WASHINGTON, D.C. | May 19, 2020 — Yesterday, long-time whistleblower advocate and chairman of the Senate Whistleblower Protection Caucus, Senator Chuck Grassley, introduced S.3751, or the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery Expedited Hiring Authorities Act of 2020, to amend the recent coronavirus aid and relief bill, the CARES Act, to provide the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery (SIGPR) with additional personnel authorities. The National Whistleblower Center (NWC) supports the amendment as it allows the SIGPR to begin adding key staff necessary for providing crucial accountability amid the coronavirus crisis.
In order to guarantee and facilitate accountability and transparency in the implementation of the CARES Act, the SIGPR is equipped with the needed oversight authority to ensure federal spending through the CARES Act reaches the businesses and individuals who need relief the most. By expediting the SIGPR’s hiring process, this amendment streamlines the hiring authority of the SIGPR so that oversight of coronavirus spending can begin as soon as possible.
John Kostyack, Executive Director of the National Whistleblower Center, said in support of the bill: “We thank Senator Chuck Grassley and the four other Senate sponsors for introducing this bipartisan bill and we encourage both houses of Congress to pass it quickly. This bill empowers the Special Inspector General to hire competent staffers at a time when getting coronavirus funds to at-risk Americans and stopping fraudulent diversions is a top priority. This bill will provide whistleblowers with public servants they can contact to stop these frauds.”
For more information, please contact Nick Younger at nick.younger@whistleblowers.org.
