WASHINGTON – Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) delivered remarks on the Senate floor in recognition of “Sunshine Week,” an annual celebration of open government and transparency.
As a champion for congressional oversight, Grassley has successfully shone a light on some of the darkest corners of government. In the past year alone, Grassley:
In that same year, Grassley helped restore at least 16 whistleblowers’ careers across multiple federal agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
Grassley is Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the co-founder and co-chair of the Senate Whistleblower Protection Caucus.
Video and a transcript of his remarks follow.
Floor Statement by Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa
“Sunshine Week”
Wednesday, March 18, 2026
On its 21st anniversary, Sunshine Week continues to be a crucial reminder of the importance of open government and transparency.
It’s pretty simple – the public’s business ought to be public.
Transparency and accountability are important checks on the federal government. [They remind] bureaucrats that they ultimately work for, and answer to, “We the People.”
One transparency tool I value is the Freedom of Information Act.
That law requires our government to proactively make material public and to respond to requests for information.
Last year, I held a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing highlighting how important this law is to government transparency.
Congressional oversight is part of my constitutional duty to protect taxpayer dollars and hold the government accountable to the American people.
Whistleblowers play a critical role in this duty.
Whistleblowers are patriots and our most powerful tool in rooting out waste, fraud, abuse and misconduct, including the weaponization of our government.
Too often, whistleblowers are treated like skunks at a picnic when they ought to be commended for their bravery.
It ought to be easier – not harder – for whistleblowers to report misconduct, especially to Congress.
Whistleblowers must be protected from retaliation and fully informed of their rights.
That’s why this Congress I’ve introduced legislation to extend the anti-gag provision to cover federal employees of executive agency government corporations.
That anti-gag provision requires government nondisclosure policies and similar agreements to inform employees they can blow the whistle to Congress and government watchdogs.
I’ve also introduced bipartisan legislation clarifying that duty speech whistleblowers have the same burdens of proof as other federal employees to prove retaliation.
I’ve worked with the Trump administration to fix the wrongs of the Biden administration for whistleblowers across multiple federal agencies.
I urged Treasury Secretary Bessent to remedy the Biden-era retaliation against IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler.
Thanks to the Trump administration, in March 2025, these whistleblowers were promoted to leadership positions.
I also worked with the Trump Department of Homeland Security to secure promotions for CBP whistleblowers Mark Jones, Mike Taylor and Fred Wynn in May 2025. These men faced severe retaliation during the Biden administration.
In August of last year, I assisted 10 FBI whistleblowers with their compensation agreements with the Bureau. These whistleblowers were subjected to demotions, security clearance suspensions and other retaliation for reporting misconduct at the Biden Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI.
Earlier this year, I worked with the Trump administration to secure a ATF whistleblower new employment and a financial settlement.
He was severely retaliated against by the Biden ATF.
Thanks to whistleblowers, we know that partisan FBI agents and DOJ prosecutors created and advanced the partisan investigation known as Arctic Frost.
Arctic Frost was a vehicle to improperly investigate the entire Republican political apparatus.
Jack Smith and the FBI secretly obtained tolling data for Republican members of Congress.
Jack Smith and his team issued at least 197 subpoenas targeting over 400 individuals and entities.
All of them Republicans.
I’ve launched a new Arctic Frost website outlining my investigation and the thousands of pages of records I’ve made public. And I’d like to note the majority of the records are from whistleblowers, not the government.
In November last year, I also made public records showing that partisan officials at the DOJ and FBI interfered with investigations into alleged wrongdoing by the Clinton campaign.
Despite records showing that FBI agents had evidence the Clinton campaign and the DNC intentionally concealed payments that targeted then-candidate Donald Trump, DOJ officials Richard Pilger and J.P. Cooney declined to investigate.
Pilger and Cooney were also at the center of greenlighting Arctic Frost and Jack Smith’s elector case against President Trump.
Political infection isn’t just a DOJ and FBI problem.
In November 2024, I wrote to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) after reports alleged agency workers instructed a team responding to hurricane survivors to avoid homes with yard signs showing support for President Trump.
Reportedly, at least 20 homes in Florida weren’t given the opportunity for FEMA assistance.
In response to my oversight requests, the Trump FEMA told my office it fired three employees who engaged in this type of misconduct.
Through my oversight, I’ve also exposed flaws in the Health and Human Services National Human Trafficking Hotline, pressed the State Department on then-Secretary Kerry’s obstruction of arrests of Iranian terrorists, and sought to obtain information from multiple agencies on the Afghan evacuee responsible for the horrific shooting of two servicemembers from the West Virginia National Guard.
Now, the federal government isn’t the only bad actor who whistleblowers provided sunlight on.
Last Congress, the Simon Wiesenthal Center disclosed to my office that Credit Suisse obstructed an internal investigation of the bank’s Nazi-linked accounts.
In February 2026, I held a bipartisan Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on this matter. It revealed that Credit Suisse maintained at least 890 accounts linked to Nazi officials. My hearing also revealed UBS, who has since acquired Credit Suisse, has begun similar obstructive conduct.
As my examples show, whistleblowers are the key to transparency.
Sunshine Week is an opportunity for the country to highlight the righteous fight for transparency.
Sunshine is essential to making the government accountable to “We the People.”
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