Representative
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515

RE: Strengthen whistleblower protections

Dear Representative ,

I strongly urge you to cosponsor the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act, HR 3281. This bipartisan legislation makes changes to the Whistleblower Protection Act and supports federal efforts to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse by strengthening the rights and protections available to whistleblowers. Federal whistleblowers can play a critical role in alerting Congress and the American public to serious cases of government wrongdoing. And at a time when government must be prepared to defend its citizens against terrorism, we must also have government employees who are free to blow the whistle on mismanagement, waste, fraud and abuse in their federal agencies without fear of reprisals.

We now know that fear of losing his job kept an honest Bush official, Richard S. Foster, from revealing that the Medicare "reform" cost estimate presented to Congress was roughly $150 billion higher than Congress had been told.

This knowledge may well have led many members of Congress to oppose the bill, saving the nation from yet another terrible debt burden with questionable benefits for consumers.

To guard against such tragic stifling of honesty, we need a truly strong "whistleblower" protection act. Nearly two million federal employees are vulnerable to the harassment and career damage whistleblowers commonly suffer. It's time to protect those federal employees who protect Americans against mismanagement in our federal agencies.

Please cosponsor HR 3281 and do everything you can to ensure its enactment into law.