One of the things that was stripped out of the stimulus package during negotiations between the House and Senate was a provision that provided protection for government or private employees who blew the whistle on waste and fraud in the spending of money from the stimulus package. The Project on Government Oversight (POGO) issued a press release on the matter:
 

Accountability got mugged today when congressional leaders stripped federal whistleblower protections from their compromise stimulus bill…

Much work remains to be done before the big bucks go out the door. POGO will keep fighting to get federal whistleblowers the protections they need when they disclose the inevitable waste and fraud they will be witnessing.

TPM Muckraker says that the provision was removed because of protests from Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, a moderate Republican who helped push the stimulus bill in Congress.

But, according to a person following the bill closely, Collins used today’s conference committee to drastically water down the measure, citing national security concerns as the reason for her opposition. In the end, the protections were so weakened that House negotiators balked, and the result was that the entire amendment was removed.

According to the person following the bill, Collins was the “central roadblock” to passing the protections.

TPM’s source also said that Sen. Harry Reid, the Democratic majority leader, decided not to fight for the provision out of deference to Collins.