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[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5590 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>

118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5590

  To require an officer or employee of the Federal Government who is 
required by law to appear on a regular basis to give oral testimony at 
  a hearing of a committee of Congress to remain at the hearing until 
each member of the committee has been provided with the opportunity to 
                   question the officer or employee.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 20, 2023

  Mr. Donalds (for himself, Mr. Norman, Ms. Hageman, Mr. Moylan, Ms. 
Mace, Mrs. Boebert, and Mr. Ogles) introduced the following bill; which 
 was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, and in 
  addition to the Committee on Rules, for a period to be subsequently 
   determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
 provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
  To require an officer or employee of the Federal Government who is 
required by law to appear on a regular basis to give oral testimony at 
  a hearing of a committee of Congress to remain at the hearing until 
each member of the committee has been provided with the opportunity to 
                   question the officer or employee.

    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 ``No More Hard Stops Act''.

SEC. 2. REQUIRING FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS TESTIFYING AT HEARINGS 
              OF COMMITTEES OF CONGRESS TO REMAIN UNTIL EACH MEMBER HAS 
              BEEN PROVIDED THE OPPORTUNITY TO QUESTION.

    (a) Requirement.--An officer or employee of the Federal Government 
who is subject to a requirement under law to appear on a regular basis 
to give oral testimony at a hearing of a committee of Congress shall 
not be considered to meet such requirement unless the officer or 
employee remains at the hearing until each member of the committee who 
is present at the hearing has been provided with the opportunity to 
question the officer or employee.
    (b) Ensuring Opportunity To Question for Each Member.--
            (1) In general.--The chair of a committee of Congress who 
        presides at a hearing of the committee at which an officer or 
        employee of the Federal Government appears pursuant to a 
        requirement described in subsection (a) may not provide a 
        member of the committee with a second opportunity to question 
        the officer or employee at the hearing until each member of the 
        committee who seeks to question the officer or employee has 
        been provided with an opportunity to do so.
            (2) Exercise of rulemaking power.--This subsection is 
        enacted by Congress--
                    (A) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of the 
                Senate and House of Representatives, respectively, and 
                as such it is deemed a part of the rules of each House, 
                respectively, but applicable only with respect to the 
                procedure to be followed in that House in the case of a 
                Commission joint resolution, and it supersedes other 
                rules only to the extent that it is inconsistent with 
                such rules; and
                    (B) with full recognition of the constitutional 
                right of either House to change the rules (so far as 
                relating to the procedure of that House) at any time, 
                in the same manner, and to the same extent as in the 
                case of any other rule of that House.
    (c) Effective Date.--This Act shall apply with respect to hearings 
held on or after the date of the enactment of this Act.
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