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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rascal who wrote (3386)	7/31/2002 1:57:26 PM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

Lawmakers protest Bush moves on whistle-blower law By Adam Entous Wednesday July 31, 1:47 pm Eastern Time WASHINGTON, July 31 (Reuters) - Senate Judiciary Committee leaders Wednesday protested a move by President George W. Bush that could weaken provisions of a new corporate reform law that protect whistle-blowers who give lawmakers evidence of fraud by company bosses. One day after the president signed landmark legislation cracking down on corporate crime, Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, and senior Republican Charles Grassley of Iowa asked Bush to reconsider the move, which they warned could discourage whistle-blowers from reporting company misconduct to members of Congress. "We are writing to express our shared concern about interpretive statements made by the White House staff only hours after you signed the act into law," Leahy and Grassley wrote. "This narrow interpretation is at odds with the plain language of the statute and risks chilling corporate whistle-blowers who wish to report securities fraud to members of Congress." The senators urged Bush to "review and reconsider" the administration's "flawed interpretation of the clearly worded statute." The new law, which Bush signed with much fanfare at a White House ceremony on Tuesday, includes protections for employees of publicly traded companies who assist federal regulators, law enforcement agencies, as well as "any member of Congress or any committee of Congress." Should a company retaliate against a whistle-blower, the law would allow the person to file a complaint with the Department of Labor and later bring the matter to federal court. A whistle-blower who was fired for talking to lawmakers could be reinstated, and receive back-pay as well as compensatory damages. Lawmakers credited whistle-blowers with helping bring to light accounting abuses at Enron Corp. (Other OTC:ENRNQ.PK - News) and other major corporations, and said the changes approved by Congress and signed into law by Bush should encourage more corporate insiders to come forward and cooperate with investigators. But hours after the signing ceremony, the White House quietly issued a statement outlining the administration's interpretation of the new law. EVIDENCE OF FRAUD Under this interpretation, protections would apply to whistle-blowers who provide information to congressional committees conducting investigations, but not necessarily corporate whistle-blowers who approach individual lawmakers with evidence of corporate fraud. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer played down the dispute with Leahy and Grassley, saying Bush's decision does not preclude Congress from granting investigative powers to individual lawmakers. "Nothing in the statute or the signing statement prevents Congress from granting that authority to whoever it chooses. This is a congressional issue, and a congressional decision," Fleischer told reporters. But Leahy and Grassley, who together authored the whistle-blower protections, said this interpretation could amount to a rollback of what Congress intended to protect insiders who talk to lawmakers. The senators said the protections should apply to whistle-blowers whether or not there is an active investigation under way by a committee of Congress. Likewise, aides said Leahy and Grassley intended the protections to apply to whistle-blowers who provide information to individual lawmakers. "The reason for this is obvious. Few whistle-blowers know, nor should they be expected to know, the jurisdiction of the various committees of Congress or the matters currently under investigation," Leahy and Grassley wrote. They said Bush's interpretation would effectively deny the whistle-blower protections to anyone "reporting misconduct to his or her own representative or senator, regardless of their committee assignments."