{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://web.archive.org/web/20140221043128/http://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/Article.cfm?customel_dataPageID_1502=47806", "Grassley Joins Effort to Reverse Negative Impact of Whistleblower Court Case", "2013-12-17", "2013", "2013-12", "Republican", "House", "IA", "Charles Grassley", "G000386", "web.archive.org", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON \u2013 Senator Chuck Grassley joined Senator Jon Tester to introduce legislation to help lessen the impact of a federal court ruling (Kaplan v. Conyers) that would have a chilling effect on whistleblowers who help root out waste, fraud and abuse from within the federal government. In Kaplan v. Conyers, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit addressed employment positions which are determined to be \u201csensitive\u201d to national security or \u201cnon-critical sensitive\u201d to national security, which means someone holding the position could have a negative effect on national security.\u00a0 The legislation seeks to rectify a part of Conyers by ensuring federal employees who have their positions deemed \u201csensitive\u201d or \u201cnon-critical sensitive\u201d are eligible to appeal the decision to the Merit Systems Protection Board.\u00a0 The Board hears appeals from civil service employees regarding merit system employment actions.\u00a0\u00a0 Grassley said that without the ability to appeal a decision to the Merit Systems Protection Board, potential whistleblowers throughout the federal government will likely think twice about reporting wrongdoing.\u00a0 He said even if a federal employee\u2019s current position is not considered sensitive, the court\u2019s ruling may make an employee who blows the whistle fear that his or her position may be designated non-critical sensitive as a means of retaliation. Grassley initially wrote President Obama on September 4, 2013, asking him to clarify protections for federal whistleblowers after the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals decision.\u00a0 The White House has not responded to Grassley\u2019s letter. \u201cThe Federal Circuit has historically been unsympathetic to whistleblowers, but the Conyers ruling is over the top.\u00a0 It\u2019s essentially a death knell to whistleblowers who are simply trying to help root out waste, fraud and abuse,\u201d Grassley said.\u00a0 \u201cThis legislation can help give whistleblowers assurances that their case will at least be heard by an independent board.\u201d A long-time advocate for whistleblowers, in addition to co-authoring the 1989 whistleblower law designed to protect federal whistleblowers, Grassley authored changes made in 1986 to the President Lincoln-era federal False Claims Act to empower private-sector whistleblowers.\u00a0 Since the 1986 amendments were signed into law, the False Claims Act has brought back more than $30 billion to the federal treasury, and has deterred even more fraudulent activity. In 2009, in coordination with Senator Patrick Leahy, Grassley worked to pass legislation to shore up whistleblower protections in the False Claims Act that had been eroded by the courts after years of litigation by defense and healthcare contractors. -30-", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://web.archive.org/web/20140221043128/http://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/Article.cfm?customel_dataPageID_1502=47806"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8543459698557854, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}