American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009

Floor Speech

AMERICAN RECOVERY AND REINVESTMENT ACT OF 2009 -- (House of Representatives - January 28, 2009)

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Mr. Chairman, I would like to commend Mr. Platts, Mr. Waxman, Mr. Towns, Mr. Tierney, Mr. Braley and Mr. Price for their work on this important issue.

This economic recovery package contains about $550 billion in public funds to support important national priorities. We need to make sure these funds are effectively spent and that they're not lost through any waste, fraud or abuse.

The underlying bill provides protection for whistleblowers at the State and local level. What this amendment does is to make sure that our Federal employees also have whistleblower protections so if they see waste, fraud or abuse, they can report it without fear of retaliation or harm.

And as Mr. Platts has said, what we're doing is simply putting the Whistleblower Protection Act that passed this body by a vote of 331-94 into this bill to make sure that these public funds are safeguarded and that we ensure accountability in the process. I think all of us would agree, regardless of our position on whether or not we should be putting any particular amount into public investment, we want that money safeguarded and protected against waste, fraud, and abuse. That's what this amendment is about.

Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. VAN HOLLEN. I thank Mr. Reyes, the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, and the ranking member, Mr. Hoekstra. I again want to remind the House this is a bill that has been voted on here before. It passed with a bipartisan majority of 331-94. Nevertheless, Mr. Platts and I have agreed to address the concerns that have been raised by the Intelligence Committee. We will do that in consultation with the Senate and conference committee to make sure that we're all on the same page in agreement with respect to this national security component.

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