I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 6237 

To allow Federal State Department employees to file a confidential or open 

report on any fiscal waste that they come across and establishes an 

award program for exemplary employees who file non-confidential reports 

on wasteful spending. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 6, 2023 

Mr. BAIRD introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To allow Federal State Department employees to file a confidential or open report on any fiscal waste that they 

come across and establishes an award program for exemplary employees who file non-confidential reports on 

wasteful spending. 

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

3 SECTION 1. ESTABLISHMENT OF FISCAL WASTE SELF-RE4 PORTING PROGRAM AND FISCAL RESPONSI5 BILITY AWARD. 

6 (a) FISCAL WASTE SELF-REPORTING PROGRAM.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Department of State 

2 Under Secretary for Management shall work with 

3 the Director of the Budget and Planning Bureau 

4 and the Director of Global Talent in the Global Tal5 ent Management Bureau, among other persons, to 

6 establish a program for employees to self-report fis7 cal waste they observe in their course of employ8 ment. Within 60 days of receiving a report, the 

9 Under Secretary for Management shall— 

10 (A) investigate the substance of the report 

11 and determine if it identifies fiscal waste; and 

12 (B) rectify all instances of fiscal waste 

13 identified by the report. 

14 (2) CONFIDENTIALITY.—Employees shall have 

15 the opportunity to mark their submissions to the fis16 cal waste self-reporting program as confidential. In17 formation in reports marked as confidential shall— 

18 (A) be accessible only to staff responsible 

19 for administering the fiscal waste self-reporting 

20 program and be shared only insofar as is nec21 essary to investigate or rectify the report. Staff 

22 administering the program shall not share the 

23 name or other identifying information of the 

24 submitting employee; and 


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1 (B) not be used in the promotion, demo2 tion, or termination of or other employment de3 cisions relating to the submitting employee. 

4 (3) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Under Secretary 

5 for Management shall submit to the appropriate con6 gressional committees an annual report detailing— 

7 (A) all submissions to the fiscal waste self8 reporting program that year; 

9 (B) the findings of all investigations into 

10 those submissions; and 

11 (C) all rectifying actions taken in response 

12 to those submissions. 

13 (b) FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY AWARD.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary for 

15 Management shall work with the Director of the 

16 Budget and Planning Bureau and the Director of 

17 Global Talent in the Global Talent Management Bu18 reau, among other persons, to establish a depart19 mental award for any exemplary employee who— 

20 (A) recommends or adopts significant cost 

21 saving measures in program implementation; 

22 (B) identifies instances of fiscal waste 

23 within a program; 

24 (C) cancels, or recommends cancellation of, 

25 programs resulting in fiscal waste; and 


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1 (D) proposes a plan for reallocation of re2 sources in lieu of requesting greater appropria3 tions. 

4 (2) SELF-REPORTS.—An employee’s non-con5 fidential submissions to the fiscal waste self-report6 ing program, particularly those resulting in rectifica7 tion, shall be considered in determining that employ8 ee’s eligibility for this award. 

9 (3) FREQUENCY.—Eligibility for this award 

10 shall be determined on at least a quarterly basis. 

11 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 

12 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT13 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com14 mittees’’ means the House Committee on Foreign 

15 Affairs and the Senate Committee on Foreign Rela16 tions. 

17 (2) FISCAL WASTE.—The term ‘‘fiscal waste’’ 

18 means— 

19 (A) any inefficiency in the spending pat20 terns or objectives of a program; 

21 (B) any program which consistently does 

22 not adequately achieve its stated objectives; and 

23 (C) any program which no longer holds rel24 evance or has become obsolete. 

Æ 


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