Source: United States Senator for Iowa Chuck Grassley
WASHINGTON – At the National Whistleblower Day celebration on Capitol Hill Wednesday, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) announced he has succeeded in reinstating Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) whistleblower Michael DeBey’s clearance and employment with the agency. This is the sixth whistleblower Grassley has successfully restored so far this year.
During his remarks, Grassley also spoke about his work to support patriotic whistleblowers and the important role they play in rooting out waste, fraud and abuse. Grassley is the co-founder and co-chair of the Whistleblower Protection Caucus.
Remarks by Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa
“Whistleblower Appreciation Day”
Wednesday, July 30, 2025
It’s an honor to be among patriots here today.
Today, nobody will be treated like a skunk at a picnic.
Whistleblowers too often get the short end of the stick for simply telling the truth.
Instead, whistleblowers ought to be recognized for what they are: patriots and the government’s most powerful tool to root out waste, fraud, and abuse.
So, I’m proud to have introduced the National Whistleblower Appreciation Day resolution for the 12th year in a row.
Throughout my career, I’ve fought for whistleblowers.
I’m committed to ensuring that federal agencies treat whistleblowers fairly and are held accountable for retaliating against them.
That goes for both Republican and Democratic administrations.
When I first was elected to the Senate in 1981, I worked with brave whistleblowers like Ernie Fitzgerald.
Ernie was fired in 1968 by President Nixon for blowing the whistle on waste and fraud in Defense Department contracts.
I worked to pass laws to eliminate fraud that whistleblowers like Ernie told me about.
Now, because of this work, I passed the False Claims Amendment Act in 1986.
It’s helped recover more than $78 billion in fraud so far, and prevented countless billions more.
My “anti-gag” provision also became law. It’s an important sword and shield to protect whistleblowers.
Far too often, federal agencies tried to silence or intimidate whistleblowers through nondisclosure agreements.
My anti-gag provision is designed to put a stop to that.
I also championed laws and legislation to expand whistleblower protections for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
This Congress, I introduced much needed legislation to strengthen whistleblower protections for FBI employees.
But just because we’ve introduced legislation and passed good laws doesn’t mean we can stop paying attention.
I’ve worked hard to ensure individuals who retaliate against whistleblowers are held accountable. I’ve also pushed federal agencies to do right by whistleblowers.
IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler made legally protected disclosures about government misconduct.
They were retaliated against and sidelined from doing their job.
This year, at my urging, they were taken out of the shadows of retaliation and were promoted by the Treasury Department.
I also pushed the Department of Homeland Security Secretary to end the seven-year nightmare for Customs and Border Protection whistleblowers Mark Jones, Mike Taylor and Fred Wynn.
These brave whistleblowers faced years of retaliation for blowing the whistle on the government’s failure to collect DNA at the border.
At my urging, this year the Department of Homeland Security promoted them and restored their law enforcement credentials.
So, they got their guns and badges back to do their job.
I’ve also worked to restore the security clearances of FBI employees who had them suspended or revoked.
These FBI employees were retaliated against and, as we all know, the FBI’s illegal power move is to take away security clearances.
And it’s not just government whistleblowers who are important.
I’ve introduced legislation to protect private sector whistleblowers from retaliation for exposing waste, fraud, abuse and misconduct.
I’m the lead cosponsor of the bipartisan Expanding Whistleblower Protections for Contractors Act.
That bill increases whistleblower protections for employees of federal contractors and subcontractors.
I also introduced the bipartisan Securities and Exchange Commission Whistleblower Reform Act of 2025.
The bill protects corporate whistleblowers who report violations to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Additionally, I’m proud to have introduced the bipartisan Artificial Intelligence Whistleblower Protection Act.
That bill is designed to increase transparency and provide whistleblower protections to employees who work in the Artificial Intelligence field.
But like I said, there’s still a lot of work to be done.
The task of supporting whistleblowers doesn’t start and stop with this day or depend on who’s in the White House.
If you make legally protected disclosures, you’re a whistleblower and ought to be protected from retaliation.
This administration has said Mr. Reuvini isn’t a whistleblower.
I’ve publicly disagreed.
The other two people who came forward about Mr. Bove are also whistleblowers.
Here’s my message to all whistleblowers in this room: just because I may disagree with the conclusions in a whistleblower disclosure, it doesn’t mean that I don’t support a whistleblower’s right to come forward.
And regardless of the content of the disclosure, every whistleblower must be protected from retaliation.
That’s why last week, I wrote President Trump about the importance of protecting whistleblowers from retaliation.
As this administration reduces the federal workforce, it must ensure terminations aren’t done because a protected disclosure was made. This administration, just like all the rest, has an obligation to comply with whistleblower laws.
In my letter, I also reminded President Trump of my outstanding request that he hold a Rose Garden Ceremony for whistleblowers.
I’ve asked every president since Ronald Reagan to have a Rose Garden ceremony honoring whistleblowers.
I’m not giving up on that request just like I’m not giving up on any of you.
Whistleblowers are some of the bravest people out there. It takes guts to stick your neck out and report misconduct.
All of you here have put your careers, livelihoods and reputations on the line in service to our great country.
God Bless you for your service and sacrifices.
I’ll continue to fight for you.
-30-