In a Committee markup of H.R. 1317, The Federal Employee Protection of Disclosures Act, Committee Democrats offered amendments that would strengthen protections for federal employees who come forward to report waste, fraud, abuse, and national security violations. Two of these important amendments were offered by Democrats, but were defeated on party line votes:

Rep. Maloney's Amendment would have expanded whistleblower protection to employees of the FBI, CIA, and other agencies involved in national security.

Rep. Van Hollen's Amendment would have created a five-year test period to examine the impact of review of whistleblower cases by multiple circuit Courts of Appeal and would have increased opportunities for whistleblowers to ultimately have their cases heard by the Supreme Court.

The Committee accepted an amendment by Rep. Waxman to protect employees of federal contractors and an amendment by Congresswoman Norton to protect employees of the Transportation Security Administration.