Senator Hassan Votes to Approve Bipartisan Measures to Help Address Sexual Violence, Protect Whistleblowers in Homeland Security Committee

WASHINGTON – As a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Senator Maggie Hassan yesterday voted to approve a bipartisan measure to help address sexual violence, as well as a bipartisan bill to support and protect federal government whistleblowers.

Senator Hassan voted to approve the bipartisan Improve Data on Sexual Violence Act, introduced by Senators Claire McCaskill (D-MO) and Ron Johnson (R-WI), to establish an interagency working group on sexual violence data collection. The working group would help improve coordination across the federal government and develop useful and transparent sexual violence statistics to better prevent and address sexual violence and to help understand the consequences of such crimes. Representatives from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Department of Defense, the Department of Education, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Justice would participate in the group.

“We must do everything in our power to address sexual violence and to prevent it from occurring in the first place, and collecting better data on sexual violence is critical to those efforts,” Senator Hassan said. “This bipartisan measure is a commonsense step to coordinate sexual violence data collection across the federal government, and I am pleased to see it pass out of the Committee.”

The Senator also voted to approve the bipartisan All Circuit Review Act. The bipartisan bill strengthens protections and support for whistleblowers by permanently extending the authority for federal employees to appeal a decision from the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) at any federal circuit court of appeals, rather than only at the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C.

“Whistleblowers who bravely come forward with claims and allegations of wrongdoing deserve to easily be heard and protected,” Senator Hassan said. “The bipartisan All Circuit Review Act is integral to ensuring that whistleblowers who speak out can more accessibly and affordably exercise their right to appeal a decision from the Merit Systems Protection Board. This bill has support from members of both parties, and both chambers, and I look forward to seeing it become law as quickly as possible.”

###