II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4692 

To require agency officials to communicate with and testify before Congress 

regarding certain agency actions, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 11 (legislative day, JULY 10), 2024 

Mr. CASSIDY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To require agency officials to communicate with and testify 

before Congress regarding certain agency actions, 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 ‘‘Upholding Standards 

5 of Accountability Act of 2024’’ or the ‘‘USA Act of 2024’’. 

6 SEC. 2. TESTIMONY REGARDING MAJOR RULES. 

7 Section 801(a) of title 5, United States Code, is 

8 amended by adding at the end the following: 

9 ‘‘(6) AGENCY TESTIMONY.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

2 subparagraph (B), not later than 30 days after 

3 the publication of a final major rule in the Fed4 eral Register, the officer of the Federal agency 

5 signing such major rule shall testify about the 

6 rule before each standing committee of Con7 gress with jurisdiction under the rules of the 

8 House of Representatives or the Senate to re9 port a bill to amend the provision of law under 

10 which the rule is issued. 

11 ‘‘(B) WAIVER.— 

12 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The chair of a 

13 committee may waive the requirements of 

14 subparagraph (A) on a case-by-case basis 

15 with respect to such committee. 

16 ‘‘(ii) WRITTEN DETERMINATION.—If 

17 the chair waives such requirements, the 

18 chair must issue a written determination 

19 that such testimony is unnecessary and 

20 would not be beneficial to Congress in car21 rying out its legislative function. 

22 ‘‘(C) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing 

23 in this paragraph shall be construed to impact 

24 the appearance of other Federal officials at 

25 committee hearings at other times and for purVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:02 Aug 15, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4692.IS S4692

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1 poses other than the times and purposes de2 scribed in subparagraph (A).’’. 

3 SEC. 3. TESTIMONY FOR SENATE-CONFIRMED NOMINEES. 

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

5 title 5, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

6 end the following: 

7 ‘‘SECTION 3349f. NOMINEE TESTIMONY. 

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 

9 (b), each person nominated to a position that requires the 

10 advice and consent of the Senate shall testify in a hearing 

11 before the committee of the Senate with jurisdiction under 

12 the rules of the Senate over such nomination. Such hear13 ing shall be held before the nomination may be confirmed 

14 by the Senate. 

15 ‘‘(b) WAIVER.— 

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The chair of a committee 

17 may waive the requirements of subsection (a) on a 

18 case-by-case basis with respect to such committee. 

19 ‘‘(2) WRITTEN DETERMINATION.—If the chair 

20 waives such requirements, the chair shall issue a 

21 written determination that such testimony is unnec22 essary and would not be beneficial to Congress in 

23 carrying out its legislative function. 

24 ‘‘(c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec25 tion shall be construed to impact the appearance of other 


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1 Federal officials at committee hearings at times and for 

2 purposes other than the times and purposes described in 

3 subsection (a).’’. 

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

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

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

7 section 3349e the following: 

‘‘3349f. Nominee testimony.’’. 

8 SEC. 4. RETROSPECTIVE COST-BENEFIT REVIEW. 

9 Section 801(a) of title 5, United States Code, as 

10 amended by section 2, is amended by adding at the end 

11 the following: 

12 ‘‘(7) RETROSPECTIVE REPORT.— 

13 ‘‘(A) AGENCY REPORT.— 

14 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 5 

15 calendar years after the effective date of a 

16 major rule, the Federal agency that pro17 mulgated the major rule shall submit to 

18 each House of Congress, the Comptroller 

19 General, and the Office of Information and 

20 Regulatory Affairs and publish on the 

21 website of the Federal agency a report con22 taining a retrospective analysis of the rule 

23 based on the report submitted under para24 graph (1)(B). 


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1 ‘‘(ii) CONTENTS OF REPORT.—The re2 port submitted under subparagraph (A) 

3 shall include, at minimum— 

4 ‘‘(I) an updated cost-benefit anal5 ysis of the rule, describing the actual 

6 costs and benefits of the rule in quan7 tified and monetized terms when pos8 sible, and otherwise in qualitative 

9 terms; 

10 ‘‘(II) an explanation of any mate11 rial differences between the initial 

12 cost-benefit analysis and the updated 

13 cost-benefit analysis of the rule; 

14 ‘‘(III) recommendations for 

15 changes to the rule, if any, based on 

16 the actual costs and benefits of the 

17 rule since the effective date; 

18 ‘‘(IV) an updated regulatory 

19 flexibility analysis of the rule, describ20 ing the actual significant economic 

21 impact on a substantial number of 

22 small entities, if any; and 

23 ‘‘(V) an updated analysis of the 

24 actual costs resulting from the rule 

25 imposing Federal mandates upon 


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1 State, local, and Tribal governments 

2 and the private sector, if any. 

3 ‘‘(B) OIRA REPORT.—Not later than 60 

4 days after the end of each fiscal year, the Ad5 ministrator of the Office of Information and 

6 Regulatory Affairs shall submit to each House 

7 of Congress and to the Comptroller General a 

8 report containing— 

9 ‘‘(i) a summary of all reports sub10 mitted pursuant to subparagraph (A) dur11 ing the previous fiscal year; and 

12 ‘‘(ii) a quantitative and qualitative 

13 analysis of the reports, which shall include, 

14 at minimum— 

15 ‘‘(I) recommendations to improve 

16 future cost-benefit analyses conducted 

17 by Federal agencies promulgating 

18 such rules; 

19 ‘‘(II) recommendations to im20 prove future economic or regulatory 

21 impact analyses conducted by Federal 

22 agencies promulgating such rules; 

23 ‘‘(III) any other recommenda24 tions for agencies for future 

25 rulemakings based on the analysis of 


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1 the reports compiled pursuant to 

2 clause (i). 

3 ‘‘(C) INTERIM ANALYSIS.— 

4 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 

5 calendar years after the date of enactment 

6 of this Act, each Federal agency shall sub7 mit to each House of Congress, the Comp8 troller General, and the Office of Informa9 tion and Regulatory Affairs and publish on 

10 the website of the agency a report con11 taining a retrospective analysis of the cost12 benefit analyses supporting recent major 

13 rules. 

14 ‘‘(ii) CONTENTS OF REPORT.—The re15 port submitted under clause (i) shall— 

16 ‘‘(I) contain a quantitative and 

17 qualitative analysis of that agency’s 

18 rulemaking analyses, including plans 

19 for prospectively improving such anal20 yses based on differences between past 

21 analyses and the real-world impact of 

22 the applicable rules; and 

23 ‘‘(II) address the greater of— 

24 ‘‘(aa) the most recent 20 

25 major rules promulgated; or 


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1 ‘‘(bb) all major rules pro2 mulgated during the previous 5 

3 calendar years. 

4 ‘‘(D) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The require5 ments under subparagraph (A) shall apply to 

6 all major rules promulgated on or after the date 

7 of enactment of the Upholding Standards of 

8 Accountability Act of 2024. The requirements 

9 under subparagraph (B) shall apply to the first 

10 fiscal year in which reports were submitted pur11 suant to subparagraph (A).’’. 

12 SEC. 5. INFORMAL RULEMAKING. 

13 Section 553 of title 5, United States Code, is amend14 ed by adding at the end the following: 

15 ‘‘(f) Nothing in this section shall be construed to pro16 hibit an agency from communicating with members of 

17 Congress regarding a proposed rule outside of the com18 ment period provided in subsection (c) and no such com19 munication shall be held to be unlawful under section 

20 706.’’. 

21 SEC. 6. WRITTEN RESPONSE. 

22 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

23 (1) LETTER.—The term ‘‘letter’’ means written 

24 correspondence signed by— 


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1 (A) the chair or ranking member of any 

2 committee of the House of Representatives or 

3 the Senate, not to include subcommittees, per4 taining to a matter under the jurisdiction of 

5 such committee under the rules of the House of 

6 Representatives or the Senate; 

7 (B) at least 7 members of any committee 

8 of the House of Representatives, not to include 

9 subcommittees, including at least 3 members of 

10 a different political party than the majority of 

11 signing members, pertaining to a matter under 

12 the jurisdiction of such committee under the 

13 rules of the House of Representatives; or 

14 (C) at least 5 members of any committee 

15 of the Senate, not to include subcommittees, in16 cluding at least 2 members of a different polit17 ical party than the majority of signing mem18 bers, pertaining to a matter under the jurisdic19 tion of such committee under the rules of the 

20 Senate. 

21 (2) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ means any 

22 agency as that term is defined in section 551 of title 

23 5, United States Code. 


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1 (3) AGENCY OFFICER.—The term ‘‘agency offi2 cer’’ means any officer of the United States em3 ployed by an agency. 

4 (b) RESPONSE BY AGENCY.—Not later than 30 days 

5 after the date on which a letter is sent to an agency offi6 cer, the agency shall provide a substantive response to the 

7 letter in writing. 

8 (c) FAILURE TO RESPOND.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—If the agency fails to provide 

10 a substantive response to the letter on or before the 

11 date that is 60 days after the letter is sent, unless 

12 the authors of such letter approve in writing an ex13 tension of the response deadline, the agency officer 

14 to whom the letter is addressed shall appear and tes15 tify before the committee of the chair or ranking 

16 member who sent the letter pursuant to subsection 

17 (a)(1)(A) or the committee of members who sent the 

18 letter pursuant to subparagraph (B) or (C) of sub19 section (a)(1). 

20 (2) PENALTIES.—In the case of a letter that 

21 was sent from both the chair or ranking member of 

22 a Senate committee and the chair or ranking mem23 ber of a House committee, if the agency fails to re24 spond to the letter on or before the date that is 90 

25 days after the letter was sent, the annual rate of 


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1 basic pay for the agency officer to whom the letter 

2 was addressed shall be $1 during the period— 

3 (A) beginning on the first day of the first 

4 applicable pay period beginning after such date; 

5 and 

6 (B) ending on the day before the first day 

7 of the first applicable pay period beginning 

8 after the date on which the agency responds to 

9 the letter. 

Æ 


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