WASHINGTON – Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Co-Chair of the Senate Whistleblower Protection Caucus, is cosponsoring bipartisan legislation alongside Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Ranking Member Gary Peters (D-Mich.) to expand whistleblower protections for government contractors and grantees.

The Expanding Whistleblower Protections for Contractors Act closes existing loopholes in whistleblower protection laws that leave employees of federal contractors who have disclosed waste, fraud or abuse in federal agencies vulnerable to acts of reprisal and allow whistleblower retaliators to escape accountability. The bill clarifies whistleblower protections cannot be waived by a nondisclosure agreement or other conditions of employment.

“Whistleblowers working for federal contractors and subcontractors shouldn’t face retaliation for sounding the alarm on waste, fraud and abuse. These patriots are critical in safeguarding Americans’ tax dollars. As a long-time advocate for whistleblowers, I’m glad to sponsor this legislation to strengthen protections for whistleblowers and close the loopholes that have allowed retaliation,” Grassley said.

"Whistleblowers who expose government fraud deserve strong protection from retaliation," Peters said. "This bipartisan legislation closes dangerous loopholes in current law and ensures that contractor employees can report wrongdoing without fear of reprisal. By strengthening these safeguards, we're protecting both whistleblowers and taxpayer dollars."

Eight members of the Make It Safe Coalition applauded Grassley for his sponsorship of the Expanding Whistleblower Protections for Government Contractors Act.

“As [a] longstanding whistleblower champion in the Senate and the Chair of the Senate Whistleblower Protection Caucus, we are proud to have worked with your staff over the decades to codify whistleblower protections into law. There can be no credible debate that whistleblowers are America’s best weapon against fraud, waste and abuse. This legislation is a true story of bipartisan Senate work.”

Background:

A long-time advocate for whistleblowers, Grassley authored the 1986 updates to the False Claims Act that have since allowed the federal government to recover $78 billion in taxpayer dollars. A key provision in that update, qui tam, allows whistleblowers to sue alleged fraudsters on behalf of the government and share in any recoveries.

Grassley worked to enact whistleblower protections for private sector employees as part of the whistleblower provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Anti-Money Laundering Act and the Criminal Antitrust Anti-Retaliation Act reform efforts. This Congress, Grassley also introduced bipartisan legislation, the SEC Whistleblower Reform Act of 2025 and the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Whistleblower Protection Act, to strengthen protections for corporate whistleblowers.

In 2014, Grassley welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the law extending whistleblower protection to federal contractors and subcontractors. The Expanding Whistleblower Protections for Contractors Act fixes loopholes that were not addressed in the original legislation.

 

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