II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3378 

To require agencies to submit certain settlement agreements to Congress, 

to allow Congress to disapprove of those settlement agreements, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 13, 2021 

Mr. SCOTT of Florida (for himself, Mr. TOOMEY, Mr. CASSIDY, Mr. ROUNDS, 

Mr. HAGERTY, Mr. BRAUN, and Mr. LANKFORD) introduced the following 

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland 

Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To require agencies to submit certain settlement agreements 

to Congress, to allow Congress to disapprove of those 

settlement agreements, 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 ‘‘Congressional Review 

5 of Agency Legal Settlements Act of 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 


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1 (1) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the 

2 meaning given the term in section 551 of title 5, 

3 United States Code. 

4 (2) AGENCY RULE.—The term ‘‘agency rule’’ 

5 means— 

6 (A) a substantive rule of general applica7 bility of an agency; 

8 (B) a statement of general policy of an 

9 agency; or 

10 (C) an interpretation of general applica11 bility formulated and adopted by an agency 

12 pursuant to relevant law. 

13 (3) COVERED SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT.—The 

14 term ‘‘covered settlement agreement’’ means a pro15 posed voluntary compromise settlement to be entered 

16 into by an agency to resolve 1 or more pending legal 

17 claims against the United States that includes— 

18 (A) a financial award paid by the agency 

19 that is more than $10,000,000, aggregated 

20 across all similarly situated cases or legal 

21 claims against the agency; or 

22 (B) an agreement to modify or alter an 

23 agency rule of the agency. 

24 (4) END OF SESSION PERIOD.—The term ‘‘end 

25 of session period’’ means the period— 


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1 (A) beginning on the date occurring, in the 

2 case of the Senate, 60 session days, or in the 

3 case of the House of Representatives, 60 legis4 lative days before the date the Congress ad5 journs a session of Congress; and 

6 (B) ending on the date on which the same 

7 or succeeding Congress first convenes its next 

8 session. 

9 (5) JOINT RESOLUTION OF DISAPPROVAL.—The 

10 term ‘‘joint resolution of disapproval’’ means a joint 

11 resolution— 

12 (A) introduced during the period beginning 

13 on the submission date and ending 60 days 

14 thereafter (excluding days either House of Con15 gress is adjourned for more than 3 days during 

16 a session of Congress); and 

17 (B) the matter after the resolving clause of 

18 which is as follows: 

19 (i) For covered settlement agreements 

20 involving a financial award: ‘‘That Con21 gress finds that the settlement agreement 

22 proposed by the lll relating to lll 

23 is an unauthorized use of amounts appro24 priated by Congress, and the lll may 

25 not enter into the settlement agreement 


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1 using amounts appropriated by Congress.’’ 

2 (The blank spaces being appropriately 

3 filled in). 

4 (ii) For covered settlement agree5 ments involving a modification or alter6 ation of an agency rule: ‘‘That Congress 

7 disapproves modification or alteration of 

8 the agency rule within the settlement 

9 agreement proposed by the lll relating 

10 to lll, and such modification or alter11 ation of the agency rule shall have no force 

12 or effect.’’ (The blank spaces being appro13 priately filled in). 

14 (6) SUBMISSION DATE.—The term ‘‘submission 

15 date’’ means the date on which a report submitted 

16 by an agency under section 3(a) is received by Con17 gress. 

18 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW OF CERTAIN AGENCY 

19 SETTLEMENT AGREEMENTS. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Before an agency may enter into 

21 a covered settlement agreement, the agency shall submit 

22 to Congress a report that includes— 

23 (1) information relating to each legal claim re24 solved by the covered settlement agreement; 


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1 (2) the terms of the covered settlement agree2 ment; 

3 (3) the class of claimants covered by the cov4 ered settlement agreement; 

5 (4) the total amount of the financial award to 

6 be paid under the covered settlement agreement; 

7 (5) the factual and legal basis for calculating 

8 the amount described in paragraph (4); 

9 (6) the factual and legal basis for modifying or 

10 altering each agency rule of the agency modified or 

11 altered under the covered settlement agreement; and 

12 (7) whether each modification or alteration of 

13 an agency rule described in paragraph (6) will re14 quire the agency to initiate rulemaking proceedings 

15 under section 553 of title 5, United States Code and 

16 the date those rulemaking proceedings will com17 mence. 

18 (b) RECEIPT BY CONGRESS.—Upon receipt of a re19 port from an agency under subsection (a), each House 

20 shall provide a copy of the report to the chairman and 

21 ranking member of the standing committee with jurisdic22 tion over the agency and the operating budget of the agen23 cy. 

24 (c) JOINT RESOLUTION.—Not later than 60 days 

25 after the date on which Congress receives a report under 


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1 subsection (a), Congress may pass a joint resolution of 

2 disapproval of the covered settlement agreement that is 

3 the subject of the report in accordance with section 4. 

4 (d) EFFECT OF JOINT RESOLUTION.—If Congress 

5 passes a joint resolution of disapproval relating to a cov6 ered settlement agreement in accordance with section 4, 

7 the agency may not— 

8 (1) pay a financial award under the covered set9 tlement agreement using amounts otherwise appro10 priated by Congress; or 

11 (2) modify or alter an agency rule of the agency 

12 under the covered settlement agreement without 

13 complying with the rulemaking requirements under 

14 section 553 of title 5, United States Code. 

15 (e) WAITING PERIOD.—Subject to subsection (f), an 

16 agency may enter into a covered settlement agreement as 

17 otherwise provided by law if, on the date that is 60 days 

18 after the submission date, Congress has not passed a joint 

19 resolution of disapproval relating to the covered settlement 

20 agreement. 

21 (f) END OF SESSION SUBMISSION.—In addition to 

22 the opportunity for Congress to review a covered settle23 ment agreement as otherwise provided under this Act, in 

24 the case of any covered settlement agreement for which 


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1 a report is submitted in accordance with subsection (a) 

2 during an end of session period— 

3 (1) section 4 shall apply to the covered settle4 ment agreement in the succeeding session of Con5 gress; and 

6 (2) in applying section 4 for purposes of such 

7 additional review, the covered settlement agreement 

8 shall be treated as though a report on such covered 

9 settlement agreement were submitted to Congress 

10 under subsection (a) on, with respect to the date on 

11 which the succeeding session of Congress first con12 venes— 

13 (A) in the case of the Senate, the 15th ses14 sion day after that date; or 

15 (B) in the case of the House of Represent16 atives, the 15th legislative day after that date. 

17 SEC. 4. EXPEDITED PROCEDURE FOR JOINT RESOLUTIONS 

18 OF DISAPPROVAL. 

19 (a) REFERRAL.—A joint resolution shall be referred 

20 to the committees in each House of Congress with jurisdic21 tion. 

22 (b) DISCHARGE FROM COMMITTEE.—In the Senate, 

23 if the committee to which a joint resolution of disapproval 

24 is referred under subsection (a) has not reported the joint 

25 resolution of disapproval (or an identical joint resolution 


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1 of disapproval) at the end of 20 calendar days after the 

2 submission date, the committee may be discharged from 

3 further consideration of the joint resolution of disapproval 

4 upon a petition supported in writing by 30 Members of 

5 the Senate, and such joint resolution of disapproval shall 

6 be placed on the calendar. 

7 (c) PROCEDURE.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—In the Senate, when the 

9 committee to which a joint resolution of disapproval 

10 is referred has reported, or when a committee is dis11 charged (under subsection (b)) from further consid12 eration of a joint resolution of disapproval, it is at 

13 any time thereafter in order (even though a previous 

14 motion to the same effect has been disagreed to) for 

15 a motion to proceed to the consideration of the joint 

16 resolution of disapproval, and all points of order 

17 against the joint resolution of disapproval (and 

18 against consideration of the joint resolution of dis19 approval) are waived. The motion is not subject to 

20 amendment, or to a motion to postpone, or to a mo21 tion to proceed to the consideration of other busi22 ness. A motion to reconsider the vote by which the 

23 motion is agreed to or disagreed to shall not be in 

24 order. If a motion to proceed to the consideration of 

25 the joint resolution of disapproval is agreed to, the 


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1 joint resolution of disapproval shall remain the un2 finished business of the Senate until disposed of. 

3 (2) DEBATE LIMITATION.—In the Senate, de4 bate on the joint resolution of disapproval, and on 

5 all debatable motions and appeals in connection 

6 therewith, shall be limited to not more than 10 

7 hours, which shall be divided equally between those 

8 favoring and those opposing the joint resolution of 

9 disapproval. A motion further to limit debate is in 

10 order and not debatable. An amendment to, or a mo11 tion to postpone, or a motion to proceed to the con12 sideration of other business, or a motion to recom13 mit the joint resolution of disapproval is not in 

14 order. 

15 (3) VOTE ON FINAL PASSAGE.—In the Senate, 

16 immediately following the conclusion of the debate 

17 on a joint resolution of disapproval, and a single 

18 quorum call at the conclusion of the debate if re19 quested in accordance with the rules of the Senate, 

20 the vote on final passage of the joint resolution of 

21 disapproval shall occur. 

22 (4) APPEALS.—Appeals from the decisions of 

23 the Chair relating to the application of the rules of 

24 the Senate to the procedure relating to a joint reso25 lution of disapproval shall be decided without debate. 


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1 (d) LIMITATION.—In the Senate, the procedure de2 scribed in subsection (b) or (c) shall not apply to the con3 sideration of a joint resolution of disapproval— 

4 (1) after the expiration of the 60 session days 

5 beginning with the applicable submission date; or 

6 (2) if the report described in section 3(a) was 

7 submitted during an end of session period, after the 

8 expiration of the 60 session days beginning on the 

9 15th session day after the succeeding session of 

10 Congress first convenes. 

11 (e) EFFECT OF PASSAGE IN ONE HOUSE.—If, before 

12 the passage by one House of a joint resolution of dis13 approval of that House, that House receives from the 

14 other House a joint resolution of disapproval, then the fol15 lowing procedures shall apply: 

16 (1) The joint resolution of disapproval of the 

17 other House shall not be referred to a committee. 

18 (2) With respect to a joint resolution of dis19 approval of the House receiving the joint resolution 

20 of disapproval— 

21 (A) the procedure in that House shall be 

22 the same as if no joint resolution of disapproval 

23 had been received from the other House; but 


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1 (B) the vote on final passage shall be on 

2 the joint resolution of disapproval of the other 

3 House. 

4 (f) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—This section is en5 acted by Congress— 

6 (1) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of 

7 the Senate and House of Representatives, respec8 tively, and, as such, it is deemed a part of the rules 

9 of each House, respectively, but applicable only with 

10 respect to the procedure to be followed in that 

11 House in the case of a joint resolution of dis12 approval, and it supersedes other rules only to the 

13 extent that it is inconsistent with such rules; and 

14 (2) with full recognition of the constitutional 

15 right of either House to change the rules (so far as 

16 relating to the procedure of that House) at any time, 

17 in the same manner, and to the same extent as in 

18 the case of any other rule of that House. 

Æ 


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