Two top Republicans are warning Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price that his department may be breaking the law by ordering employees to get approval before speaking to Congress.
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, have ordered HHS to clarify the memo spelling out the new policy, which was sent on Monday to HHS employees.
The memo said employee discussions with members of Congress “should not occur without prior consultation” with HHS top administrators.
In a letter sent to Price on Tuesday, Chaffetz and Grassley said employees have a constitutional right to speak directly to Congress without receiving permission or requiring consultation first. The memo, they warned, could serve as a de facto gag rule.
“Federal employees will most certainly read this instruction as a prohibition against direct communications with Congress without permission,” they wrote. “As such, it is potentially illegal and unconstitutional, and will likely chill protected disclosures of waste, fraud and abuse.”
“Although the language of the [memo] does not not ultimately prohibit direct communication from employees, it forces employees to expose their communications … necessarily subjecting them to a significantly increased risk of reprisal,” they wrote. “The effect will substantially chill those communications.”
Chaffetz and Grassley called on Price to send out “specific written guidance” to all agency employees “making them aware of their right to communicate directly and independently with Congress.” HHS employees should also be told they can benefit from whistle-blower protections.
The two lawmakers asked Price to send them a copy of the updated guidance and warned that failing to act would put whistleblowers at risk.
“Absent a clear communication from you, agency management may seek to intimidate whistleblowers from providing information to Congress,” they wrote. “We will not allow that to happen.”
Read the GOP letter here:
