115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4010 
AN ACT 
To amend the Revised Statutes of the United States and 
title 28, United States Code, to enhance compliance with 
requests for information pursuant to legislative power 
under Article I of the Constitution, and for other pur-
poses. 
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 ‘‘Congressional Sub-
poena Compliance and Enforcement Act of 2017’’. 
SEC. 2. ENFORCEMENT OF CONGRESSIONAL SUBPOENAS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 85 of title 28, United 
States Code, is amended by inserting after section 1365 
the following: 
‘‘§ 1365a. Congressional actions against subpoena re-
cipients 
‘‘(a) SPECIAL RULES.—In any civil action brought by 
the United States House of Representatives, the United 
States Senate, or a committee or subcommittee thereof, 
against the recipient of a subpoena to secure declaratory, 
injunctive, or other relief as may be appropriate con-
cerning the failure to comply with a subpoena issued by 
a congressional committee or subcommittee, the following 
rules shall apply: 
‘‘(1) The action shall be filed in a United 
States district court of competent jurisdiction. 
‘‘(2) It shall be the duty of the United States 
district courts, the United States courts of appeal, 
and the Supreme Court of the United States to ad-
vance on the docket and to expedite to the greatest 
possible extent the disposition of any such action 
and appeal.
‘‘(3) If a three-judge court is expressly re-
quested by the plaintiff in the initial pleading, the 
action shall be heard by a three-judge court con-
vened pursuant to section 2284 of title 28, United 
States Code, and shall be reviewable only by appeal 
directly to the Supreme Court of the United States. 
Such appeal shall be taken by the filing of a notice 
of appeal within 10 days, and the filing of a jurisdic-
tional statement within 30 days, of the entry of the 
final decision. 
‘‘(b) MONETARY PENALTIES IN CASES INVOLVING 
GOVERNMENT AGENCIES.— 
‘‘(1) The court may impose monetary penalties 
directly against the head of a Government agency or 
a component thereof held to have willfully failed to 
comply with any part of a congressional subpoena. 
‘‘(2) No appropriated funds, funds provided 
from any accounts in the Treasury, funds derived 
from the collection of fees, or other Government 
funds shall be used to pay any monetary penalty im-
posed by the court pursuant to this section. 
‘‘(c) WAIVER OF PRIVILEGE.—Any assertion of a 
privilege or other ground for noncompliance (whether stat-
utory, common law, or otherwise) asserted by the recipient 
of a congressional subpoena may be determined to have
been waived as to any particular record withheld from pro-
duction if the court finds that the recipient failed in a 
timely manner to comply with the requirement of section 
105 of the Revised Statutes of the United States that it 
produce a privilege log with respect to such record. 
‘‘(d) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, the 
term ‘Government agency’ means an executive department 
listed in section 101 of title 5, United States Code, an 
independent establishment, commission, board, bureau, di-
vision, or office in the executive branch, or other agency 
of the Federal Government, including wholly or partly 
owned Government corporations.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 
for chapter 85 of title 28, United States Code, is amended 
by inserting after the item relating to section 1365 the 
following: 
‘‘1365a. Congressional actions against subpoena recipients.’’. 
SEC. 3. COMPLIANCE WITH CONGRESSIONAL SUBPOENAS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 7 of title II of the Re-
vised Statutes of the United States (2 U.S.C. 191 et seq.) 
is amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘SEC. 105. RESPONSE TO CONGRESSIONAL SUBPOENAS. 
‘‘(a) SUBPOENA BY CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE.— 
Any recipient of any subpoena from a congressional com-
mittee or subcommittee shall appear and testify or
produce records in a manner consistent with the subpoena 
and this section. 
‘‘(b) CONGRESSIONAL SUBPOENAS FOR RECORDS.— 
‘‘(1) IDENTIFICATION
OF
RECORDS
WITH-
HELD.—In the case of a record that is withheld, in 
whole or in part, by the subpoena recipient, the sub-
poena recipient shall provide a log containing the 
following information concerning such record: 
‘‘(A) An express assertion and description 
of the legal basis asserted for withholding the 
record. 
‘‘(B) The type of record. 
‘‘(C) The general subject matter. 
‘‘(D) The date, author, and addressee. 
‘‘(E) The relationship of the author and 
addressee to each other. 
‘‘(F) The custodian of the record. 
‘‘(G) Any other descriptive information 
that may be produced or disclosed regarding 
the record that will enable the congressional 
committee or subcommittee issuing the sub-
poena to assess the legal basis asserted for 
withholding the record. 
‘‘(2) MISSING RECORDS.—In the case of any 
record responsive to the subpoena submitted under
paragraph (1) that was, but no longer is, in the pos-
session, custody, or control of the subpoena recipi-
ent, the subpoena recipient shall identify the record 
(including the date, author, subject, and each recipi-
ent of the record) and explain the circumstances 
under which the record ceased to be in the posses-
sion, custody, or control of the subpoena recipient. 
‘‘(3) 
ELECTRONIC
RECORDS.—Electronic 
records shall be produced pursuant to this sub-
section in their native or original file format. Elec-
tronic records shall be delivered on a storage device 
(such as compact disk, memory stick, or thumb 
drive) and, to the extent feasible, shall be organized, 
identified, and indexed electronically and shall in-
clude an index describing the contents of the produc-
tion. 
‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section the 
term ‘record’ includes any books, papers, documents, data, 
or other objects requested in a subpoena issued by a con-
gressional committee or subcommittee.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 
for chapter 7 of title II of the Revised Statutes of the 
United States is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘105. Response to congressional subpoenas.’’.
SEC. 4. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 
Nothing in this Act shall be interpreted to diminish 
Congress’ inherent authority or previously established 
methods and practices for enforcing compliance with con-
gressional subpoenas, nor shall anything in this Act be in-
terpreted to establish Congress’ acceptance of any as-
serted privilege or other legal basis for noncompliance with 
a congressional subpoena. 
Passed the House of Representatives October 23, 
2017. 
Attest: 
Clerk.
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 4010 
AN ACT 
To amend the Revised Statutes of the United 
States and title 28, United States Code, to en-
hance compliance with requests for information 
pursuant to legislative power under Article I of 
the Constitution, and for other purposes.