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H.R. 5578119th CongressGovernment Operations and Politics
Expanding Whistleblower Protections for Contractors Act of 2026
Sponsored by Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) · 1 active : 1 Republican
Latest action: Received in the Senate. Read twice. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 465.
Where it standsPassed House, now in the Senate7 senators score as swing votes
Passed House
- House: passedJul 20, 2026
- Senate: next
- President: not yet
Summary
, via Congress.govExpanding Whistleblower Protections for Contractors Act of 2025
This bill expands whistleblower protections for employees of federal contractors and grant recipients to include the act of refusing to obey an unlawful order and to apply these protections to members of the intelligence community and other governmental employees.
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Current law protects employees of federal contractors or grant recipients from a reprisal (i.e., discharge, demotion, or discrimination) for disclosing evidence to Congress or another appropriate official of certain misconduct involving federal contracts, grants, or funds. The bill expands these protections to include an employee's refusal to obey an order that would require the employee to violate a law, rule, or regulation related to any contract, subcontract, grant, or subgrant. The bill also specifies that these protections apply to employees of federal contractors or grant recipients who are current or former members of the intelligence community or employees of state, local, or tribal governments.
Further, the bill specifies that these protections may not be waived in a predispute arbitration agreement and renders any such agreement unenforceable.
The bill specifies that an executive branch official may not request a federal contractor or grant recipient to engage in a reprisal against a protected employee, and it authorizes federal agencies to propose disciplinary action against officials that do so.
How the projections held up
Each member’s recorded vote compared with their swing projection from before the vote. A member by voting against most of their own party.
House
Passed by voice vote or unanimous consent: no individual votes recorded.
Committees and subjects
Committees
- House Committee on Armed Services · HouseReferred to
- House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform · HouseMarkup by · Referred to
Subjects
- Administrative remedies
- Department of Defense
- Employment discrimination and employee rights
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Public contracts and procurement
How the Senate breaks down
- 7Swing 70–100
- 65Middle 30–70
- 28Entrenched 0–30
Members fall into . All 100 senators have enough data to score.
Key players in the Senate
Ranked by swing score, 0–100 · swing-v2Bars show each input from 0 to 100: ideology gap, scorecard gap, . is the seat’s partisan lean, and shows how much of the input data a score has.
Similar past votes, Senate
Earlier behind swing-v3’s inputLoading similar votes
Cosponsors
1 activeShow all 1 cosponsors
- James Comer (R-KY-1)
How the swing score works
Ideology gapHow far a member’s DW-NOMINATE voting score sits from their party’s median in the same chamber.
Scorecard gapHow far their Heritage Action and LCV ratings stray from their party’s average, using the groups’ votes on similar bills where available.
Cross-pressureHow strongly their district or state leans toward the other party, from our own computed partisan lean.
Similar votesHow often they voted against their own party on earlier roll calls about this bill or similar ones.
Committee bonusMembers of the committees handling the bill decide whether it moves, so they get a boost.
Cosponsor checkThe sponsor and active cosponsors have already committed, so they drop toward entrenched.
