U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE

WASHINGTON : 

1 

89–010 

" ! SENATE 115TH CONGRESS

2d Session 

REPORT

2018

115–346 

Calendar No. 629 

TO AMEND TITLE 5, UNITED STATES CODE, 

TO ALLOW WHISTLEBLOWERS TO DISCLOSE 

INFORMATION TO CERTAIN RECIPIENTS 

R E P O R T 

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND 

GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

TO ACCOMPANY

H.R. 2196 

OCTOBER 11, 2018.—Ordered to be printed 


congress.#13
(II) 

COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS 

RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin, Chairman 

JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona 

ROB PORTMAN, Ohio 

RAND PAUL, Kentucky 

JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma 

MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming 

JOHN HOEVEN, North Dakota 

STEVE DAINES, Montana 

CLAIRE MCCASKILL, Missouri 

THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware 

HEIDI HEITKAMP, North Dakota 

GARY C. PETERS, Michigan 

MAGGIE HASSAN, New Hampshire 

KAMALA D. HARRIS, California 

DOUG JONES, Alabama 

CHRISTOPHER R. HIXON, Staff Director 

GABRIELLE D’ADAMO SINGER, Chief Counsel 

COURTNEY J. ALLEN, Deputy Chief Counsel for Governmental Affairs 

MARGARET E. DAUM, Minority Staff Director 

CHARLES A. MOSKOWITZ, Minority Senior Legislative Counsel 

KATHERINE C. SYBENGA, Minority Counsel 

LAURA W. KILBRIDE, Chief Clerk 

Calendar No. 629 

115TH CONGRESS SENATE REPORT " ! 2d Session 115–346 

TO AMEND TITLE 5, UNITED STATES CODE, TO ALLOW 

WHISTLEBLOWERS TO DISCLOSE INFORMATION TO 

CERTAIN RECIPIENTS 

OCTOBER 11, 2018.—Ordered to be printed 

Mr. JOHNSON, from the Committee on Homeland Security and 

Governmental Affairs, submitted the following 

R E P O R T 

[To accompany H.R. 2196] 

[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office] 

The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, 

to which was referred the bill (H.R. 2196) to amend title 5, United 

States Code, to allow whistleblowers to disclose information to certain recipients, having considered the same, reports favorably 

thereon without amendment and recommends that the bill do pass. 

CONTENTS 

Page 

I. Purpose and Summary .................................................................................. 1 

II. Background and Need for the Legislation ................................................... 1 

III. Legislative History ......................................................................................... 2 

IV. Section-by-Section Analysis .......................................................................... 2 

V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact .................................................................. 3 

VI. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate ................................................ 3 

VII. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Act, as Reported ........................... 4 

I. PURPOSE AND SUMMARY

The purpose of H.R. 2196 is to add a Federal employee’s supervisor and chain-of-command to the list of individuals that he or she 

is legally permitted to make protected disclosures to under Federal 

whistleblower law. 

II. BACKGROUND AND THE NEED FOR LEGISLATION

Federal law protects Federal employees from being retaliated 

against for blowing the whistle on waste, fraud, or abuse in the 

2 

1 5 U.S.C. § 2302(b)(8). 

2 5 U.S.C. § 2302(b)(8)(B). See also Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, Pub. L. No. 95–454, 92 

Stat. 1111, 1116 (1978). 3President Barack Obama, Presidential Policy Directive 19/PPD–19 (Oct. 10, 2012). 

4 Id. 

5Federal Bureau of Investigation Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2016, Pub. L. 

No. 114–302, 130 Stat. 1516 (2016). 

Federal Government or for reporting violations of law, rule, or regulation.1 Current law requires that, to be protected from retaliation, such disclosures be made to the Office of Special Counsel, an 

Inspector General of an agency, or ‘‘another employee designated 

by the head of the agency to receive such disclosures.’’ 2

Federal whistleblower protection laws for the intelligence community and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) also permit 

protected disclosures to be made to an employee’s supervisor. In 

2012, President Barack Obama issued Presidential Policy Directive 

19 (PPD–19), which provided whistleblower protections for disclosures of waste, fraud, and abuse, for employees serving in the intelligence community or for employees making disclosures concerning 

classified information.3 PPD–19 includes ‘‘a supervisor in the employee’s direct chain of command up to and including the head of 

the employing agency’’ in its definition of a ‘‘protected disclosure’’ 

for which an employee would be protected against retaliation.4 The 

Federal Bureau of Investigation Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2016 included identical language to protect disclosures 

made by employees to their supervisors.5

H.R. 2196 would ensure other Federal employees have the same 

protections from retaliation to make disclosures as intelligence 

community and FBI employees do by permitting disclosures of 

waste, fraud, abuse, or violations of law, rule, or regulation to a supervisor in their direct chain of command. 

III. LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

H.R. 2196 was introduced on April 27, 2017, by Representatives 

Steve Russell (R–OK–5), Elijah Cummings (D–MD–7), and Stephen 

Lynch (D–MA–8). Representative Blake Farenthold (R–TX–27) was 

added as a co-sponsor to the Act on May 2, 2017. The Act was 

passed by the House of Representatives on October 11, 2017, by 

voice vote. The Act was received in the Senate and referred to the 

Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on October 16, 2017. 

The Committee considered H.R. 2196 at a business meeting on 

September 27, 2018. The legislation was passed by voice vote en 

bloc with Senators Johnson, Portman, Lankford, Enzi, Hoeven, 

Daines, McCaskill, Heitkamp, Peters, Hassan, Harris, and Jones 

present. 

IV. SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS OF THE ACT, AS REPORTED

Section 1. Recipients of whistleblower disclosures 

This section adds ‘‘a supervisor in the employee’s direct chain of 

command up to and including the head of the employing agency’’ 

to the list of individuals to which a Federal employee may make 

a protected disclosure. 

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V. EVALUATION OF REGULATORY IMPACT

Pursuant to the requirements of paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of 

the Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee has considered 

the regulatory impact of this Act and determined that the Act will 

have no regulatory impact within the meaning of the rules. The 

Committee agrees with the Congressional Budget Office’s statement that the Act contains no intergovernmental or private-sector 

mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act 

(UMRA) and would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments. 

VI. CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE COST ESTIMATE

OCTOBER 3, 2018. 

Hon. RON JOHNSON, 

Chairman, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, U.S. Senate, Washington, DC. 

DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: The Congressional Budget Office has prepared the enclosed cost estimate for H.R. 2196, an act to amend 

title 5, United States Code, to allow whistleblowers to disclose information to certain recipients. 

If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be pleased 

to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Matthew Pickford. 

Sincerely, 

KEITH HALL, Director. 

Enclosure. 

H.R. 2196—An act to amend title 5, United States Code, to allow 

whistleblowers to disclose information to certain recipients 

H.R. 2196 would amend the Whistleblower Protection Act (WPA) 

to extend protections to disclosures of classified information to any 

supervisor in an employee’s chain of command. Under current law, 

only disclosures to a direct supervisor are protected. 

The Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) hears claims 

against federal agencies brought by whistleblowers. Expanding the 

scope of the protections to include additional supervisors could increase the number of such hearings and any related costs (such as 

those related to job restoration, back pay, reimbursement of attorneys’ fees, and medical costs). However, based on information from 

the MSPB and the Office of Special Counsel about the likely number of additional cases under the act, CBO expects that additional 

cases dealing with disclosures of classified information would be 

very limited in number. Thus, CBO estimates that implementing 

H.R. 2196 would have no significant cost. 

Enacting the legislation could affect direct spending by agencies 

not funded through annual appropriations; therefore, pay-as-you-go 

procedures apply. However, CBO estimates that any net increase 

in spending by those agencies would be negligible. Enacting H.R. 

2196 would not affect revenues. 

CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 2196 would not increase net 

direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 

10-year periods beginning in 2029. 

4 

H.R. 2196 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act. 

On May 22, 2017, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for H.R. 

2196, as ordered reported by the House Committee on Oversight 

and Government Reform on May 2, 2017. The two versions of the 

legislation are similar and the estimated budgetary effects are the 

same. 

The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Matthew Pickford. The 

estimate was approved by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Assistant 

Director for Budget Analysis. 

VII. CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW MADE BY THE ACT, AS REPORTED

In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the Standing 

Rules of the Senate, changes in existing law made by the Act, as 

reported, are shown as follows: (existing law proposed to be omitted 

is enclosed in brackets, new matter is printed in italic, and existing 

law in which no change is proposed is shown in roman): 

UNITED STATES CODE 

* * * * * * * 

TITLE 5—GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATION 

AND EMPLOYEES 

* * * * * * * 

PART III—EMPLOYEES 

* * * * * * * 

Subpart A—General Provisions 

* * * * * * * 

CHAPTER 23—MERIT SYSTEM PRINCIPLES 

* * * * * * * 

SEC. 2302. PROHIBITED PERSONNEL PRACTICES. 

(a) * * * 

(b) * * * 

(1) * * * 

* * * * * * * 

(8) * * * 

(A) * * * 

(B) any disclosure to the Special Counsel, øor to the Inspector General of an agency or another employee designated by the head of the agency to receive such disclosures¿ the Inspector General of an agency, a supervisor in 

the employee’s direct chain of command up to and including the head of the employing agency, or to an employee 

designated by any of the aforementioned individuals for the 

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purpose of receiving such disclosures, of information which 

the employee or applicant reasonably believes evidences— 

* * * * * * * 

Æ