I have observed more than once over the past 7 years, “where are the patriots in our government?” The worker bees, the people on the ground and on the inside who know what is happening. Those that know of the waste, the corruption, the graft, and the criminality, which is happening in our government everyday. Why aren’t they stepping up? Simple, they put themselves and their families in grave political and financial danger. Congress, who seems to be too late on just about everything lately is going to fix our “whistle blower” protection act. Making it harder for anybody in government or out to punish someone for exposing the dirty little secrets of our government and its contractors, it is about time.

Congress is finally ready to stand up to the Bush administration and for those courageous federal workers who dare to reveal waste and abuse in government. The Senate has passed strong reforms to the 1989 whistle-blower protection law, counteracting the gag orders, retaliatory investigations and other harassments that have become shamefully standard practice during the last seven years.

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Also vital is the House’s guarantee of protection of airport baggage screeners, extending the right to reveal misconduct and antiterrorism gaffes without fearing for their jobs. The House would extend this protection to private government contractors, as well — a rich area of abuse laid bare in the management of the Iraq war. Clearly, these times demand the strongest possible whistle-blower law.