I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 6972 

To amend title 5, United States Code, to require an Executive agency whose 

head is a member of the National Security Council to notify the Executive Office of the President, the Comptroller General of the United 

States, and congressional leadership of such head becoming medically 

incapacitated within 24 hours, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 11, 2024 

Mrs. KIGGANS of Virginia (for herself, Mr. DAVIS of North Carolina, Mr. 

WITTMAN, Mr. FALLON, Mr. VAN ORDEN, Ms. MACE, Mr. GIMENEZ, Mr. 

MOYLAN, and Mr. OWENS) 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 an Executive agency whose head is a member of the National 

Security Council to notify the Executive Office of the 

President, the Comptroller General of the United States, 

and congressional leadership of such head becoming 

medically incapacitated within 24 hours, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Securing Chain of 

3 Command Continuity Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL MEDICAL INCA5 PACITY NOTIFICATION ENHANCEMENT. 

6 Section 3349 of title 5, United States Code, is 

7 amended by adding at the end the following new sub8 section: 

9 ‘‘(c)(1) Not later than 24 hours after the head of an 

10 Executive agency who is a member of the National Secu11 rity Council becomes medically incapacitated, the person 

12 serving in an acting capacity as such head or, if no person 

13 is so acting, the first assistant to the office of such head, 

14 shall submit to the Executive Office of the President, the 

15 Comptroller General of the United States, the Majority 

16 Leader of the Senate, the Minority Leader of the Senate, 

17 the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Mi18 nority Leader of the House of Representatives a notifica19 tion that such head is medically incapacitated. 

20 ‘‘(2) If the notification required by paragraph (1) 

21 with respect to a head of an Executive agency becoming 

22 medically incapacitated is not submitted in accordance 

23 with the requirements of such paragraph, not later than 

24 30 days after the date on which such head became subject 

25 to such medical incapacity the person serving in an acting 

26 capacity as such head or, if no person is so acting, the 


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1 first assistant to the office of such head, shall submit to 

2 the Executive Office of the President, the Comptroller 

3 General of the United States, the Majority Leader of the 

4 Senate, the Minority Leader of the Senate, the Speaker 

5 of the House of Representatives, and the Minority Leader 

6 of the House of Representatives a report including— 

7 ‘‘(A) the name of each individual who served in 

8 an acting capacity as such head pursuant to such 

9 medical incapacity and, for each such individual— 

10 ‘‘(i) the dates of such service; 

11 ‘‘(ii) whether such individual was author12 ized to serve in such acting capacity; and 

13 ‘‘(iii) a comprehensive list of resources al14 located to such individual while serving in such 

15 acting capacity to ensure that such individual 

16 could perform the functions and duties of the 

17 office of such head; 

18 ‘‘(B) an explanation why the notification re19 quired by paragraph (1) was not submitted in ac20 cordance with the requirements of such paragraph; 

21 ‘‘(C) the dates during which such head was sub22 ject to such medical incapacity, including the date 

23 on which such head resumed performing the func24 tions and duties of the office of the head; and 


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1 ‘‘(D) an explanation why such head was medi2 cally incapacitated. 

3 ‘‘(3) In this subsection: 

4 ‘‘(A) The terms ‘medical incapacity’ and ‘medi5 cally incapacitated’ mean, with respect to the head 

6 of an Executive agency, that such head is unable to 

7 perform the functions and duties of the office of 

8 such head due to sickness and such inability to per9 form the functions and duties of the office of such 

10 head constitutes a vacancy of the office of such head 

11 to which this section and sections 3345, 3346, 3347, 

12 3348, 3349a, 3349b, 3349c, and 3349d apply. 

13 ‘‘(B) The term ‘National Security Council’ 

14 means the council established under section 101 of 

15 the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 

16 3021).’’. 

Æ 


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