The recent passage of the 2017 Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) Appropriations bill means the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) will use its funds in proportion with the percentage of whistleblower cases the office gets from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
The OSC provision in the bill was added by Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL), who said it was necessary because whistleblowers within the VA — which account for about 37 percent of all OSC cases — can face retaliation.
“VA employees should never have to chose between living silently in fear and coming forward to help our vets get the care they deserve,” Kirk said. “As chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, I have made it a top priority to protect those who protect our veterans. The VA and the VA IG [Inspector General] have time and again proven that they are incapable of policing themselves, which makes the Office of Special Counsel essential to protecting whistleblowers.”
Kirk said providing protection to VA whistleblowers will help ensure good government, save lives and save taxpayers money.
Kirk has been working for some time with Germaine Clarno, who reported wait time manipulations at Hines VA in Illinois. Clarno is a social worker at the Hines VA .
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