Senator congratulates whistleblowers on their courage to speak out

Continuing Whistle blower Week in Washington, the No FEAR institute met this afternoon and heard remarks from Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) who congratulated whistle blowers and pushed for stronger legislation to protect them.

“The only crime that whistle blowers commit is in telling the truth,” said Grassley. Whistle blowers sacrifice their careers, livelihood and even their status in the community to bring those responsible to justice. Grassley calls for stronger legislation that will protect whistle blowers and their civil rights. It is in the constitution to have the freedom of speech and the right to petition your government, but the current policies are making that difficult and discouraged.

Also at the meeting were witnesses who testified of atrocities done to them. Some spoke out against ethnic cleansing and affirmative action backlash in the Patent and Trademark Office. Other spoke about sham peer reviews, while working in the medical field as well as many different government agencies or law enforcement, which gave reason to put these individual out of work for speaking out against wrongdoings.

Several members of the Iraq Veterans Against the War spoke up about the retaliation they have received by protesting the war in Iraq. Current legislation is weak on military oversight and many veterans who have returned honorably from the war and given honorable discharges have spoken out against the government’s involvement in Iraq and their discharges have been changed from honorable to general and benefits taken away.

All those witnesses who testified as well as Sen. Grassley called for stronger legislation to be passed in order to protect the rights of whistle blowers, like the No FEAR II resolution. That resolution offers stronger wording than the previous No FEAR legislation which was passed five years ago today.