and to respond to requests for documents, reports, and 
many other types of information. The presumption under this law is that 
government actions, rules, and work is public property. Putting this 
information in public hands helps us hold our government accountable. 
The Freedom of Information Act is one of the strongest tools we have to 
ensure that our government is doing what it should be doing and in ways 
that are best for us.
  And speaking of records, a large part of my oversight work includes 
publicly releasing documents to hold current and former government 
officials accountable. To accomplish that, I often work with 
whistleblowers to get the information the government likes to hide. 
Whistleblowers are patriots and our most powerful tool in rooting out 
waste, fraud, abuse, and misconduct, including the weaponization of our 
government.
  They are often targeted for retaliation and harassment. That must 
stop.

[[Page S1701]]

Time and again, I have come to the floor of the U.S. Senate to point 
out specific examples of retaliation. That is why I have called on 
every President since Ronald Reagan to hold a Rose Garden Ceremony to 
honor whistleblowers. I hope President Trump will be the first to set 
this historic precedent.
  Unfortunately, there has been a growing trend among Federal Agencies 
to unlawfully silence whistleblowers by failing to include the anti-gag 
provision in their nondisclosure policies, forms, and similar 
agreements. The law requires Federal Agencies to include the anti-gag 
provision to notify employees of their whistleblower rights.
  That is why last Congress, I called on 76 inspectors general to 
conduct a review of their parent Agency's nondisclosure agreements and 
similar documents to ensure the anti-gag provision was included. In 
response, so far, 36 IGs have completed reviews.
  Thirty IGs found that their parent Agency's nondisclosure agreements 
were noncompliant with the law. Twenty-six IGs said their parent Agency 
updated or was in the process of updating these deficient agreements. 
The IG community has much work to do, and this Senator won't stop 
protecting whistleblowers.
  Whistleblower disclosures proved that anti-Trump FBI agent Tim 
Thibault was involved in the genesis of Jack Smith's election 
interference case against President Trump. The FBI codenamed it Arctic 
Frost. Internal FBI records revealed Thibault acted outside of 
established FBI protocol and essentially opened and approved his own 
investigation into President Trump. This is just one of many instances 
of political infection at the Justice Department and FBI.
  Whistleblowers also provided me with new information that, during the 
Biden administration, FBI leadership politicized investigations at the 
expense of saving victimized children. According to whistleblowers, 
agents working large caseloads on the Violent Crimes Against Children 
Unit were reassigned by FBI leadership to work January 6 cases.
  Political infection isn't just a DOJ and FBI problem. Whistleblower 
disclosures provided to my office showed that the Obama-Biden 
administration's then-Secretary of State John Kerry obstructed arrests 
of indicted Iranian terrorists. Kerry did so to score political points 
with Iran for the failed nuclear deal.
  My consistent efforts to let in sunshine continues across our 
government whether it is exposing flaws in the Health and Human 
Services Office of Refugee Resettlement that caused children to be 
placed in harm's way, pressing the FBI on issuing a memo about 
targeting Catholics, or fighting to obtain information from DOJ on the 
horrific January 1, 2025, attacks in New Orleans. We need more 
whistleblowers to shine light on political infection because we 
certainly can't count on the government to turn themselves in.
  Now, the Federal Government isn't the only bad actor that 
whistleblowers provided sunlight on. The Simon Wiesenthal Center also 
disclosed to my office that Credit Suisse engaged in misconduct during 
in internal investigation. That investigation focused on the bank's 
Nazi-linked financial accounts. Turns out, Credit Suisse serviced more 
Nazi wealth than was known during and after World War II and tried to 
keep it hidden. Thanks to these whistleblowers, I discovered that 
Credit Suisse lied to Congress about all this, while smearing the 
reputation of the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
  My oversight list could go on and on thanks to whistleblowers.
  In conclusion, we all ought to be thankful for Sunshine Week, which 
is an opportunity for the country to highlight the righteous fight for 
transparency. Shining a consistent light on the work of our government 
is essential to making it accountable to ``We the People.''

                          ____________________