PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF S. 585, DR. CHRIS KIRKPATRICK WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTION ACT OF 2017; PROVIDING FOR PROCEEDINGS DURING THE PERIOD FROM OCTOBER 16, 2017, THROUGH OCTOBER 20, 2017; AND...
Martha Roby (Republican, AL) \u2014 2017-10-11

I thank the gentleman for yielding me time. prgtoken , I rise today to urge my colleagues to support this rule and the underlying bill, S. 585, the Dr. Chris Kirkpatrick Whistleblower Protection Act of 2017. prgtoken This bill strengthens penalties against those who retaliate against whistleblowers, adds protections and opportunities for whistleblowers placed on probation, and ensures Federal employees have a greater knowledge of whistleblower rights and protections. prgtoken Specifically, this bill forbids a supervisor from taking or threatening to take action against an employee because they refuse to obey an order that would violate a law, rule, or regulation. prgtoken I want to thank Senator Ron Johnson for his persistence in pushing this legislation even after the former Senator Harry Reid shut it down last Congress. prgtoken What a poignant and meaningful gesture to name this bill after Dr. Chris Kirkpatrick, a VA employee who took his own life after being subjected to cruel retaliation from VA officials. I hope it puts in perspective the immense emotional burdens that victims of retaliation face. prgtoken , this issue is personal for me. Unfortunately, I have seen exactly what retaliation against whistleblowers looks like, how easy it is to get prgtoken away with it, and why we have to put a stop to it. prgtoken Last week marked the 3-year anniversary since the director of the central Alabama VA became the first senior manager in the country fired as a result of the wait-list scandal. That was a major step towards turning around one of the Nation's worst VA systems and restoring trust with the veteran population it serves. prgtoken , I can say, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that it would have never happened without brave whistleblowers inside the VA telling me the truth. prgtoken Two brave individuals in particular, Sheila Meuse and Rich Tremaine, told me the truth about major instances of misconduct and mismanagement when no one else would. Seeing no other way to achieve change, they finally told their story to the media, at great personal risk to their careers. prgtoken The stories that emerged from these exposures were almost unbelievable: prgtoken More than 1,000 X-ray cancer screenings were lost and unread for years, even though some showed malignancies. When alerted to the problem, top administrators tried to cover this up. prgtoken A pulmonologist manipulated more than 1,200 patient records but, even after being caught twice, was still given a satisfactory review. prgtoken A central Alabama VA employee took a recovering veteran to a crack house and bought him drugs and prostitutes in order to extort his VA payments. Even when caught, this employee was not fired until a year and a half later when we exposed it in the newspaper. prgtoken , this behavior is egregious, and, trust me, there is a lot more where it came from. prgtoken However, had it not been for the courage of those on the inside to expose this