January, 28 2009, 09:37am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Tom Devine, GAP Legal Director
240.888.4080
tomd@whistleblower.org
Charity Wilson, American Federation of Government Employees
202.639.6440
Dave Colapinto, National Whistleblower Center
202.342.6980
Donna Lenhoff, National Employment Lawyers Association
202.898.2880
Marthena Cowart, Project on Government Oversight
202.347.3958
Angela Canterbury, Public Citizen
202.454.5188
Celia Wexler, Union of Concerned Scientists
202.390.5481
Sarah Dufendach, Common Cause
202.736.5709
Whistleblower Rights Amendment to Receive Vote During Stimulus Debate Today
A Joint Statement by GAP, the American Federation of Government Employees, National Whistleblower Center, NELA, POGO, Public Citizen, Union of Concerned Scientists
WASHINGTON
Today, our seven
organizations strongly urge all members of the House of Representatives to pass
a bipartisan amendment that would bring genuine accountability and oversight to
the stimulus spending bill, H.R. 1. We applaud Representatives Chris Van Hollen
(D-MD) and Todd R. Platts (R-PA) for offering an amendment to expand and
strengthen protections for federal workers charged with safeguarding the public
trust and taxpayer dollars.
Click here to read the amendment: https://www.whistleblower.org/doc/2008/Amend128.pdf
The Platts/Van Hollen Whistleblower Amendment is
identical to the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (H.R. 985), which
passed by a large bipartisan vote of 331-94 in the previous Congress on March
14, 2007. In a letter of support for this proposal, a broad coalition of
more than 260 organizations representing millions of individuals stressed:
"Whistleblower
protection is a foundation for any change in which the public can believe. It
does not matter whether the issue is economic recovery, prescription drug
safety, environmental protection, infrastructure spending, national health
insurance, or foreign policy. We need conscientious public servants willing and
able to call attention to bureaucratic corruption on behalf of the
taxpayers."
Click here to read the letter, sent on Monday, January
26: https://www.whistleblower.org/doc/2008/CoalitionLetter.pdf
Our groups are deeply concerned about the economic
crisis and its impact on individuals and families. Because so many Americans
are suffering the consequences of a contracting economy, it is now more
important than ever that we have transparency and accountability for every tax
dollar spent. The Van Hollen/Platts amendment sets a new, best practices
standard for transparency through accountability. Most significant, it creates
a permanent shield for federal employee and contractor whistleblowers who
challenge any misspending, and it will keep protecting taxpayers long after
stimulus funds are gone.
While the stimulus bill in its current form provides
protections for federal contractors and state and local employees, it does not
cover federal workers. Congress should not stop short of ensuring federal
employees the same protections. The Platts/Van Hollen amendment closes the gap
and provides essential protection for all federal workers. It's time for
Congress to enact whistleblower rights and accountability measures before the
taxpayers' money is spent. Our groups agree: By supporting the Platts/Van
Hollen amendment, Members of Congress are not just protecting whistleblowers;
they are protecting the taxpayers.
LATEST NEWS
Calls Grow for Impeachment of Hegseth for 'Murder,' Even as Jeffries Dumps Cold Water on the Idea
"Impeachment is how Congress must check an out-of-control official who abuses his power," said Win Without War.
Dec 05, 2025
A House Democrat has formally introduced articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over his role in the extrajudicial execution of two survivors of one of President Donald Trump's Caribbean boat bombings.
Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.) introduced articles of impeachment on Thursday against Hegseth for "murder" and "conspiracy to murder."
"He gave direct, unlawful orders to kill every single person on a civilian boat from Venezuela, violating the Defense Department’s Law of War Manual,” Thanedar said.
He also introduced an article for Hegseth's "mishandling of classified information, leaking war plans in a Signal chat which included sensitive operations details, including target systems and attack times," which "has put American lives at risk," referring to war plans about an airstrike in Yemen that were accidentally spilled to Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg earlier this year.
Investigations have been opened in both the House and Senate over the past week regarding the events of September 2, when 11 people were killed in a pair of airstrikes that would become the first of nearly two dozen so far.
The administration alleges that these attacks have been against "narcoterrorists" bringing drugs to the US, who are therefore lawful combatants, but has offered scant evidence. In total, at least 83 people have been killed across nearly two dozen strikes since September.
While the entire boat bombing campaign is almost certainly illegal regardless, the "double-tap" aspect of the September 2 bombing has drawn attention, as attacking those no longer in the fight is blatantly illegal under both international and US law.
The firestorm was ignited after the Washington Post and CNN both reported late last week that Hegseth had given direct orders to "kill them all" as survivors of the first bombing clung to life amid the boat's wreckage. Hegseth has denied these reports, but his account of events has shifted violently. After claiming at the time he watched the operation "live," he now says he was not in the room during the second bombing.
After initially denying that a second bombing took place at all, the White House has since shifted blame onto Adm. Frank "Mitch" Bradley, who testified to the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday that Hegseth had not ordered the killing directly, according to Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), a staunch supporter of the bombing campaign.
The New York Times reported Wednesday that the second bombing was part of a “contingency plan” authorized by Hegseth, who approved the killing of survivors if they appeared to be radioing for help from other alleged cartel members, which would mean they still could theoretically pose a threat.
This was the defense Bradley used on Capitol Hill Thursday, a rationale that one source with direct knowledge of the briefing told CNN was “fucking insane."
Members of Congress were also shown a video of the attack, which House Intelligence Chairman, Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) said was “one of the most troubling things” he'd ever seen. Cotton, meanwhile, said there was no evidence in the footage that a radio had even been used, further undercutting the White House’s rationale.
Despite the increasing number of Democrats who've accused Hegseth of authorizing a "war crime," House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) has neglected to push the issue of impeachment, saying earlier this week that it's almost impossible that articles would reach the House floor with a Republican majority.
"Republicans will never allow articles of impeachment to be brought to the floor of the House of Representatives, and we know that's the case," he said. "Donald Trump will order them not to do it."
But just five Republicans would need to join Democrats in order to force an impeachment vote to the floor, and some are reportedly dissatisfied with the White House's answers.
Sen. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, which recently launched an investigation into the strikes, said on Thursday that "members are very concerned" about the accuracy of the information being shared with Congress. Turner previously said that if Hegseth indeed ordered the execution of survivors, "that would be very serious, and I agree that that would be an illegal act.”
Even if Hegseth were impeached, his removal from office would be an even greater uphill battle in the Senate, where 20 Republicans would need to join every Democrat and vote to convict him.
But there has also been some sharp criticism from Republicans there. Some has come from longtime critics of the boat bombing campaign, like Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.). The libertarian senator said on Friday that Hegseth himself should be put under oath.
“I think if the public sees images of people clinging to boat debris and being blown up, I think that there is a chance that, finally, the public will get interested enough in this to stop this," Paul said. "And I think that Congress, if they had any kind of gumption at all, would not be allowing this administration to summarily execute people that are suspected of a crime.”
Earlier this week, Paul questioned Hegseth's ever-changing version of events: "Secretary Hegseth said he had no knowledge of this, and it did not happen. It was fake news. It didn’t happen. And then the next day, from the podium of the White House, they’re saying it did happen. Either he was lying to us on Sunday, or he’s incompetent.”
As The Hill reported on Friday, several other GOP senators, including those who usually defend Trump, have also expressed a queasiness about the strikes.
Sen. Jim Justice (R-WV) said he is “not comfortable with the two blow” and called a missile attack on “defenseless survivors” in the water “unacceptable.” If the reports are accurate, he said, “someone needs to get out of Washington.”
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) called Hegseth's denial of the strike "bush league" and suggested the secretary had "undermine[d] [his] credibility."
Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Mike Rounds (R-SD) have each said that targeting survivors of the ship would be a violation of international law.
While Jeffries has not responded directly to Thanedar's impeachment articles, he'll also have to contend with rising pressure from the grassroots of the Democratic Party, which has begun to agitate for a formal vote.
On Thursday, the group Win Without War launched a campaign to send letters to every member of Congress demanding the impeachment of Hegseth. They noted that the senators who launched the Senate Armed Services investigation, Chairman Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Ranking Member Jack Reed (D-RI), "are demanding answers."
"But answers aren’t enough," the group said. "We knew Hegseth was unfit to serve during his nomination process, and every day since, he’s only proved us right. Impeachment is how Congress must check an out-of-control official who abuses his power, undermines the rule of law, and actively harms communities here and abroad."
So far, the effort, backed by several other progressive organizations—including Common Dreams—has sent nearly 18,000 letters to members of Congress. A similar effort has also been launched by the Democratic Coalition, a SuperPAC that describes itself as "one of the nation's largest grassroots progressive organizations."
"He must be impeached for these illegal killings," the group said.
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As AI Data Centers Disrupt US Cities, Wisconsin Woman Violently Arrested After Speaking Out
"Police should not be allowed to violently detain a person who is nonviolently exercising their free speech. This used to be something all Americans agreed on," said one state senator.
Dec 05, 2025
Public opposition to artificial intelligence data centers—and the push by corporations and officials to move forward with their construction anyway—were vividly illustrated in a viral video this week of a woman who was arrested after speaking out against a proposed data center in her community in Wisconsin.
Christine Le Jeune, a member of Great Lakes Neighbors United in Port Washington, spoke at a Common Council meeting in the town on Tuesday evening. The meeting was not focused on the recently approved $15 million "Lighthouse" data center set to be built a mile from downtown Port Washington—part of a project developed by Vantage Data Centers for OpenAI and Oracle—but the first 30 minutes were taken up by members of the public who spoke out against the project.
As CNBC reported last month, more than 1,000 people signed a petition calling on Port Washington officials to obtain voter approval before entering into the deal, but the Common Council and a review board went ahead with creating a Tax Incremental District for the project without public input. The data center still requires other approvals to officially move forward.
"We will not continue to be silenced and ignored while our beautiful and pristine city is taken away from us and handed over to a corporation intent on extracting as many resources as they can regardless of the impact on the people who live here," said Le Jeune. "Most leaders would have tabled the issue after receiving public input and providing sufficient notice. But you did nothing, and you laughed about it."
Le Jeune spoke for her allotted three minutes and went slightly over the time limit. She then chanted, "Recall, recall, recall!" at members of the Common Council as other community members applauded.
Police Chief Kevin Hingiss then approached Le Jeune while she was sitting in her seat, listening to the next speaker, and asked her to leave.
She refused, and another officer approached her before a chaotic scene broke out.
Last night, the Port Washington Police Department used excessive force to arrest a woman for speaking up against the Vantage data center.
We are thankful that this local advocate is safe, and we condemn the Port Washington PD’s actions in the strongest possible terms. SHAME! pic.twitter.com/35dhEKvojL
— Our Wisconsin Revolution (@OurWisconsinRev) December 3, 2025
City officials had told attendees not to speak out of order during the meeting, and Le Jeune acknowledged that she and others had spoken out of turn at times.
But she told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that she had been surprised by the police officers' demand that she leave, and by the eventual violence of the incident, with officers physically removing her from her seat and dragging her and two other people across the floor.
The two other residents had approached Le Jeune to protest the officers' actions.
"I never expected something like that to happen in a meeting. It was very strange," she told the Journal Sentinel. "Suddenly this police chief showed up in front of me, and all I was thinking was: 'Wait, what is going on? Why is he interrupting her speech? ... It felt like [police] were kind of primed tonight to pounce."
State Sen. Chris Larson (D-7) said that "police should not be allowed to violently detain a person who is nonviolently exercising their free speech. This used to be something all Americans agreed on."
William Walter, executive director of Our Wisconsin Revolution, filmed the arrest and told ABC News affiliate WISN, "I've never seen a response like that in my life."
"What I did see was a lot of members of the Port Washington community who are really frustrated that they're being ignored and they're being dismissed by their elected officials," he said.
AI data centers, he added, "will impact you. They'll impact your friends, your family, your neighbors, your parents, your children. These are the kinds of things that are going to be dictating the future of Wisconsin, not just for the next couple of years but for the next decade, the next 50 years."
After Le Jeune's arrest, another resident, Dawn Stacey, denounced the Common Council members for allowing the aggressive arrest.
"We have so many people who have these concerns about this data center," said Stacey. “Are we being heard by the Common Council? No we’re not. Instead of being heard we have people being dragged out of the room.”
“For democracy to thrive, we need to have respect between public servants and the people who they serve," she added.
Vantage has distributed flyers in Port Washington, which has a population of 17,000, promising residents 330 full-time jobs after construction. But as CNBC reported, "Data centers don’t tend to create a lot of long-lasting jobs."
Another project in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin hired 3,000 construction workers and foresees 500 employees, while McKinsey said a data center it is planning would need 1,500 people for construction but only around 50 for "steady-state operations."
Residents in Port Washington have also raised concerns about the data center's impact on the environment, including through its water use, the potential for exploding utility prices for residents, and the overall purpose of advancing AI.
As Common Dreams reported Thursday, the development of data centers has caused a rapid surge in consumers' electricity bills, with costs rising more than 250% in just five years. Vantage has claimed its center will run on 70% renewable energy, but more than half of the electricity used to power data center campuses so far has come from fossil fuels, raising concerns that the expansion of the facilities will worsen the climate emergency.
A recent Morning Consult poll found that a rapidly growing number of Americans support a ban on AI data centers in their surrounding areas—41% said they would support a ban in the survey taken in late November, compared to 37% in October.
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Critics Warn of ‘Catastrophic’ Threat If Netflix Acquires Warner Bros.
"The threat of this merger in any form is an alarming escalation in a consolidation crisis that threatens the entire entertainment industry, the public it serves, and—potentially—the First Amendment itself," warned actress Jane Fonda.
Dec 05, 2025
Netflix announced a deal Friday to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery’s film studio and streaming business for $83 billion, a merger that—if approved by the Trump administration—would create a media behemoth that critics say threatens industry competition, higher costs for consumers, the rights of entertainment workers, and democracy.
Netflix, the largest streaming company in the world, and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), owner of the third-largest streaming platform HBO Max, unveiled the proposed agreement after a closely watched bidding war that included Paramount Skydance, the company that the Trump administration reportedly favored to acquire WBD. Paramount is owned by David Ellison, the son of billionaire Republican megadonor Larry Ellison—a close ally of President Donald Trump.
David Ellison reportedly met with Trump administration officials on Thursday to "press his case" against Netflix's pending acquisition of WBD. An unnamed senior official told CNBC on Friday that the Trump administration is treating the Netflix-WBD deal with "heavy skepticism."
While some expressed relief that Paramount appears—at least for now—to have lost the bid for Warner Bros., antitrust advocates argued such a view overlooks the much broader and more serious threat of corporate consolidation.
"Does anyone think Netflix won’t do what Trump wants to get their deal through?" asked Matt Stoller, director of research at the American Economic Liberties Project. "The threat to democracy isn’t the Ellisons, it’s media consolidation."
The American Prospect's David Dayen expressed a similar sentiment, writing on social media: "Keeping WBD out of Paramount's hands is good. Putting it in Netflix's is still unlawful consolidation though. This is the #1 streamer merging with #3. State enforcers should speak up."
"If we don’t speak now, we may have no industry—and no democracy—left to defend."
In a newsletter post following news of the merger agreement, Stoller argued the Netflix-WBD deal is plainly illegal under the Clayton Antitrust Act and "a recipe for monopolization."
"The ideal scenario now is a trial that puts the secrets of Hollywood executives and financiers on display, and crushes the financiers who think mergers are the only move in business," Stoller wrote. "Then Hollywood can get back to the business of making good TV shows and movies."
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said that "this deal looks like an anti-monopoly nightmare."
"A Netflix-Warner Bros. would create one massive media giant with control of close to half of the streaming market," said Warren. "It could force you into higher prices, fewer choices over what and how you watch, and may put American workers at risk."
"Under Donald Trump, the antitrust review process has also become a cesspool of political favoritism and corruption," the senator continued. "The Justice Department must enforce our nation’s anti-monopoly laws fairly and transparently—not use the Warner Bros. deal review to invite influence-peddling and bribery."
Ahead of the announcement, major figures in the entertainment industry sounded alarm over the possibility of a Netflix takeover of WBD. In a letter to members of Congress on Thursday, a group of film producers warned that Neflix would "effectively hold a noose around the theatrical marketplace" if it acquired WBD.
The Writers’ Guild of America, which represents film and TV writers, has said it would oppose WBD merging with any "major studio or streamer," warning it "would be a disaster for writers, for consumers, and for competition."
"Merger after merger in the media industry has harmed workers, diminished competition and free speech, and wasted hundreds of billions of dollars better invested in organic growth," the union said in a recent statement.
Jane Fonda, the renowned actress and activist, wrote Thursday that "the threat of this merger in any form is an alarming escalation in a consolidation crisis that threatens the entire entertainment industry, the public it serves, and—potentially—the First Amendment itself."
"Consolidation at this scale would be catastrophic for an industry built on free expression, for the creative workers who power it, and for consumers who depend on a free, independent media ecosystem to understand the world," Fonda wrote. "It will mean fewer jobs, fewer opportunities to sell work, fewer creative risks, fewer news sources, and far less diversity in the stories Americans get to hear."
"If we don’t speak now, we may have no industry—and no democracy—left to defend," she added.
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