I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2136

To amend title 31, United States Code, to ensure that the General Accounting

Office performs its functions in an impartial, complete, and timely manner in investigating issues of concern to the public.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 17, 1993

Mr. THOMAS of Wyoming (for himself, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. WALKER, Ms.

PRYCE of Ohio, Mr. ROYCE, Mr. EWING, Mr. BUNNING, Mr.

BALLENGER, and Mr. EVERETT) introduced the following bill; which was

referred jointly to the Committees on Government Operations and Rules

A BILL

To amend title 31, United States Code, to ensure that the

General Accounting Office performs its functions in an

impartial, complete, and timely manner in investigating

issues of concern to the public.

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 ‘‘General Accounting

5 Office Reform and Reorganization Act of 1993’’.
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1 SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

2 The purpose of this Act is to ensure that in conduct3 ing evaluations and preparing reports pursuant to an

4 order or request of the Congress, the General Accounting

5 Office performs its functions in an impartial, complete,

6 and timely manner.

7 SEC. 3. REVIEW AND APPROVAL OF GENERAL ACCOUNTING

8 OFFICE INVESTIGATIONS AND REPORTS.

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter II of chapter 7 of title

10 31, United States Code, is amended—

11 (1) by redesignating section 720 as section 721;

12 and

13 (2) by inserting after section 719 the following

14 new section:

15 ‘‘§ 720. Review, approval, and conduct of investiga16 tions, evaluations, assessments, and re17 ports requested by Congress

18 ‘‘(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the

19 Comptroller General may not make a report pursuant to

20 a request of a Member or committee of the Congress, un21 less—

22 ‘‘(1) the Oversight Board approves in accord23 ance with this section a methodology for preparing

24 the report; and
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1 ‘‘(2) the report is prepared in accordance with

2 the methodology as approved by the Oversight

3 Board.

4 ‘‘(b) Upon receiving a request from a committee of

5 the Congress for a report, the Comptroller General shall

6 notify the ranking minority member of that committee

7 that the request has been received.

8 ‘‘(c) A Member of Congress who requests that the

9 Comptroller General make a report, the staff of the Mem10 ber, and a Member and the staff of a committee of the

11 Congress that requests that the Comptroller General make

12 a report, may not advise, consult, confer, or otherwise

13 communicate with the Comptroller General or any person14 nel of the General Accounting Office regarding the report

15 until after the date on which the final report is issued.

16 ‘‘(d) The Comptroller General may not issue any final

17 report pursuant to a request of a Member or committee

18 of Congress unless the final report is approved—

19 ‘‘(1) by the subcommittee under subsection

20 (h)(3) that has responsibility for the subject area of

21 the report; and

22 ‘‘(2) after approval under subparagraph (A), by

23 the Oversight Board.

24 ‘‘(e)(1) Any Member of Congress may submit to the

25 Oversight Board comments challenging the findings or
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1 recommendations of any final report issued by the Comp2 troller General.

3 ‘‘(2) Upon receipt of comments under paragraph (1),

4 the Oversight Board may—

5 ‘‘(A) refer the comments to the Comptroller

6 General for further investigation; or

7 ‘‘(B) refer the final report and comments to an

8 outside entity (including a college or university) for

9 peer review of the findings of the report and the

10 data used.

11 ‘‘(f)(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), there

12 shall be printed in the Congressional Record—

13 ‘‘(A) on a quarterly basis, a list of the names

14 of all Members of Congress who requested, in the

15 quarter covered by the list, that the Comptroller

16 General make any report; and

17 ‘‘(B) by not later than 90 days after the last

18 day of each session of the Congress, a brief sum19 mary of the status and results of each investigation

20 conducted by the General Accounting Office in that

21 session.

22 ‘‘(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to requests by

23 Members of Congress for a report dealing with a national

24 security issue.
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1 ‘‘(g)(1) No hearing may be held by a committee or

2 subcommittee of the Congress regarding a report by the

3 General Accounting Office before the end of the 7-day pe4 riod beginning on the date of the release of the final re5 port.

6 ‘‘(2) Before the 7-day period ending on the date on

7 which a person is required to testify to a committee or

8 subcommittee of the Congress regarding an investigation

9 conducted by the General Accounting Office, the Chair10 man of the committee or subcommittee shall provide to

11 the person a copy of the final report of the General Ac12 counting Office relating to the investigation.

13 ‘‘(h)(1) There is established the General Accounting

14 Office Oversight Board. The Oversight Board shall review

15 in accordance with this section requests by Members and

16 committees of the Congress for the performance of inves17 tigations by the Comptroller General.

18 ‘‘(2) The Oversight Board shall be comprised of 21

19 members appointed as follows:

20 ‘‘(A) 5 Members of the House of Representa21 tives appointed by the Speaker of the House of Rep22 resentatives.

23 ‘‘(B) 5 Members of the House of Representa24 tives appointed by the minority leader of the House

25 of Representatives.
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1 ‘‘(C) 5 Members of the Senate appointed by the

2 majority leader of the Senate.

3 ‘‘(D) 5 Members of the Senate appointed by the

4 minority leader of the Senate.

5 ‘‘(E) The Comptroller General, who shall be a

6 nonvoting member.

7 ‘‘(3)(A) The Oversight Board shall have a sub8 committee for each division in the General Accounting Of9 fice, and each subcommittee shall be responsible for the

10 subject area of that division.

11 ‘‘(B) Each subcommittee shall consist of 9 members

12 of the Oversight Board, of whom—

13 ‘‘(i) 2 shall be members of the Oversight Board

14 appointed by each of the officials referred to in para15 graph (2)(A) through (D); and

16 ‘‘(ii) one shall be the Comptroller General, who

17 shall be a nonvoting member.

18 ‘‘(C) Each subcommittee shall select a chairman and

19 a vice chairman from among its members. No member of

20 the Oversight Board may serve as chairman or vice chair21 man of more than one subcommittee. No member of the

22 Oversight Board may serve on more than 2 subcommittees

23 at any time unless granted a waiver by the Oversight

24 Board.
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1 ‘‘(4) A vacancy in the membership of the Oversight

2 Board shall not affect the power of the remaining mem3 bers to execute the functions of the Oversight Board and

4 shall be filled in the same manner as in the case of the

5 original appointment.

6 ‘‘(5) The Oversight Board shall select a chairman and

7 a vice chairman from among its members at the beginning

8 of each Congress. The vice chairman shall act in the place

9 of the chairman in the absence of the chairman. The chair10 manship and vice chairmanship shall alternate between

11 the Senate and the House of Representatives with each

12 Congress. The chairman during each even-numbered Con13 gress shall be selected by the members of the House of

14 Representatives on the Oversight Board, from among

15 those members. The chairman during each odd-numbered

16 Congress shall be selected by the members of the Senate

17 on the Oversight Board, from among those members. The

18 vice chairman during each Congress shall be selected by

19 the members on the Oversight Board who are members

20 of the House of Congress of which the chairman for that

21 Congress is not a Member.

22 ‘‘(i) In this section, the term ‘report’ includes an in23 vestigation, evaluation, assessment, or report, including

24 one under section 712(4) or (5) or section 717.’’.

25 (b) INITIAL SUBCOMMITTEES.—
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1 (1) NUMBER.—The General Accounting Office

2 Oversight Board established by section 720 of title

3 31, United States Code, as amended by this Act,

4 shall have 7 subcommittees until such time as there

5 is a different number of divisions in the General Ac6 counting Office.

7 (2) SUBJECT AREAS.—Each subcommittee of

8 the General Accounting Office Oversight Board shall

9 be responsible for one of the following subject areas,

10 until such time as there is any change in the subject

11 areas of the divisions of the General Accounting Of12 fice and the Oversight Board alters the subject areas

13 of the subcommittee to coincide with that change:

14 (A) Accounting and financial management.

15 (B) General government.

16 (C) Human resources.

17 (D) Information management and tech18 nology.

19 (E) National security and international af20 fairs.

21 (F) Program evaluation and methodology.

22 (G) Resources, community, and economic

23 development.
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1 (c) OVERSIGHT BOARD DEFINED.—Section 701 of

2 title 31, United States Code, is amended by adding at the

3 end the following:

4 ‘‘(3) ‘Oversight Board’ means the General Ac5 counting Office Oversight Board established by sec6 tion 720.’’.

7 (d) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—Title 31, United

8 States Code, is amended in the table of sections at the

9 beginning of chapter 7 by striking the item relating to sec10 tion 720 and inserting the following:

‘‘720. Review, approval, and conduct of investigations, evaluations, assessments,

and reports requested by Congress.

‘‘721. Agency reports.’’.

11 SEC. 4. GAO DETAILEES AND ASSIGNEES.

12 Section 734 of title 31, United States Code, is

13 amended—

14 (1) by inserting ‘‘(a)’’ before ‘‘The Comptrol15 ler’’; and

16 (2) by adding at the end the following:

17 ‘‘(b) The Comptroller General may not detail or as18 sign an officer or employee of the General Accounting Of19 fice to a committee of the Congress—

20 ‘‘(1) more than twice in any Congress; or

21 ‘‘(2) for a period longer than 3 months.

22 ‘‘(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of this title,

23 the Comptroller General may not make any investigation,

24 evaluation, assessment, or report pursuant to a request
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1 from a committee of the Congress or the Chairman of a

2 committee of the Congress if an officer or employee of the

3 General Accounting Office was detailed or assigned to the

4 committee in the 3-month period ending on the date of

5 the submittal of the request.’’.

Æ