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“NATIONAL WHISTLEBLOWER APPRECIATION DAY” mentioning Chuck Grassley was published in the Senate section on pages S5172-S5173 on July 29.
Of the 100 senators in 117th Congress, 24 percent were women, and 76 percent were men, according to the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
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The publication is reproduced in full below:
NATIONAL WHISTLEBLOWER APPRECIATION DAY
Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the attached speech, which I delivered in honor of National Whistleblower Appreciation Day, be printed in the Congressional Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows:
National Whistleblower Appreciation Day
july 29, 2021
Each year on July 30th, we take time to celebrate whistleblowers and the important role they play in keeping our government transparent and accountable.
But as you folks know, the task of supporting whistleblowers doesn't start and stop on July 30th.
It's a year round job.
And here in the Congress, it's something we've been working at for decades.
When I first came to Washington in the 1970s, many of the whistleblower laws we take for granted today didn't exist at all.
Anybody who dared to blow the whistle back then was about as welcome as a skunk at a picnic.
Of course the real skunks were usually there among the crowd trying to build a scare, chase the whistleblower away, and destroy their reputation.
That's still true today.
But now it's a lot harder for those people to get off the hook.
That's because whistleblowers today have a lot more protections than they did years ago, and they have important advocates in their corner, such as the IG community, who are there to support them.
And when they don't, I call them out for it.
You may have heard that I recently recommended that President Biden fire FHFA IG Laura Wertheimer.
Last month, the IG decided to resign effective July 31st.
It's unusual for me to ask the President to fire an IG. In fact, you may recall that in past years, I've written letters to Presidents Obama and Trump when they fired IGs without providing reasons to Congress as required by law.
But this was a clear cut case.
I started investigating IG Wertheimer years ago.
Whistleblowers were the ones who first brought concerns about the IG to my attention.
They said she was abusing her staff, making fun of them for things like their weight and medical disabilities.
She was even retaliating against some of the whistleblowers who spoke to my office.
After I saw just how bad things were, I asked the Inspector General Community's Integrity Committee to conduct their own investigation.
They validated many of the whistleblowers' claims and called for her to be removed.
Earlier this month, there was concern that the IG's Chief Counsel, who was found to have obstructed the Integrity Committee's investigation and was recommended for disciplinary action, could become the new Acting IG.
So I wrote to President Biden, urging him to appoint a qualified individual for the Acting IG position and swiftly nominate a permanent replacement who will respect their staff and protect whistleblowers the way they are supposed to as an IG, instead of retaliating against them.
My ongoing work to support whistleblowers also involves new legislation.
One bill that we passed recently involves the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Whistleblower Program.
Since that program was created, whistleblowers in the commodities industry have been coming forward in unprecedented numbers to report fraud and abuse.
We reached a point within the last year where the upcoming awards were so large, the fund was in danger of not having enough cash on-hand to pay whistleblower office staff.
My CFTC Fund Management Act, which passed the Congress in June, now allows the Commission to set aside money in a separate account to ensure that staff are paid and this highly successful whistleblower office can remain open.
I also have several other bipartisan whistleblower bills I intend to pass this congress.
I'm working on legislation that will strengthen incentives and protections for whistleblowers who report potential money laundering, as well as whistleblower protections for FBI employees.
And I have bills to further strengthen the False Claims Act and Program Fraud Civil Remedies Act.
So, as much as we've accomplished together, there's still more to be done.
In closing, I want to thank you all for the role you play in bringing attention to whistleblower issues and advocating on behalf of whistleblowers.
Your service in support of whistleblower issues is a service to our country and all the ideals of good government that I've spent my career working to promote.
So please go forward and continue doing the good work that you've been doing all along.
Together, let's make sure the whistleblower laws and protections we have in place next year and the year after are even stronger than the ones we have in place today.
Thank you.
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