Whistleblower bill for contractors gains bipartisan support with Grassley’s backing

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has signed on as a cosponsor of a bill to expand whistleblower protections for government contractors, giving the legislation bipartisan support. 

“Whistleblowers working for federal contractors and subcontractors shouldn’t face retaliation for sounding the alarm on waste, fraud and abuse. These patriots are critical in safeguarding Americans’ tax dollars,” Grassley said in a statement on Tuesday. “As a long-time advocate for whistleblowers, I’m glad to sponsor this legislation to strengthen protections for whistleblowers and close the loopholes that have allowed retaliation.”

The Expanding Whistleblower Protections for Contractors Act of 2025 (S. 874) would extend protections to contractors who refuse to follow orders that would violate the law, remove an exception that allows executive branch officials to order a reprisal against a whistleblower under certain circumstances and invalidate any predispute arbitration agreement that waives a contractor’s whistleblower rights, among other provisions. 

The bill is sponsored by Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., the ranking member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. That panel advanced a similar version of the bill last year in an 11-0 vote.

"Whistleblowers who expose government fraud deserve strong protection from retaliation," Peters said in a statement. "This bipartisan legislation closes dangerous loopholes in current law and ensures that contractor employees can report wrongdoing without fear of reprisal. By strengthening these safeguards, we're protecting both whistleblowers and taxpayer dollars."

The whistleblower-focused Make It Safe Coalition, which includes nonprofits like the Government Accountability Project and Project on Government Oversight, has endorsed the bill. 

“All accountability laws need periodic maintenance to plug loopholes, bolster weak links and act on lessons learned. While America’s government contractor whistleblower law was an effective accountability breakthrough for the 2008 stimulus, it has not been updated for almost a decade,” they wrote in a July 18 letter. “The result is that the taxpayers increasingly have been getting fleeced. In the face of unprecedented government spending, the accountability vacuum must be filled.”

Grassley, who co-chairs the Senate Whistleblower Protection Caucus, introduced the bipartisan AI Whistleblower Protection Act (S. 1792) in May. That bill would prohibit companies from retaliating against employees who blow the whistle on an AI security vulnerability or violation of federal law. Rep. Jay Obernolte, R-Calif., sponsored companion legislation (H.R. 3460).