Make It Safe Coalition Letter to President Biden
May 30, 2024
The Honorable Joseph R. Biden
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave
Washington D.C. 20500
Dear President Biden:
The undersigned members of the Make It Safe Coalition (MISC) write to you again to urge you to hold a Rose Garden ceremony for whistleblowers on Whistleblower Appreciation Day, July 30th, 2024. This date recognizes the Revolutionary War sailors who spoke out against abuse of power and the Continental Congress that acted to protect them.
Whistleblowing is not simply something of the past, however; whistleblowing remains a crucial component of good governance best practices today. Whistleblower Appreciation Day recognizes every whistleblower throughout the years, including the whistleblowers from this past year who have spoken truth to power against corruption, fraud, and abuse.
This year there is a particular importance to this recognition, considering the high public focus on aircraft safety incidents and the passing of John Barnett, who revealed the severe lapses in public safety at Boeing. In John’s memory, we ask that you use the role of the Presidency to draw attention to the importance of whistleblowers in our American history – and in our current reality.
Whistleblowers are our best line of defense against contamination, trafficking,
discrimination, sabotage, unsafe products, fraud, wrongful deaths, and other misconduct. They often face retaliation, and risk their livelihoods, careers, and reputations to bring to light information that may otherwise have remained hidden from the public.
There is bipartisan support for Congress for a Whistleblower Appreciation Day, and a Rose Garden ceremony is crucial in raising the profile of this important day of acknowledgement.
Resolutions for marking a National Whistleblower Appreciation Day have been introduced every year in a bicameral, bipartisan way, with Rep. Katie Porter introducing in the House and Sen. Chuck Grassley and Ron Wyden introducing in the Senate in the first year of this Congress. This resolution is now annually agreed to in the Senate on a bipartisan basis through Unanimous Consent.
Senator Grassley’s letter to you earlier this Congress recognizes the importance of whistleblowers and their contributions to the public good. As the letter pointed out, whistleblowers have exposed waste, fraud, and abuse in nearly all industries, and according to the Justice Department, have helped government agencies recover billions of dollars in taxpayer money. A Rose Garden ceremony would send a strong message to whistleblowers and the broader public that your Administration values and appreciates the sacrifices whistleblowers make for the greater good, and condemns whistleblower retaliation. As we first requested after the 2020 election, and have advocated for annually since, we hope you will be the first President who will honor whistleblowers on their day with a Rose Garden ceremony. Whistleblowers deserve the honor of public appreciation.
Such a ceremony would also inspire other potential whistleblowers to come forward and report wrongdoing without fear of retaliation, which is essential for maintaining a healthy democracy. This would not only be a well-deserved recognition of whistleblowers’ contributions but also a crucial step in promoting a culture of transparency and accountability in our government and society.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
ACORN8
Affiliation of Christian Engineers
Alliance for Whistleblowers, Inc.
Black Females for Justice II at Social Security Administration
Bogdan Dzakovic
Elaine Mittleman
Empower Oversight
Ethical and Respectful Treatment of Humans
Ethics in Entrepreneurship
FAA Whistleblowers Alliance
Government Accountability Project
International Association of Whistleblowers
James Landrith
Martin Edwin Andersen
National Medical Malpractice Advocacy Association
National Security Counselors
National Taxpayers Union
National Whistleblower Center
Project on Government Oversight
Public Citizen
Public Employees for Environmental
Responsibility
Robert MacLean
Taxpayers Protection Alliance
The James Madison Project
The Coalition for Change, Inc.
The Anti-Fraud Coalition
Transparency International U.S.
Truckers Justice Center
Union of Concerned Scientists
Whistleblowers of America