[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 15805-15806]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                RECIPIENTS OF WHISTLEBLOWER DISCLOSURES

  Mr. RUSSELL. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 2196) to amend title 5, United States Code, to allow 
whistleblowers to disclose information to certain recipients, as 
amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 2196

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. RECIPIENTS OF WHISTLEBLOWER DISLOSURES.

       Section 2302(b)(8)(B) of title 5, United States Code, is 
     amended by striking ``or to the Inspector'' and all that 
     follows through ``such disclosures'' and inserting ``the 
     Inspector General of an agency, a supervisor in the 
     employee's direct chain of command and up to and including 
     the head of the employing agency, or to an employee 
     designated by any of the aforementioned individuals for the 
     purpose of receiving such disclosures''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Oklahoma (Mr. Russell) and the gentlewoman from the District of 
Columbia (Ms. Norton) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Oklahoma.


                             General Leave

  Mr. RUSSELL. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks 
and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Oklahoma?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. RUSSELL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I speak in support of H.R. 2196, a bill I introduced 
with Ranking Member Cummings, Mr. Lynch, and Mr. Farenthold from Texas 
earlier this year to allow whistleblowers to disclose information to 
certain recipients.
  Whistleblowers in the Federal Government should be able to tell their 
supervisors when something is wrong. That is true no matter what, but 
especially so in cases involving classified information, which implies 
a matter of national security.
  If whistleblowers cannot make a protected disclosure to their 
supervisors, they are more likely to make an illegal disclosure to 
people or entities without the proper security clearances.
  Under current law, whistleblowers in the intelligence community can 
make protected disclosures to their supervisors. However, 
whistleblowers dealing with classified information outside the 
intelligence community do not have that same protection.
  Federal employees inside the intelligence community can blow the 
whistle to their supervisors, to the appropriate inspector general, and 
to Congress. Employees outside the intelligence community do not have 
those protections when it comes to classified information, and they 
have fewer options when it comes to blowing the whistle, except to put 
it in the hands of those who have no clearances.
  Federal employees outside the intelligence community must be 
reassured that they can report wrongdoing to the appropriate people, 
including their supervisors. With this protection, whistleblowers will 
be less likely to disclose potentially sensitive information on waste, 
fraud, and abuse to the media, or other entities or individuals without 
the proper security clearance.
  This bill allows whistleblowers to make protected disclosures of 
classified information to individuals within their chain of command. 
There are very few conceivable circumstances in which a whistleblower 
complaint to a supervisor would jeopardize national security, but such 
disclosures are not currently protected, as strange as that may seem.
  There is no reasonable basis for concern about giving whistleblowers 
throughout the Federal Government the right to contact those 
individuals about waste, fraud, or abuse of a classified nature. These 
additional protections will make it easier for these employees to do 
the responsible thing when it comes to classified disclosures.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I want to thank Representative Steve Russell for introducing this 
bill, along with Oversight and Government Reform Committee Ranking 
Member Elijah Cummings, and Representative Stephen Lynch.
  This bill would provide important protections to whistleblowers who 
handle classified information and want to report waste, fraud, and 
abuse.
  Under this bill, an employee who is covered by the Whistleblower 
Protection Act could disclose to any supervisor in his or her direct 
chain of command classified information the employee reasonably 
believes shows wrongdoing.
  Under current law, if a whistleblower discloses classified 
information, the whistleblower is protected only if he or she makes 
those disclosures to the Office of Special Counsel, an inspector 
general, the head of the whistleblower's agency, or an employee 
designated by the head of the agency.
  This bill would encourage employees who handle classified information 
to use proper channels to blow the whistle on waste, fraud, and abuse. 
Allowing employees to go to a supervisor with evidence of wrongdoing 
may be less intimidating than going to the agency head or an inspector 
general.
  This bill is modeled on language in the Presidential Policy Directive 
issued in 2012. That directive, PPD 19, provided whistleblower 
protections to intelligence community employees who are not covered by 
the Whistleblower Protection Act.

                              {time}  1530

  This bill will provide a more consistent approach for employees who 
handle classified information by ensuring that employees who are 
covered by the Whistleblower Protection Act will blow that whistle to a 
supervisor, the same way that intelligence community employees who are 
covered by PPD 19 can do so.
  This is a good bill. I urge my colleagues to support it, and I yield 
back the balance of my time.
  Mr. RUSSELL. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank Ranking Member 
Cummings, Mr. Farenthold of Texas, and Mr. Lynch of Massachusetts for 
their great bipartisan support in this needed reform, and I urge my 
colleagues to support my bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by

[[Page 15806]]

the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Russell) that the House suspend the 
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 2196, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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