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Washington, D.C.—The leader of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) said today she looks forward to President Obama signing the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act, which would culminate a multi-year NTEU effort as part of a coalition seeking to expand protections for federal whistleblowers who expose waste, fraud or abuse in their agencies.

“Although this version does not provide everything we hoped for, it is a giant step in providing real whistleblower protection for federal employees,” the NTEU leader said. The measure received final Senate approval yesterday.

Importantly, Kelley said, the bill provides specific legal protection for scientific freedom, giving whistleblower protection to employees who challenge censorship, while making it an abuse of authority to punish disclosures about scientific censorship.

Moreover, the bill establishes a two-year experiment allowing for review of appeals of Merit Systems Protection Board decisions by all federal circuit courts of appeal. At present, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has sole jurisdiction of such appeals; it has ruled in favor of whistleblowers in only three cases out of 229. The new law makes it easier for the Office of Special Counsel to discipline those responsible for illegal retaliation.

President Kelley noted the important bipartisan nature of the bill, citing in particular Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) in the Senate; and House members Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), Todd Platts (R-Pa.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) for their work on this issue.

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments.