I 
117TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 8623 
To require that Members of Congress hold a security clearance at the level 
of top secret or higher to obtain access to Sensitive Compartmented 
Information, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 29, 2022 
Mr. PHILLIPS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on House Administration 
A BILL 
To require that Members of Congress hold a security clear-
ance at the level of top secret or higher to obtain access 
to Sensitive Compartmented Information, and for other 
purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Member Security 
Clearance Updates Required for Everyone Act’’ or the 
‘‘Member SECURE Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. SECURITY CLEARANCE REQUIREMENT FOR MEM-
BERS OF CONGRESS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—A Member of Congress who does 
not hold a security clearance at the level of top secret or 
higher that grants the Member access to Sensitive Com-
partmented Information (SCI) may not be provided access 
to any material classified at the SCI level or higher. 
(b) SPECIAL RULE FOR INTERIM SECURITY CLEAR-
ANCE.—A Member of Congress who applies for a security 
clearance described in subsection (a) shall be granted an 
interim security clearance that grants the Member access 
to SCI until a final determination with respect to the secu-
rity clearance of the Member has been made pursuant to 
subsection (c). 
(c) FINAL DETERMINATION WITH RESPECT TO SE-
CURITY CLEARANCE.—With respect to an application for 
a security clearance described in subsection (a) submitted 
by a Member of Congress— 
(1) the final determination of the application 
shall be made pursuant to a vote of the appropriate 
ethics committee after the committee receives the 
background investigation for such Member under 
subsection (d); and 
(2) such security clearance shall be granted to 
the Member only by an affirmative vote of a major-
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ity of the members of the appropriate ethics com-
mittee. 
(d) EXPEDITED
BACKGROUND
INVESTIGATIONS 
PROCESSING.—With respect to an application for a secu-
rity clearance described in subsection (a) submitted by a 
Member of Congress, the appropriate background inves-
tigations department of the Central Intelligence Agency 
shall, to the greatest extent possible, ensure the expedited 
completion of the background investigation required for 
the appropriate ethics committee to make a final deter-
mination for such application. 
(e) IMPLEMENTATION
OF SECURE INFORMATION 
SYSTEMS PROCEDURES.—Not later than 360 days after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sergeant at 
Arms and Doorkeeper of the Senate and the Sergeant at 
Arms of the House of Representatives shall, with respect 
to each House, develop and implement information sys-
tems procedures with the same level of security and pro-
tection of sensitive information as the Secure Internet 
Protocol Router Network used to manage access to sen-
sitive information for personnel of the Department of De-
fense for the purpose of enabling Members of Congress 
and staff with the appropriate security clearance to se-
curely gain access to such sensitive information. 
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(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following defi-
nitions apply: 
(1) MEMBER OF CONGRESS.—The term ‘‘Mem-
ber of Congress’’ includes a Delegate or Resident 
Commissioner to the Congress. 
(2) APPROPRIATE
ETHICS
COMMITTEE.—The 
term ‘‘appropriate ethics committee’’ means— 
(A) in the case of an application for a se-
curity clearance described in subsection (a) sub-
mitted by a Member of the Senate, the Select 
Committee on Ethics of the Senate; and 
(B) in the case of an application for a se-
curity clearance described in subsection (a) sub-
mitted by a Member of the House of Represent-
atives, the Committee on Ethics of the House 
of Representatives. 
(g) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This requirements under 
this section shall take effect 360 days after the date of 
the enactment of this Act. 
Æ 
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