IB
Union Calendar No. 125
103D CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 811
[Report No. 103–224]
To reauthorize the independent counsel law for an additional 5 years, and
for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 4, 1993
Mr. BROOKS (for himself, Mr. BRYANT, and Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary
AUGUST 6, 1993
Additional sponsors: Mrs. UNSOELD, Mr. HAMBURG, and Mr. CONYERS
AUGUST 6, 1993
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]
[For text of the introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on February 4, 1993]
A BILL
To reauthorize the independent counsel law for an additional
5 years, 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 ‘‘Independent Counsel
Reauthorization Act of 1993’’.
SEC. 2. FIVE-YEAR REAUTHORIZATION.
Section 599 of title 28, United States Code, is amended
by striking ‘‘1987’’ and inserting ‘‘1993’’.
SEC. 3. ADDED CONTROLS.
(a) COST
CONTROLS
AND
ADMINISTRATIVE
SUP-
PORT.—Section 594 of title 28, United States Code, is
amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
‘‘(l) COST CONTROLS
AND ADMINISTRATIVE SUP-
PORT.—
‘‘(1) COST CONTROLS.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—An independent counsel
shall—
‘‘(i) conduct all activities with due re-
gard for expense;
‘‘(ii) authorize only reasonable and
lawful expenditures; and
‘‘(iii) promptly, upon taking office, as-
sign to a specific employee the duty of cer-
tifying that expenditures of the independent
counsel are reasonable and made in accord-
ance with law.
‘‘(B) DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE POLICIES.—
An independent counsel shall comply with the es-
tablished policies of the Department of Justice
respecting expenditures of funds, except to the ex-
tent that compliance would be inconsistent with
the purposes of this chapter.
‘‘(2) ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT.—The Director
of the Administrative Office of the United States
Courts shall provide administrative support and
guidance to each independent counsel. No officer or
employee of the Administrative Office of the United
States Courts shall disclose information related to an
independent counsel’s expenditures, personnel, or ad-
ministrative acts or arrangements without the author-
ization of the independent counsel.
‘‘(3) OFFICE SPACE.—The Administrator of Gen-
eral Services, in consultation with the Director of the
Administrative Office of the United States Courts,
shall promptly provide appropriate office space for
each independent counsel. Such office space shall be
within a Federal building unless the Administrator of
General Services determines that other arrangements
would cost less.’’.
(b) INDEPENDENT COUNSEL PER DIEM EXPENSES.—
Section 594(b) of title 28, United States Code, is amend-
ed—
(1) by striking ‘‘An independent counsel’’ and
inserting
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—An independent counsel’’;
and
(2) by adding at the end the following new para-
graphs:
‘‘(2) TRAVEL EXPENSES.—Except as provided in
paragraph (3), an independent counsel and persons
appointed under subsection (c) shall be entitled to the
payment of travel expenses as provided by subchapter
1 of chapter 57 of title 5, including travel or trans-
portation expenses in accordance with section 5703 of
title 5.
‘‘(3) TRAVEL
TO
PRIMARY
OFFICE.—An inde-
pendent counsel and any person appointed under sub-
section (c) shall not be entitled to the payment of
travel and subsistence expenses under subchapter 1 of
chapter 57 of title 5 with respect to duties performed
in the city in which the primary office of that inde-
pendent counsel or person is located after 1 year of
service by that independent counsel or person (as the
case may be) under this chapter unless the employee
assigned duties under subsection (l)(1)(A)(iii) certifies
that the payment is in the public interest to carry out
the purposes of this chapter. Any such certification
shall be effective for 6 months, but may be renewed for
additional periods of 6-months each if, for each such
renewal, the employee assigned duties under sub-
section (l)(1)(A)(iii) makes a recertification with re-
spect to the public interest described in the preceding
sentence. 
In 
making 
any 
certification 
or
recertification under this paragraph with respect to
travel and subsistence expenses of an independent
counsel or person appointed under subsection (c), such
employee shall consider, among other relevant fac-
tors—
‘‘(A) the cost to the Government of reim-
bursing such travel and subsistence expenses;
‘‘(B) the period of time for which the inde-
pendent counsel anticipates that the activities of
the independent counsel or person, as the case
may be, will continue;
‘‘(C) the personal and financial burdens on
the independent counsel or person, as the case
may be, of relocating so that such travel and
subsistence expenses would not be incurred; and
‘‘(D) the burdens associated with appoint-
ing a new independent counsel, or appointing
another person under subsection (c), to replace
the individual involved who is unable or unwill-
ing to so relocate.
An employee making a certification or recertification
under this paragraph shall be liable for an invalid
certification or recertification to the same extent as a
certifying official certifying a voucher is liable under
section 3528 of title 31.’’.
(c) INDEPENDENT COUNSEL EMPLOYEE PAY COM-
PARABILITY.—Section 594(c) of title 28, United States
Code, is amended by striking the last sentence and inserting
the following: ‘‘Such employees shall be compensated at lev-
els not to exceed those payable for comparable positions in
the Office of United States Attorney for the District of Co-
lumbia under sections 548 and 550, but in no event shall
any such employee be compensated at a rate greater than
the rate of basic pay payable for level IV of the Executive
Schedule under section 5315 of title 5.’’.
(d) ETHICS ENFORCEMENT.—Section 594(j) of title
28, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end
the following new paragraph:
‘‘(5) ENFORCEMENT.—The Attorney General and
the Director of the Office of Government Ethics have
authority to enforce compliance with this subsection.’’.
(e) COMPLIANCE WITH POLICIES OF THE DEPART-
MENT
OF JUSTICE.—Section 594(f) of title 28, United
States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘shall, except where
not possible, comply’’ and inserting ‘‘shall, except to the ex-
tent that to do so would be inconsistent with the purposes
of this chapter, comply’’.
(f) PUBLICATION OF REPORTS.—Section 594(h) of title
28, United States Code, is amended—
(1) by adding at the end the following new para-
graph:
‘‘(3) PUBLICATION OF REPORTS.—At the request
of an independent counsel, the Public Printer shall
cause to be printed any report previously released to
the public under paragraph (2). The independent
counsel shall certify the number of copies necessary
for the public, and the Public Printer shall place the
cost of the required number to the debit of such inde-
pendent counsel. Additional copies shall be made
available to the public through the Superintendent of
Documents sales program under section 1702 of title
44 and the depository library program under section
1903 of such title.’’; and
(2) in the first sentence of paragraph (2), by
striking ‘‘appropriate’’ the second place it appears
and inserting ‘‘in the public interest, consistent with
maximizing public disclosure, ensuring a full expla-
nation of independent counsel activities and decision-
making, and facilitating the release of information
and materials which the independent counsel has de-
termined should be disclosed’’.
(g) 
ANNUAL
REPORTS
TO
CONGRESS.—Section
595(a)(2) of title 28, United States Code, is amended by
striking ‘‘such statements’’ and all that follows through ‘‘ap-
propriate’’ and inserting ‘‘annually a report on the activi-
ties of the independent counsel, including a description of
the progress of any investigation or prosecution conducted
by the independent counsel. Such report may omit any mat-
ter that in the judgment of the independent counsel should
be kept confidential, but shall provide information adequate
to justify the expenditures that the office of the independent
counsel has made’’.
(h) PERIODIC
REAPPOINTMENT
OF
INDEPENDENT
COUNSEL.—Section 596(b)(2) of title 28, United States
Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new
sentence: ‘‘If the Attorney General has not made a request
under this paragraph, the division of the court shall deter-
mine on its own motion whether termination is appropriate
under this paragraph not later than 3 years after the ap-
pointment of an independent counsel and at the end of each
succeeding 3-year period.’’.
(i) AUDITS BY THE COMPTROLLER GENERAL.—Sec-
tion 596(c) of title 28, United States Code, is amended to
read as follows:
‘‘(c) AUDITS.—By December 31 of each year, an inde-
pendent counsel shall prepare a statement of expenditures
for the fiscal year that ended on the immediately preceding
September 30. An independent counsel whose office is termi-
nated prior to the end of the fiscal year shall prepare a
statement of expenditures by the date that is 90 days after
the date on which the office is terminated. The Comptroller
General shall audit each such statement and shall, not later
than March 31 of the year following the submission of any
such statement, report the results of each audit to the Com-
mittee on the Judiciary and the Committee on Government
Operations of the House of Representatives and to the Com-
mittee on Governmental Affairs and the Committee on the
Judiciary of the Senate.’’.
SEC. 4. MEMBERS OF CONGRESS.
Section 591(c) of title 28, United States Code, is
amended—
(1) by indenting paragraphs (1) and (2) two
ems to the right and by redesignating such para-
graphs as subparagraphs (A) and (B), respectively;
(2) by striking ‘‘The Attorney’’ and all that fol-
lows through ‘‘if—’’ and inserting the following:
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General may
conduct a preliminary investigation in accordance
with section 592 if—’’; and
(3) by adding at the end the following new para-
graph:
‘‘(2) MEMBERS OF CONGRESS.—When the Attor-
ney General determines that it would be in the public
interest, the Attorney General may conduct a prelimi-
nary investigation in accordance with section 592 if
the Attorney General receives information sufficient to
constitute grounds to investigate whether a Member of
Congress may have violated any Federal criminal law
other than a violation classified as a Class B or C
misdemeanor or an infraction.’’.
SEC. 5. GROUNDS FOR REMOVAL.
Section 596(a)(1) of title 28, United States Code, is
amended by striking ‘‘physical disability, mental incapac-
ity’’ and inserting ‘‘physical or mental disability (consist-
ent with prohibitions on discrimination otherwise imposed
by law)’’.
SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.
The amendments made by this Act shall become effec-
tive on the date of the enactment of this Act.