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SEC. 9. GARNISHMENT OF FEDERAL EMPLOYEES’ PAY.
(a) Subchapter II of chapter 55 of title 5, United
States Code, is amended by adding at the end thereof the
following new section:
‘‘§ 5520a. Garnishment of pay
‘‘(a) For purposes of this section—
‘‘(1) ‘agency’ means each agency of the Federal
Government, including—
‘‘(A) an executive agency, except for the
General Accounting Office;
‘‘(B) the United States Postal Service and
the Postal Rate Commission;
‘‘(C) any agency of the judicial branch of
the Government; and
‘‘(D) any agency of the legislative branch of
the Government, including the General Account-
ing Office, each office of a Member of Congress,
a committee of the Congress, or other office of the
Congress;
‘‘(2) ‘employee’ means an employee of an agency
(including a Member of Congress as defined under
section 2106);
‘‘(3) ‘legal process’ means any writ, order, sum-
mons, or other similar process in the nature of gar-
nishment, that—
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‘‘(A) is issued by a court of competent juris-
diction within any State, territory, or possession
of the United States, or an authorized official
pursuant to an order of such a court or pursuant
to State or local law; and
‘‘(B) orders the employing agency of such
employee to withhold an amount from the pay of
such employee, and make a payment of such
withholding to another person, for a specifically
described satisfaction of a legal debt of the em-
ployee, or recovery of attorney’s fees, interest, or
court costs; and
‘‘(4) ‘pay’ means—
‘‘(A) basic pay, premium pay paid under
subchapter V, any payment received under sub-
chapter VI, VII, or VIII, severance and back pay
paid under subchapter IX, sick pay, incentive
pay, and any other compensation paid or pay-
able for personal services, whether such com-
pensation is denominated as wages, salary, com-
mission, bonus pay or otherwise; and
‘‘(B) does not include awards for making
suggestions.
‘‘(b) Subject to the provisions of this section and the
provisions of section 303 of the Consumer Credit Protection
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Act (15 U.S.C. 1673) pay from an agency to an employee
is subject to legal process in the same manner and to the
same extent as if the agency were a private person.
‘‘(c)(1) Service of legal process to which an agency is
subject under this section may be accomplished by certified
or registered mail, return receipt requested, or by personal
service, upon—
‘‘(A) the appropriate agent designated for receipt
of such service of process pursuant to the regulations
issued under this section; or
‘‘(B) the head of such agency, if no agent has
been so designated.
‘‘(2) Such legal process shall be accompanied by suffi-
cient information to permit prompt identification of the
employee and the payments involved.
‘‘(d) Whenever any person, who is designated by law
or regulation to accept service of process to which an agency
is subject under this section, is effectively served with any
such process or with interrogatories, such person shall re-
spond thereto within thirty days (or within such longer pe-
riod as may be prescribed by applicable State law) after
the date effective service thereof is made, and shall, as soon
as possible but not later than fifteen days after the date
effective service is made, send written notice that such proc-
ess has been so served (together with a copy thereof) to the
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affected employee at his or her duty station or last-known
home address.
‘‘(e) No employee whose duties include responding to
interrogatories pursuant to requirements imposed by this
section shall be subject to any disciplinary action or civil
or criminal liability or penalty for, or on account of, any
disclosure of information made by such employee in connec-
tion with the carrying out of any of such employee’s duties
which pertain directly or indirectly to the answering of any
such interrogatory.
‘‘(f) Agencies affected by legal process under this sec-
tion shall not be required to vary their normal pay and
disbursement cycles in order to comply with any such legal
process.
‘‘(g) Neither the United States, an agency, nor any dis-
bursing officer shall be liable with respect to any payment
made from payments due or payable to an employee pursu-
ant to legal process regular on its face, provided such pay-
ment is made in accordance with this section and the regu-
lations issued to carry out this section. In determining the
amount of any payment due from, or payable by, an agency
to an employee, there shall be excluded those amounts which
would be excluded under section 462(g) of the Social Secu-
rity Act (42 U.S.C. 662(g)).
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‘‘(h)(1) Subject to the provisions of paragraph (2), if
an agency is served under this section with more than one
legal process with respect to the same payments due or pay-
able to an employee, then such payments shall be available,
subject to section 303 of the Consumer Credit Protection Act
(15 U.S.C. 1673), to satisfy such processes in priority based
on the time of service, with any such process being satisfied
out of such amounts as remain after satisfaction of all such
processes which have been previously served.
‘‘(2) A legal process to which an agency is subject
under sections 459, 461, and 462 of the Social Security Act
(42 U.S.C. 659, 661, and 662) for the enforcement of the
employee’s legal obligation to provide child support or make
alimony payments, shall have priority over any legal proc-
ess to which an agency is subject under this section.
‘‘(i) The provisions of this section shall not modify or
supersede the provisions of sections 459, 461, and 462 of
the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 659, 661, and 662) con-
cerning legal process brought for the enforcement of an indi-
vidual’s legal obligations to provide child support or make
alimony payments.
‘‘(j)(1) Regulations implementing the provisions of this
section shall be promulgated—
‘‘(A) by the President or his designee for each ex-
ecutive agency, except with regard to employees of the
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United States Postal Service, the President or, at his
discretion, the Postmaster General shall promulgate
such regulations;
‘‘(B) jointly by the President pro tempore of the
Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representa-
tives, or their designee, for the legislative branch of
the Government; and
‘‘(C) by the Chief Justice of the United States or
his designee for the judicial branch of the Govern-
ment.
‘‘(2) Such regulations shall provide that an agency’s
administrative costs in executing a garnishment action
may be added to the garnishment, and that the agency may
retain costs recovered as offsetting collections.
‘‘(k)(1) No later than 180 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Secretaries of the Executive de-
partments concerned shall promulgate regulations to carry
out the purposes of this section with regard to members of
the uniformed services.
‘‘(2) Such regulations shall include provisions for—
‘‘(A) the involuntary allotment of the pay of a
member of the uniformed services for indebtedness
owed a third party as determined by the final judg-
ment of a court of competent jurisdiction, and as fur-
ther determined by competent military or executive
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authority, as appropriate, to be in compliance with
the procedural requirements of the Soldiers’ and Sail-
ors’ Civil Relief Act of 1940 (50 App. U.S.C. 501 et
seq.); and
‘‘(B) consideration for the absence of a member
of the uniformed service from an appearance in a ju-
dicial proceeding resulting from the exigencies of
military duty.
‘‘(3) The Secretaries of the Executive departments con-
cerned shall promulgate regulations under this subsection
that are, as far as practicable, uniform for all of the uni-
formed services. The Secretary of Defense shall consult with
the Secretary of Transportation with regard to the promul-
gation of such regulations that might affect members of the
Coast Guard when the Coast Guard is operating as a serv-
ice in the Navy.’’.
(b)(1) The table of chapters for chapter 55 of title 5,
United States Code, is amended by inserting after the item
relating to section 5520 the following:
‘‘5520a. Garnishment of pay.’’.
(2) Section 410(b) of title 39, United States Code, is
amended—
(A) by redesignating the second paragraph (9)
(relating to the Inspector General Act of 1978) as
paragraph (10); and
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(B) by adding at the end thereof the following
new paragraph:
‘‘(11) section 5520a of title 5.’’.
SEC. 10. SENSE OF THE SENATE RELATING TO FEDERAL EM-
PLOYEE SOLICITATION OF FUNDS AND CAN-
DIDACIES.
It is the sense of the Senate that Federal employees
should not be authorized to—
(1) solicit political contributions from the gen-
eral public; or
(2) run for the nomination or as a candidate for
a local partisan political office, except as expressly
provided under current law.
SEC. 11. SENSE OF THE SENATE RELATING TO ASSISTANCE
TO NICARAGUA.
(a) FINDINGS.—The Senate finds the following:
(1) On May 23, 1993, an explosion in Managua,
Nicaragua exposed a cache of weapons, including 19
surface-to-air missiles, hundreds of AK–47 assault ri-
fles, machine guns, rocket propelled grenades, tons of
ammunition and explosives.
(2) Investigations of the explosions have uncov-
ered 310 passports from 21 different countries, in-
cluding seven United States passports.
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(3) Documents in the possession of those appre-
hended in connection with the February 26, 1993,
bombing of the World Trade Center have been traced
to Nicaragua.
(4) The acquisition and storage of these weapons
and documents could not have been accomplished
without the knowledge and cooperation of the Sandi-
nista National Liberation Front and ministries of the
Government of Nicaragua under its control.
(5) The Sandinista National Liberation Front
has a history of subversion and links to international
terrorism.
(6) The recent discovery demonstrates the inabil-
ity of the legitimate Government of Nicaragua to con-
trol all of its ministries.
(7) This lack of authority makes uncertain the
ability of the Government of Nicaragua to prevent the
export of terrorism by the Sandinista National Lib-
eration Front.
(b) SENSE OF SENATE.—It is the sense of the Senate
that—
(1) no further United States foreign assistance to
Nicaragua should be obligated pending investigation
by an appropriate international body, with the par-
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ticipation of United States Federal agencies, of the
Sandinista National Liberation Front; and
(2) such investigation should focus on the rela-
tionship of the Sandinista National Liberation Front
to acts of terrorism which threaten to undermine the
security of the United States and the political stabil-
ity and economic prosperity of the Western Hemi-
sphere.
SEC. 12. EFFECTIVE DATE.
(a) The amendments made by this Act shall take effect
120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, except
that the authority to prescribe regulations granted under
section 7325 of title 5, United States Code (as added by
section 2 of this Act), shall take effect on the date of the
enactment of this Act.
(b) Any repeal or amendment made by this Act of any
provision of law shall not release or extinguish any penalty,
forfeiture, or liability incurred under that provision, and
that provision shall be treated as remaining in force for
the purpose of sustaining any proper proceeding or action
for the enforcement of that penalty, forfeiture, or
liability.
(c) No provision of this Act shall affect any proceed-
ings with respect to which the charges were filed on or before
the effective date of the amendments made by this Act. Or-
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ders shall be issued in such proceedings and appeals shall
be taken therefrom as if this Act had not been enacted.
Attest:
Secretary.