Blowing The Whistle

The Senate has approved an expansion of whistleblower protections that would cover any employees working on Pentagon-related projects.

The move Monday was an acknowledgement of a massive growth in procurement spending by the federal government in recent years -- a doubling to more than $400 billion since 2000 -- the bulk of it at the Defense Department.

Senators Claire McCaskill (D-MO) and Susan Collins (R-ME) added the measure as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act. It was approved by unanimous consent.

According to the Government Accountability Project, a group that bills itself as a non-partisan watchdog, the amendment will cover "any taxpayer-financed DoD projects." It also covers recipients of Pentagon grants or other fund 'for which [DoD] may be reasonably regarded as responsible to a third party,' including the citizens in Iraq or Afghanistan." And it includes protections for contractor employees who offer tips to the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR), or any inspector general under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Defense.

The House is working on a similar measure. On Friday, the Senate Democratic Policy Committee will hold a hearing called, "The Mistreatment of Iraq Contracting Whistleblowers." The press release claims that $10 billion in spending is unsupported.

The committee says that earlier in earlier hearings on the subject, "a common theme developed: evidence of waste, fraud and abuse uncovered by whistleblowers was being ignored by contractors and the government and, in many cases, the whistleblowers were being mistreated. This hearing will feature witnesses who have been fired, demoted, threatened, intimidated and even detained for speaking the truth about Iraq contracting practices"

Please note that Government Inc. wants to hear more about such things, in the off chance you have documents, names, project, etc. you want to share.

By Robert O'Harrow |  September 20, 2007; 7:07 AM ET qui tam
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WHISTLE BLOWING

After an enormous uproar from the American People stopped the huge amnesty bill this year, its unscrupulous proponents are trying to slip bits and pieces of it into the Department of Defense authorization bill. If they succeed in all their efforts, this betraying exercise in stealth will give them most of the outrageous elements of the "comprehensive" immigration bill that American rejected.

The main thrust of this plan is to add the DREAM Act amnesty (SA 2919), as an amendment to the Defense funding bill in the Senate. Ostensibly, this is just an amnesty to provide in-state tuition to illegal aliens who entered the country before they were 16, but since no documentation is required, virtually all the millions of illegal aliens in this country could claim eligibility.


The other two components of the plan are:


*Increase the number of H-2B non-agricultural seasonal visas. These visas deny jobs to, and depress wages for, low-skilled Americans--our own working poor. There is no system to guarantee that these "temporary" workers would ever leave. Much of the current illegal alien population arrived on temporary visas and then refused to leave when the visas expired.

*Increase the number of "hi-tech" H-1B visas. The SKIL Act would increase the figure from 65,000 to 115,000 in the first year and another 20 percent the following year. This expansion will make it even easier for U.S. employers to import cheap foreign workers and displace Americans.
ACTION NEEDED

It requires another public outcry to stop this amnesty. Let your Senators know that you do not want to see the Defense bill hijacked with these amendments.

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BREAKING NEWS!

Sellout Senator Dick Durbin is backing up a bit. He is pulling back his first amendment (SA 2237) and submitting a new Dream Act Amendment (SA 2919)

While the text of this new amendment is unavailable, DC sources state that he is pulling out the In-State tuition for illegals language and setting an age cap on the Amnesty at 30 years of age. He is leaving in the language about 2 years in the military to qualify to keep this amendment Germane to the defense spending bill.

If we can push a little harder today, we could delay this move.

A delay will be to our favor because it will give us more time to notify the American public so they can respond!

Posted by: calumonit | September 20, 2007 10:51 AM

Any bill that rewards people that have broken our laws is unacceptable. Call it the DREAM ACT or amnisty. Its time for congress to stop running for reelection and get back to running the country. They seem to have time to pass all those pork bills but seem unable to work on the hard ones,like social security and immagration.

Posted by: George Lapiene | September 21, 2007 10:14 AM

Until one has been a "whistle blower" one can never know the true extent of the abuse. I have first hand knowledge and first hand fears of being a whistle blower. Those that be do not want to know what is really happening either for fear of being exposed for stupidity or for being exposed as complicit. One who decries rights to the whistle blowers has no first hand knowledge of what that entails. Period.
Everyone screams justice but those that speak the truth often get none. What are the nay sayer's afraid of? The truth?

Posted by: Nancy | September 24, 2007 12:39 PM

Hope this passes,is "watertight" and there is some method put in place to enforce it . I won't believe it until I see it though . The current administration is ingenious in finding ways to circumvent the law. If only they would put as much effort into an honest effort to carry out their responsibilities.
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ps:
"Increase the number of "hi-tech" H-1B visas. The SKIL Act would increase the figure from 65,000 to 115,000 in the ..."

GOOD!, but that's only a fraction of what is needed . calumonit, you are severely misguided on this . We don't produce enough engineers, programmers, and other "techies". For a long time we have been doing a brain-drain on the rest of the world , much to our benefit . The fools in the White House put a stop to that in '05 , with a moratorium on those visas. They restarted it in '06 , at a much reduced level . The result of that has been American hi-tech companies opening foreign operations, in order to get the people they want .It's generally worked out well, so they are doing more of it . The restrictions on visas is another example of us shooting ourselves in the foot.(Think of all the associated jobs produced by the geniuses' work .) See Microsoft's recent decision to open a facility in Vancouver as an example . Too many of their new hires couldn't get into this country , and they didn't want to lose them .

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Posted by: Sherry | November 27, 2007 1:40 PM

I totally agree with Nancy's past post. Until you've walked a mile in a "whistle blowers" shoes you'll never understand! There are those of us who still believe in our Government and the law of the land. We are screaming for JUSTICE and don't give a damn about recieving a monetary reward! (Of which I am one). The hear no evil, see no evil, and speak no evil, along with a boat load of red tape applies to often in these cases! These government contractors are telling you one thing while doing another. The taxpayers are footing the bill. (Again, of which I am one)! It's high time that Washington hold these contractors accountable and responsible for their actions! I echo Nancy's question. What are you afraid of? The truth? I say, protecting the taxpayers money and appying the law of the land is a good start! The millions of tax paying, falg waving "blue collars" like myself vote and have placed you in office to "Protect us, and up hold the laws of the land" Didn't you take an oath to do just that?

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