II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 1154
To provide protections for employees of, former employees of, and applicants
for employment with Federal agencies, contractors, and grantees whose
right to petition or furnish information to Congress is interfered with
or denied.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH26, 2025
Mr. B
LUMENTHAL(for himself, Ms. HIRONO, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. MARKEY,
Mr. S
ANDERS, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. VANHOLLEN, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, and
Mr. W
YDEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and re-
ferred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
A BILL
To provide protections for employees of, former employees
of, and applicants for employment with Federal agencies,
contractors, and grantees whose right to petition or fur-
nish information to Congress is interfered with or denied.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Congressional Whistle-4
blower Protection Act of 2025’’. 5
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SEC. 2. PROTECTIONS FOR COVERED INDIVIDUALS. 1
Section 7211 of title 5, United States Code, is 2
amended— 3
(1) by striking ‘‘The right of employees’’ and 4
inserting the following: 5
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—The right of covered individ-6
uals’’; and 7
(2) by adding at the end the following: 8
‘‘(b) R
EMEDIES.— 9
‘‘(1) A
DMINISTRATIVE REMEDIES .— 10
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—A covered individual 11
with respect to a Federal agency (other than a 12
covered individual described in subparagraph 13
(B), (C), or (D)) who is aggrieved by a violation 14
of subsection (a) may seek corrective action 15
under sections 1214 and 1221 in the same 16
manner as an individual who is aggrieved by a 17
prohibited personnel practice described in sec-18
tion 2302(b)(8). 19
‘‘(B) FBI
EMPLOYEES.—A covered indi-20
vidual with respect to the Federal Bureau of 21
Investigation who is aggrieved by a violation of 22
subsection (a) may seek corrective action under 23
section 2303. 24
‘‘(C) I
NTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY EMPLOY -25
EES.—A covered individual with respect to a 26
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•S 1154 IS
covered intelligence community element (as de-1
fined in section 1104(a) of the National Secu-2
rity Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3234(a))) who is 3
aggrieved by a violation of subsection (a) may 4
seek corrective action under section 1104 of the 5
National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 6
3234) or subsection (b)(7) or (j) of section 7
3001 of that Act (50 U.S.C. 3341). 8
‘‘(D) C
ONTRACTOR EMPLOYEES .—A cov-9
ered individual with respect to a Federal agency 10
who is an employee of, former employee of, or 11
applicant for employment with, a contractor, 12
subcontractor, grantee, subgrantee, or personal 13
services contractor (as those terms are used in 14
section 4701 of title 10 and section 4712 of 15
title 41) of the agency and who is aggrieved by 16
a violation of subsection (a) of this section may 17
seek corrective action under section 4701 of 18
title 10 or section 4712 of title 41. 19
‘‘(E) B
URDEN OF PROOF.—The burdens of 20
proof under subsection (e) of section 1221 shall 21
apply to an allegation of a violation of sub-22
section (a) of this section made under subpara-23
graph (A), (B), (C), or (D) of this paragraph 24
in the same manner as those burdens of proof 25
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apply to an allegation of a prohibited personnel 1
practice under such section 1221. 2
‘‘(F) C
LASS OF INDIVIDUALS ENTITLED TO 3
SEEK CORRECTIVE ACTION .—The right to seek 4
corrective action under subparagraph (A), (B), 5
(C), or (D) shall apply to a covered individual 6
who is an employee of, former employee of, or 7
applicant for employment with, a Federal agen-8
cy described in the applicable subparagraph or 9
a contractor, subcontractor, grantee, sub-10
grantee, or personal services contractor (as 11
those terms are used in section 4701 of title 10 12
and section 4712 of title 41) of such a Federal 13
agency, notwithstanding the fact that a provi-14
sion of law referenced in the applicable sub-15
paragraph does not authorize one or more of 16
those types of covered individuals to seek cor-17
rective action. 18
‘‘(2) P
RIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.— 19
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—If a final decision pro-20
viding relief for a violation of subsection (a) al-21
leged under subparagraph (A), (B), (C), or (D) 22
of paragraph (1) of this subsection is not issued 23
within 180 days of the date on which the cov-24
ered individual seeks corrective action under the 25
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applicable subparagraph and there is no show-1
ing that the delay is due to the bad faith of the 2
covered individual, or if a final decision results 3
in a denial of relief for a violation of subsection 4
(a) alleged by a covered individual under sub-5
paragraph (A), (B), (C), or (D) of paragraph 6
(1) of this subsection, the covered individual 7
may bring an action at law or equity for de 8
novo review in the appropriate district court of 9
the United States, which shall have jurisdiction 10
over the action without regard to the amount in 11
controversy, for relief described in subpara-12
graph (B) of this paragraph. 13
‘‘(B) R
ELIEF.—Relief described in this 14
subparagraph is— 15
‘‘(i) the sum of 200 percent of the 16
amount of lost wages and 100 percent of 17
the amount of lost benefits, with interest; 18
‘‘(ii) reinstatement; 19
‘‘(iii) costs and attorney fees; 20
‘‘(iv) compensatory damages; 21
‘‘(v) equitable or injunctive relief; or 22
‘‘(vi) any other relief that the court 23
considers appropriate. 24
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‘‘(C) JURY TRIAL.—An action brought 1
under subparagraph (A) shall, upon the request 2
of the covered individual, be tried by the court 3
with a jury. 4
‘‘(D) B
URDEN OF PROOF.—The burdens of 5
proof under subsection (e) of section 1221 shall 6
apply to an allegation of a violation of sub-7
section (a) of this section in an action brought 8
under this paragraph in the same manner as 9
those burdens of proof apply to an allegation of 10
a prohibited personnel practice under such sec-11
tion 1221. 12
‘‘(c) D
EFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section— 13
‘‘(1) the term ‘covered individual’, with respect 14
to a Federal agency, means an employee of, former 15
employee of, or applicant for employment with— 16
‘‘(A) the agency; or 17
‘‘(B) a contractor, subcontractor, grantee, 18
subgrantee, or personal services contractor (as 19
those terms are used in section 4701 of title 10 20
and section 4712 of title 41) of the agency; and 21
‘‘(2) the term ‘Federal agency’ means an agen-22
cy, office, or other establishment in the executive, 23
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legislative, or judicial branch of the Federal Govern-1
ment.’’. 2
Æ
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