H.R. 5578 · 119th Congress

Expanding Whistleblower Protections for Contractors Act of 2026

Introduced on Sep 26, 2025 by Robert Garcia (D-CA-42). One cosponsor. Latest action (Jul 21, 2026): Received in the Senate. Read twice. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 465.

Stage
Passed one chamber
Introduced
Sep 26, 2025
Cosponsors
1
1 from the other party
Policy area
Government Operations and Politics
Open in the Congress explorerCongress.govAlert me

Progress

The furthest stage the measure reached. Simple and concurrent resolutions do not go to the President.

  1. Introduced
  2. Reported by committee
  3. Passed one chamber
  4. 4Passed both chambers
  5. 5Sent to the President
  6. 6Became law

Official title

To ensure that whistleblowers, including contractors, are protected from retaliation when a Federal employee orders a reprisal, and for other purposes.

Subjects

  • Administrative remedies
  • Department of Defense
  • Employment discrimination and employee rights
  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration
  • Public contracts and procurement

Summary

By the Congressional Research Service (Introduced in House, Sep 26, 2025). Public domain.

Expanding 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.

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.

Sponsor and cosponsors

Cosponsors by party as of the day they signed on. Original cosponsors signed on the day of introduction.

Robert GarciaD-CA-42Sponsor

Republicans · 1

Roll calls

Recorded votes on the measure. Most measures move by voice vote or unanimous consent, which record no individual positions.

No recorded roll call on this measure: it moved by voice vote or unanimous consent, or has not reached the floor.

History

Every action as published, oldest first. Roll calls link to how each member voted.

  1. Sep 26, 2025Introduced in House
  2. Sep 26, 2025Introduced in House
  3. Sep 26, 2025 · HouseReferred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and in addition to the Committee on Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
  4. Sep 26, 2025 · HouseReferred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and in addition to the Committee on Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
  5. Dec 2, 2025 · HouseCommittee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held
  6. Dec 2, 2025 · HouseOrdered to be Reported (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 44 - 0.
  7. Jul 20, 2026 · HouseMr. Burlison moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended.
  8. Jul 20, 2026 · HouseConsidered under suspension of the rules. (consideration: CR H4664-4666)
  9. Jul 20, 2026 · HouseDEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on H.R. 5578.
  10. Jul 20, 2026Passed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H4664-4665)
  11. Jul 20, 2026 · HouseOn motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H4664-4665)
  12. Jul 20, 2026 · HouseMotion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
  13. Jul 21, 2026 · SenateReceived in the Senate. Read twice. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 465.

Committees

Committees and subcommittees the measure was referred to.

Agencies in its committees' jurisdiction

Analisa's mapping of committee jurisdiction to federal agencies; the bill may touch others, or none of these.

Who lobbied on it

Organizations whose lobbying reports (LD-2) name this measure. Spending is what they reported for those quarters on all issues, not on this measure alone.

  1. National Taxpayers Union2 reports
    $60K reported (all issues)

Reports filed in 2025, 2026.

Sources and method

Every figure on this page traces to these records.

  • Bill status: bills and resolutions, sponsors, actions, subjects and CRS summaries (U.S. Government Publishing Office (GovInfo), from Congress.gov (Library of Congress))GovInfo Bill Status bulk data (Congress.gov; summaries by the Congressional Research Service) · data current to Oct 10, 2026 · loaded Oct 10, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Members of Congress, their terms, committees and identifiers (The @unitedstates project (from the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, the House and the Senate))unitedstates/congress-legislators: legislators, committees and current committee membership · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication)
  • House roll-call votes (Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives)Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, roll-call vote records · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Senate roll-call votes and DW-NOMINATE scores (Voteview (UCLA Department of Political Science))Lewis, Jeffrey B., Keith Poole, Howard Rosenthal, Adam Boche, Aaron Rudkin, and Luke Sonnet (2026). Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database. https://voteview.com/ · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Free to use with the required citation
  • Lobbying disclosures (LD-1 registrations, LD-2 quarterly reports, LD-203 contribution reports) (Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives)Clerk of the House, Lobbying Disclosure Act filings (organizations only; lobbyists' names are not loaded) · data current to Oct 10, 2026 · loaded Oct 10, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Positions are shown only where a roll call recorded them; voice votes and unanimous consent record none.
  • Money and votes are shown side by side; neither explains the other.