Schakowsky Offers Two Contracting Amendments to Defense Authorization Bill

SCHAKOWSKY OFFERS TWO CONTRACTING AMENDMENTS TO DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION BILL

Washington, D.C.–U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, offered two contracting amendments today to the House Rules Committee to be included in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009. The first amendment would prohibit private security contractors from performing inherently governmental functions in combat areas. The second amendment would expand protections for contractor whistleblowers that were included in last year's defense authorization bill. If accepted by the Rules Committee, the amendments would be voted on by the full House tomorrow during consideration of the Defense Authorization bill.

Congresswoman Schakowsky submitted the following statement to the House Rules Committee in support of her two amendments.

"Thank you Madam Chairwoman and Ranking Member Dreier for providing me the opportunity to testify on behalf of my amendments today.

And I'd like to thank Chairman Skelton for working with me on these amendments and offering his support.

My first amendment would prohibit private security contractors from performing inherently governmental functions in combat areas. I spoke to you last week about the problems with Blackwater, but the violent incidents that have occurred in Iraq and elsewhere are not confined to one company.

This is a systematic problem of private employees being tasked with extremely sensitive jobs like gathering intelligence, providing armed security. And it is a systematic problem of private employees, who do not wear the badge of the United States, but whose violent and unaccountable behavior has severely damaged the credibility of our military.

Currently there are approximately 170,000 private contractors working in Iraq and Afghanistan–a greater number than our own troops. Many of these contractors perform vital support services for the military like cooking and serving food and base maintenance. There are other contractors who are overseen by the Department of Defense who perform military functions like law enforcement, intelligence gathering, and training Iraqi troops.

The horrible incidents involving private contractors injuring Iraqi civilians in the news over the past year have damaged our already-tattered image in the eyes of the Iraqi people. And they have irreparably harmed our relationship with the Iraqi government. Prime Minister Maliki attempted to revoke Blackwater's license to operate in Iraq in 2007, and he has called on the United States to rein in other private contractors who act with impunity.

It is vital that we show the American people and the Iraqis that there are inherently governmental functions that should only be performed by people in the U.S. military or who are U.S. government personnel.

We cannot continue to allow private contractors to run roughshod over the law and jeopardize the safety, security and well-being of the U.S. military and the Iraqi people.

A similar provision was included in the Senate version of the FY09 Defense Authorization Act, and I hope that you will see fit to allow the House to vote on this important legislation as well.

My second amendment addresses the abuses that continue to plague the defense contracting industry by expanding on protections for contractor whistleblowers that were included in last year's defense authorization bill.

Because the abuses of the contracting industry have continued, the bottom line is that we must make protections for employees as strong as possible.

The biggest source of contracting abuses is the defense industry, which makes up 70% of all government contracts. We can't effectively root out waste, fraud and abuse unless employees who risk their careers to challenge wrongdoing are protected in practice.

Last year's Defense Authorization Act took a big step toward making that happen. My amendment builds on last year's contractor whistleblower provisions to ensure that the protections will function as intended.

My amendment would protect employees if they disclose illegal activity within their company. The vast majority of corporate whistleblower disclosures are made in-house, rather than to a government official, and we must protect those disclosures.

This amendment also includes burdens of proof language taken directly from the Whistleblower Protection Act. This language, which has governed proceedings in nearly every domestic or international whistleblower law passed since 1989, will allow whistleblowers to effectively use the right to sue if they are wrongly dismissed.

Finally, my amendment would bar employers from forcing individuals to accept company-financed arbitration as a term of employment.

Taken together, the changes in my amendment build on the provisions included in last year's defense authorization bill to protect contractor whistleblowers. We must do everything we can to ensure that these brave employees are protected if they report illegal activity.

Again, thank you for allowing me to discuss my amendments today....