FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contacts: Kevin Berends (585)-520-1025
kbstreetlevel@mac.com
Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo (301) 320-3021
nofearcoalition@aol.com
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Press Release Statement of Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo Executive Director NoFEAR Coalition
(Washington, D.C.) The No FEAR Coalition has received hundreds of e-mails asking us to explain why Congress would strip out whistleblower, and by extension, civil rights protections from the $790 billion stimulus spending bill. What is particularly curious is that the Senate retained whistleblower protection for contractors, grantees, and state and local government employees who work in programs that receive stimulus funding.
Congress jettisoned whistleblower protections for federal employees who will manage and oversee much of the money from the stimulus package. This decision has left federal whistleblowers exposed and defenseless. Furthermore, federal employees who expose corruption and theft will have to balance the threat of retaliation, including termination of their jobs, over the execution of their responsibilities as civil servants. Congress is now asking federal employees to risk their jobs and the livelihood of their families during an economic recession, while not providing them the same level of loyalty and fair play the stimulus legislation affords all other workers.
The Coalition applauds the bi-partisan accountability provisions sponsored by Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D-Md) and Todd Platts (R-Pa) which the House unanimously approved. We call upon the President to support the Notification of Federal Employees Anti-discrimination and Retaliation Act II; HR 56 and the Congressional Disclosures Protection Act sponsored by Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee. We also call upon President Obama to issue an Executive Order to reverse the terminations of federal government whistleblowers who fought against the deregulations and corruption of the Bush Administration and were fired in the closing months of that Administration. Many courageous federal employees are still in the pipeline for termination now under the Obama Administration.
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