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[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 5440 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>

118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 5440

 To amend the Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 to 
 provide that the President shall appoint, by and with the advice and 
        consent of the Senate, the Chief of the Forest Service.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            December 5, 2024

    Mr. Lee introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
   referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
 To amend the Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 to 
 provide that the President shall appoint, by and with the advice and 
        consent of the Senate, the Chief of the Forest Service.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Forest Service Accountability Act''.

SEC. 2. CHIEF OF THE FOREST SERVICE.

    Subtitle E of the Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 
1994 (7 U.S.C. 6961) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 246. CHIEF OF THE FOREST SERVICE.

    ``(a) Appointment by the President; Senate Advice and Consent.--The 
President shall appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the 
Senate, the Chief of the Forest Service.
    ``(b) Qualifications.--An individual appointed under subsection (a) 
shall have substantial experience and demonstrated competence in forest 
and natural resources management.
    ``(c) Committee Referral.--
            ``(1) In general.--Any nomination of an individual to be 
        the Chief of the Forest Service submitted to the Senate for 
        confirmation, and referred to a committee, shall be referred 
        jointly to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and 
        Forestry of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and Natural 
        Resources of the Senate.
            ``(2) Rules of senate.--Paragraph (1) is enacted--
                    ``(A) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of the 
                Senate, and as such is deemed a part of the rules of 
                the Senate and supersedes other rules only to the 
                extent that they are inconsistent with such rules; and
                    ``(B) with full recognition of the constitutional 
                right of the Senate to change the rules at any time, in 
                the same manner, and to the same extent as in the case 
                of any other rule of the Senate.
    ``(d) Application to Incumbent.--Notwithstanding any service by an 
individual serving in the position of Chief of the Forest Service on 
the date of enactment of this section, the President shall submit to 
the Senate a nomination for an individual to be the Chief of the Forest 
Service not later than 30 days after that date of enactment.''.
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