IIB 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 72 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 5, 2017 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and 

Governmental Affairs 

AN ACT 

To ensure the Government Accountability Office has 

adequate access to information. 

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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HR 72 RFS

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘GAO Access and Over3 sight Act of 2017’’. 

4 SEC. 2. ACCESS TO CERTAIN INFORMATION. 

5 (a) ACCESS TO CERTAIN INFORMATION.—Subchapter 

6 II of chapter 7 of title 31, United States Code, is amended 

7 by adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘§ 721. Access to certain information 

9 ‘‘(a) No provision of the Social Security Act, includ10 ing section 453(l) of that Act (42 U.S.C. 653(l)), shall 

11 be construed to limit, amend, or supersede the authority 

12 of the Comptroller General to obtain any information or 

13 to inspect any record under section 716 of this title. 

14 ‘‘(b) The specific reference to a statute in subsection 

15 (a) shall not be construed to affect access by the Govern16 ment Accountability Office to information under statutes 

17 that are not so referenced.’’. 

18 (b) AGENCY REPORTS.—Section 720(b) of title 31, 

19 United States Code, is amended— 

20 (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 

21 inserting ‘‘or planned’’ after ‘‘action taken’’; and 

22 (2) by striking paragraph (1) and inserting the 

23 following: 

24 ‘‘(1) the Committee on Homeland Security and 

25 Governmental Affairs of the Senate, the Committee 

26 on Oversight and Government Reform of the House 


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1 of Representatives, the congressional committees 

2 with jurisdiction over the agency program or activity 

3 that is the subject of the recommendation, and the 

4 Government Accountability Office before the 61st 

5 day after the date of the report; and’’. 

6 (c) AUTHORITY TO OBTAIN RECORDS.—Section 716 

7 of title 31, United States Code, is amended in subsection 

8 (a)— 

9 (1) by striking ‘‘(a)’’ and inserting ‘‘(2)’’; and 

10 (2) by inserting after the section heading the 

11 following: 

12 ‘‘(a)(1) The Comptroller General is authorized to ob13 tain such agency records as the Comptroller General re14 quires to discharge the duties of the Comptroller General 

15 (including audit, evaluation, and investigative duties), in16 cluding through the bringing of civil actions under this 

17 section. In reviewing a civil action under this section, the 

18 court shall recognize the continuing force and effect of the 

19 authorization in the preceding sentence until such time as 

20 the authorization is repealed pursuant to law.’’. 

21 (d) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

22 The table of sections for chapter 7 of title 31, United 


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1 States Code, is amended by inserting after the item relat2 ing to section 720 the following: 

‘‘721. Access to certain information.’’. 

Passed the House of Representatives January 4, 

2017. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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