I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7622 

To amend title 5, United States Code, to require any member of the President’s cabinet who is temporarily unable to perform the functions and 

duties of office to provide notice to the President, the Congress, and 

the public of their absence, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 12, 2024 

Mr. CLYDE (for himself, Mr. MCCORMICK, Mr. MOONEY, Mrs. MILLER of Illinois, Mr. HUNT, Ms. BOEBERT, Mr. ROSENDALE, Mr. BRECHEEN, Mr. 

GOSAR, Mr. BURLISON, Mr. HARRIS, Mr. PALMER, and Mr. CRANE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Accountability 

A BILL 

To amend title 5, United States Code, to require any member 

of the President’s cabinet who is temporarily unable to 

perform the functions and duties of office to provide 

notice to the President, the Congress, and the public 

of their absence, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Announcement of Un5 availability by Secretaries Through Informational Notifi6 cations Act of 2024’’ or the ‘‘AUSTIN Act of 2024’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. NOTIFICATION OF INABILITY TO PERFORM FUNC2 TIONS AND DUTIES OF CABINET-LEVEL POSI3 TIONS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter III of chapter 33 of 

5 title 5, United States Code, is amended by inserting after 

6 section 3349e the following: 

7 ‘‘§ 3349f. Notification of inability to perform functions 

8 and duties of cabinet-level position 

9 ‘‘(a) NOTIFICATION.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If any cabinet-level official 

11 is unable to perform the functions and duties of 

12 their office, including during any absence due to ill13 ness, the cabinet-level official shall— 

14 ‘‘(A) submit a notification (in writing) to 

15 the President and congressional leaders; and 

16 ‘‘(B) publish, on the public website of the 

17 cabinet-level official’s employing agency, the no18 tification not later than 24 hours after submit19 ting such notification. 

20 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—Any notification submitted 

21 under paragraph (1) shall include— 

22 ‘‘(A) a description of the reasons the cabi23 net-level official is unable to perform the func24 tions and duties of their office; and 

25 ‘‘(B) a timeline setting forth the first day 

26 the cabinet-level official will be unable to perVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:37 Mar 21, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7622.IH H7622

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1 form the functions and duties of their office 

2 and the date the cabinet-level official expects to 

3 be able to resume performance of such func4 tions and duties. 

5 ‘‘(3) DATE OF SUBMISSION.—Except as pro6 vided in subsection (c), the cabinet-level official shall 

7 submit notice under this subsection before such cabi8 net-level official is unable to perform the functions 

9 and duties of their office. 

10 ‘‘(4) NATIONAL SECURITY WAIVER.— 

11 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The President may 

12 waive the publication requirement under para13 graph (1)(B) if the President determines such 

14 publication would severely jeopardize United 

15 States national security. The President shall 

16 submit a notice of such waiver (in writing) to 

17 the congressional leaders with a detailed expla18 nation of the reasons for the waiver. 

19 ‘‘(B) PUBLICATION.—Notwithstanding 

20 subclause (A), any of the congressional leaders 

21 may publish the applicable notification waived 

22 under such subclause if that congressional lead23 er determines the President’s reasons under 

24 such subclause do not merit the waiver. 


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1 ‘‘(b) END OF PERIOD OF ABSENCE.—Any cabinet2 level official who, after a period of inability to perform 

3 the functions and duties of the office, shall— 

4 ‘‘(1) on the date such official is able to resume 

5 the performance of such functions and duties, sub6 mit a notification (in writing) to the President and 

7 the congressional leaders; and 

8 ‘‘(2) publish, on the public website of the cabi9 net-level official’s employing agency, the notification 

10 not later than 24 hours after submitting such notifi11 cation. 

12 ‘‘(c) DESIGNEE.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If the cabinet-level official 

14 is incapacitated or otherwise unable to carry out 

15 subsection (a) or (b), the individuals designated 

16 under this subsection shall make the notifications 

17 and publications required under such subsections (a) 

18 and (b). 

19 ‘‘(2) DESIGNATION.—Not later than 60 days 

20 after the date a cabinet-level official assumes the du21 ties of their office, the cabinet-level official— 

22 ‘‘(A) shall designate at least one employee 

23 of the employing agency of the cabinet-level of24 ficial to carry out this subsection; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) submit, to the congressional commit2 tees of jurisdiction, a report identifying each 

3 employee designated under subparagraph (A). 

4 ‘‘(3) NEW DESIGNEE.—The cabinet-level official 

5 may designate any other employees if the individuals 

6 designated under paragraph (2) are unable or no 

7 longer eligible to carry out the duties of a designee 

8 under this subsection. On the date of such a subse9 quent designation, the cabinet-level official shall sub10 mit, to the congressional committees of jurisdiction, 

11 a notification of the change in designees. 

12 ‘‘(4) PRIVACY ACT.—Section 552a (popularly 

13 known as the Privacy Act of 1974) shall not apply 

14 to any individual designated under this subsection 

15 for purposes of making the notice and publication 

16 required by this section. 

17 ‘‘(d) ENFORCEMENT.— 

18 ‘‘(1) OFFENSE.—It shall be unlawful for any 

19 cabinet-level official or any designee under sub20 section (c) to knowingly— 

21 ‘‘(A) withhold information that prevents 

22 the implementation of this section; or 

23 ‘‘(B) fail to carry out this section. 

24 ‘‘(2) PENALTY.—No Federal funds may be used 

25 for the salary or expenses of any person who violates 


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1 paragraph (1). It is the sense of Congress that such 

2 person’s employment with the United States should 

3 be immediately terminated and such person should 

4 be subject to debarment. 

5 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

6 ‘‘(1) the term ‘cabinet-level official’ means— 

7 ‘‘(A) the head of any Executive department 

8 (as that term is defined in section 101); and 

9 ‘‘(B) any other officer or employee who is 

10 a member of the President’s cabinet; and 

11 ‘‘(2) the term ‘congressional leaders’ means the 

12 Speaker of the House of Representatives, the minor13 ity leader of the House of Representatives, the ma14 jority leader of the Senate, the minority leader of 

15 the Senate, the chair and ranking member of any 

16 committee of jurisdiction of the House of Represent17 atives or the Senate, the chair and ranking member 

18 of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability of 

19 the House of Representatives, and the chair and 

20 ranking member of the Committee on Homeland Se21 curity and Governmental Affairs of the Senate.’’. 

22 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

23 for subchapter III of chapter 33 of title 5, United States 

24 Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to 

25 section 3349e the following: 


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‘‘3349f. Notification of inability to perform functions and duties of cabinet-level 

position.’’. 

Æ 


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