For years now, corrupt interests have co-opted our government for
political gain and private profiteering. Our best line of defense when
the law is ignored and regulation fails are the informed insiders who
believe so strongly in the importance of accountability and saving
taxpayer dollars - and often saving lives - that they are willing to
risk their careers and safety to expose government wrongdoing.

It is a national disgrace that speaking out about government fraud,
misconduct, waste and corruption is still such a risky endeavor. More
often than not, whistleblowers suffer from some form of serious
retaliation, including threats, demotion or outright firing for exposing
wrongful conduct. Conscientious civil servants deserve strong statutory
protections, not risk and intimidation. Yet many end up sacrificing
because the 1989 Whistleblower Protection Act has been interpreted and
enforced in a way that weakens the protections Congress intended -
protections that government whistleblowers desperately need.

It’s time to end the discrimination and retaliation - as well as the
unmistakable and deeply chilling message it sends to all employees that
they should keep quiet, or else. Congress should complete the marathon
legislative effort to restore a credible Whistleblower Protection Act.

In March 2007, the landmark “Whistleblower Enhancement Protection Act
of 2007” passed the House by a veto-proof majority, 331-94. A weaker
Senate version, S. 274, passed last year by unanimous consent.

The differences between the bills are manageable. Yet negotiations have
stalled as industry lobbyists have swarmed the Capitol, imperiling many
critical protections that already passed with strong majority support.
Especially during this time of war, it is critical that we extend
protections to federal employees who work in national security,
including those at intelligence agencies, as well as to federally funded
contractors. Scientists also require specific protection.  Most
importantly, all federal employees and contractors also must have a
right to jury trials in federal court when other administrative remedies
have failed. We join 111 other concerned organizations in calling on
Congress to waste no more time enacting these protections - and not put
more whistleblowers at risk by hesitating. They deserve better. And the
American people deserve a government in which employees are not
threatened and penalized for being stewards of the public trust. We need
them now, more than ever.

This week the Supreme Court reaffirmed that protection against retaliation is a crucial aspect of the enforcement of our nation’s civil rights laws in two decisions. CBOCS v. Humphries involved a restaurant manager who alleged that he was fired after reporting racially derogatory remarks and differential treatment of minority employees. Gomez-Perez v. Potter involved a postal worker who claimed retaliation after she complained that the refusal to grant her a transfer was based on age discrimination.

In both cases the Court did what we should have been able to expect– to follow precedent.  The Court affirmed a case decided just over three years ago, Jackson v. Birmingham Board of Education, which held that Title IX’s broad prohibition against sex discrimination in educational institutions that receive federal funds also prohibits retaliation, which, in turn, was based on another Supreme Court case decided almost 40 years ago. Thus, in Gomez-Perez and CBOCS the Court stood by its longstanding precedent to hold that a right to be free from discrimination includes a right to be free from retaliation.  Indeed, the Court recognized, as it has in the past, that protections against discrimination include a protection against retaliation. Read the rest of this entry »

Charlton Heston always stood up for what he knew was right, whether it was fighting in World War II, integrating the Screen Actors Guild with Ronald Reagan or fighting to protect Americans’ God given right to keep and bear arms.

As a member of the NRA Board, I worked with Mr. Heston to protect Americans’ Second Amendment rights and I cannot say enough good things about him.  He was a true leader that understood the importance of the Second Amendment.

As Mr. Heston knew, the Second Amendment protects our right to keep and bear arms, it does not provide it to us, just as the First Amendment does not give us our right to free speech.

And yet, there are those who want to take this right away from us.  More than half a million people are still deprived of their Second Amendment rights by the D.C. Gun Ban.  There is legislation that has been introduced in this Congress to reinstate the failed and unconstitutional Assault Weapon Ban.  Without more people like Mr. Heston, who understand the importance of our Second Amendment rights, we will not be able to defeat the divisive forces that would take freedom away.

We must continue to remain vigilant and oppose these threats to our God given right to keep and bear arms.  If we do not protect this right, how will we be able to protect ourselves against those who would infringe upon our other rights?

I will continue to do everything in my power to protect Americans and Alaskans’ Second Amendment rights and I urge my colleagues to do the same.

And I ask my colleagues to support this resolution and help to honor and remember Charlton Heston, a great man who always stood up for what he knew was right, whether it was Civil Rights or our  right to keep and bear arms.  My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends for their loss.

The Bush Administration’s embrace of torture and secret detentions has led our country down a dark hallway.  Never again should the practices of our government turn so far away from the values of our people.  I hope these measures will help put right what has gone so badly wrong, and restore the stature and goodwill this nation had earned around the world before this Administration took office.

Sen. Enzi is ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee.

This evening, the Majority Leader is forcing a vote on legislation aimed at overturning the Supreme Court’s decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear which would effectively eliminate the statute of limitations on employment discrimination cases as guaranteed in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and make it much more difficult to resolve claims quickly and fairly.

Rather than moving this legislation by regular order, and through the Committee process, the Democrat leadership opted simply to spring this bill on the Senate in the hope of forcing a vote with little or no meaningful deliberation and no realistic opportunity to improve the bill. This action is a transparent attempt to score political points at the expense of responsible legislating.

The writers of the Civil Rights Act intentionally included a well-reasoned statute of limitations, but the Ledbetter bill would reverse that intent. A statute of limitations serves an important purpose, and that is fairness. The Fair Pay Restoration Act, on the other hand, isn’t really about fairness. By effectively eliminating the statute of limitations, it undermines the goal of resolving employment discrimination claims fairly, quickly, and based on sound evidence. Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday, I held the second hearing on my Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights, legislation I introduced to reform major credit card industry abuses and improve consumer protections.

We had the privilege of hearing from consumer witnesses who, like so many other financially responsible Americans, did their very best to meet their financial obligations and yet still fell victim to unexplained and unfair interest rate hikes, which drove them deeper into credit card debt. Stories such as these are unfortunately all too common.

In recent years, the playing field between credit card companies and credit cardholders has become very one-sided. It’s no surprise that it’s average American cardholders, and not the big credit card companies who are getting the short end of the stick.

In the current economic downturn, more and more Americans are turning to their credit cards to help pay bills, buy groceries, and make ends meet. Instead of looking the other way while Americans fall deeper into debt, Congress can and should take swift action to reform major credit card industry abuses and improve consumer protections for cardholders.

Some leading card companies have voluntarily said they will no longer engage in abusive practices such as universal default or double cycle billing, and I applaud such moves. The Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights would raise everyone to the best standard.

Contrary to what opponents may claim, the balanced and moderate reforms in the bill foster fair competition and free market values; the bill sets no rate caps, fees, or price controls, nor does it dictate any business models to card companies.

We secured the 100th co-sponsor for the bill yesterday. I am honored, but not surprised, that has gained so much support so quickly. Members of Congress are clearly listening to their constituents who want - and deserve - credit card reform.

I look forward to building upon the tremendous momentum that we have already gathered, and passing this important legislation.

There is nothing so dangerous for a child as an insular, patriarchical religious organization, and the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints, whose compound in El Dorado, Texas, is now under control of the Texas authorities, is one of the scariest examples. It took the extraordinary bravery of a 16-year-old girl to set in motion a chain of events that should have happened long ago.

She reported that she had been “married” to a 50-year-old man, forced to have sex, get pregnant, and have a baby. Because of her, Texas authorities have taken hundreds of children and women to safety. From all reports, they have yet to find her.

I give the Texas law enforcement and child protective agency officials a great deal of credit for moving in on the compound. They bucked the three trends in our culture that have kept these children at risk for far too long. Read the rest of this entry »

The Department of Justice’s latest attempt to derail the Free Flow of Information Act smacks of propaganda and spin-doctoring. On Thursday the DoJ launched a Web site dedicated to letters, testimony and other information urging that Congress kill the shield law. One letter by Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff says the shield law would make the United States “less secure and less free,” but we in the Society of Professional Journalists see it differently and feel strongly that a shield law will help maintain a free and open society.

What is more disturbing is that the Web site smacks of government-sponsored propaganda and taxpayer-funded brainwashing. It’s OK for citizens (such as myself) or a group (such as SPJ) to urge passage or failure of proposed legislation, but to have a government agency using its taxpayer-funded Web site to promote its cause is disconcerting. It’s not the first time in world history that a government has propagandized its own citizens, but most of us do not consider that acceptable in the land of the free. The Society of Professional Journalists feels strongly that a federal shield law is necessary to allow Americans to receive information they need to make informed decisions, and if we thought it would harm national security or allow terrorists to bomb our families we would not support it. The administration, however, is simply attempting to serve its own political purposes of avoiding criticism by thwarting this legislation. And going about it through this DoJ Web site is just plain wrong.

The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) released its own 3 a.m. ad Friday:

Once again the Akaka Bill, designed to secure self-governance rights for native Hawaiians, is being seriously entertained.  Indigenous Hawaiians contend that their ancestral rights were abrogated when the United States colonized the island archipelago in 1893.  Already having passed the House, now as S.310, it was placed on the Senate Legislative Calendar last month, and back on the agenda like a bad penny.

Should the bill become law, it would secure self-government rights for native Hawaiians even though they now represent one percent of the island’s population and a total dispersed population of 400,000 nationwide.  Presumably this small segment of the population could negotiate with state and federal authorities for control of natural resources and land. Read the rest of this entry »