NPR needs help to find the culprit who killed the WPEA

The Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (WPEA) passed the Senate unanimously last December. It was tweaked and passed unanimously in the House, then sent back to the Senate for a final vote - where someone blocked it by the an anonymous hold, killing it on December 22. On January 7th, NPR’s On the Media, with the Government Accountability Project, set out to find out who. Now they are down to three: Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID), all of whom have declined to deny placing the hold. WNYC and the GAP still need help to blow the whistle on who killed the WPEA. They need residents of Alabama, Arizona and Idaho to call their respective Senators and ask for confirmation or denial of responsibility for the hold, and more pointedly, ask “why they believe the public does not have a right to hold them accountable for something as basic as killing a bill.” They suggest asking the following questions “as a way to guide the conversation”:

1) Did you place the anonymous hold on the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act? 2) What is the Senator's policy regarding inquiries from constituents about his use of the anonymous hold? 3) When is the Senator’s “hold” the public’s business, about which the public has the right to know? 4) What determines when use of the “hold” is a “personal, private matter” that is not the public’s business? 5) Why would the Senator be publicly supportive of the bill but work to defeat it in private? 6) All but three Senators have confirmed that they did NOT use the hold to kill S. 372, the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act. Assuming that the senator who placed the hold is eventually identified - as they frequently are - and it is your senator, is he prepared to deal with the fallout that comes from ignoring constituent questions?
These are good questions to ask about any anonymous hold on Senate bills, not just this one. You can read about what the Act would have done here, and if you have any information, email blowthewhistle@wnyc.org. WNYC is collecting and posting the responses.

Continue ReadingNPR needs help to find the culprit who killed the WPEA

Net neutrality threatened by U.S. House Resolution of Disapproval

From Free Press press release issued March 9, 2011: Today, the U.S. House passed a “Resolution of Disapproval” that would strip the FCC of any authority to protect our right to free speech online. This resolution will bar the FCC from enforcing its already weak Net Neutrality rule and from acting in any way to protect Internet users against corporate abuses. Following the vote, S. Derek Turner, research director of the Free Press Action Fund made the following statement:

“We are deeply disappointed that Congress has chosen to move forward with this dangerous overreach that would hamstring the FCC and leave Internet users unprotected from discrimination online. If this resolution becomes law, companies like Comcast, AT&T and Verizon will have free rein to censor free speech or block access to any website. “There may be much to dislike about what this FCC did and how it did it, but the fundamental point here is we cannot simply set up a false choice between what the FCC did and no policy at all.”
It is possible for the Senate to kill the resolution by getting 51 members to stand up for online freedom. Go here to take action. Note that this "take action" was first published when there was a danger that the "Resolution of Disapproval" would pass the House. Today, however, the Republican dominated House has actually passed the Resolution of Disapproval.

Continue ReadingNet neutrality threatened by U.S. House Resolution of Disapproval