SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Political Appointee 
Burrowing Prevention Act’’. 
SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON EMPLOYMENT OF POLITICAL AP-
POINTEES IN CAREER CIVIL SERVICE POSI-
TIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter I of chapter 31 of title 
5, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end 
the following: 
‘‘§ 3115. Employment of political appointees 
‘‘(a) APPOINTMENT APPROVAL REQUIRED.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The head of an agency may 
not appoint any individual described in paragraph 
(5) to a career position within the agency without 
receiving prior written approval from the Associate 
Director of Merit Systems Accountability and Com-
pliance, consistent with the requirements of this sub-
section. 
‘‘(2) REQUEST.—The head of an agency shall 
submit a request to the Associate Director to ap-
prove the appointment of any individual described in 
paragraph (5) to a career position. Any such request 
shall include certification by the head of the agency 
to the Associate Director that the appointment is 
necessary for the agency to meet its mission.
‘‘(3) REVIEW AND DETERMINATION.—The As-
sociate Director shall review any request received 
pursuant to paragraph (2) and deny any such re-
quest unless the Associate Director determines that 
the appointment process with respect to the request 
was fair, open, and free from political influence. If 
the Associate Director makes that determination, 
the Associate Director may approve the request. 
‘‘(4) NOTIFICATION
TO
CONGRESS.—With re-
spect to any request approved under paragraph (3), 
the Associate Director shall, not less than five days 
before the date the Associate Director provides ap-
proval to the head of the requesting agency, provide 
to the Committee on Oversight and Government Re-
form of the House of Representatives and the Com-
mittee on Homeland Security and Governmental Af-
fairs of the Senate the agency certification under 
paragraph (2) and the agency head’s rationale for 
that certification. 
‘‘(5) COVERED
INDIVIDUALS.—An individual 
described in this paragraph is— 
‘‘(A) a political appointee; 
‘‘(B) a former political appointee who held 
any political position during the 5-year period
before the date of the request described in para-
graph (2); or 
‘‘(C) at the discretion of the Director of 
the Office of Personnel Management, a former 
political appointee who held any political posi-
tion before the five-year period described in 
subparagraph (B). 
‘‘(b) RESTRICTION ON APPOINTMENT.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 
law, rule, or regulation, during the 2-year period fol-
lowing the date a political appointee leaves or de-
parts from a political position, such appointee may 
not be appointed to any career position in the civil 
service. 
‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—Paragraph (1) shall not 
apply to a political appointee who has not personally 
and substantially participated in any particular mat-
ter while employed in a political position. 
‘‘(c) APPLICATION.—Nothing in this section shall be 
construed to restrict the appointment of an individual who 
is— 
‘‘(1) entitled to reinstatement under section 
3593(b); or 
‘‘(2) eligible for reinstatement under section 
3593(a).
‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 
‘‘(1) the term ‘agency’ has the meaning given 
the term ‘Executive agency’ in section 105; 
‘‘(2) the term ‘Associate Director’ means the 
Associate Director of Merit Systems Accountability 
and Compliance at the Office of Personnel Manage-
ment; 
‘‘(3) the term ‘political appointee’ means an in-
dividual serving in an appointment of any duration 
to a political position; 
‘‘(4) the term ‘political position’ means— 
‘‘(A) a position with respect to which ap-
pointment is made— 
‘‘(i) by the President; or 
‘‘(ii) by the President, by and with the 
advice and consent of the Senate; 
‘‘(B) a position which has been excepted 
from the competitive service by reason of its 
confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, 
or policy-advocating character; 
‘‘(C) a position described under sections 
5312 through 5316 (relating to the Executive 
Schedule); and
‘‘(D) a general position in the Senior Exec-
utive Service during such time as it is filled 
by— 
‘‘(i) a noncareer appointee, as defined 
in paragraph (7) of section 3132(a); or 
‘‘(ii) a limited term appointee or lim-
ited emergency appointee, as defined in 
paragraphs (5) and (6) of section 3132(a), 
who is serving under a political appoint-
ment. 
‘‘(5) the term ‘career position’ means— 
‘‘(A) a position in the competitive service 
filled by career or career-conditional appoint-
ment; 
‘‘(B) a position in the excepted service 
filled by an appointment of equivalent tenure as 
a position described in subparagraph (A); 
‘‘(C) a career reserved position, as defined 
in paragraph (8) of section 3132(a), in the Sen-
ior Executive Service; or 
‘‘(D) a general position in the Senior Exec-
utive Service when filled by a career appointee, 
as defined in section 3132(a)(4); 
‘‘(6) the term ‘participated’ means an action 
taken as an officer or employee through decision, ap-