Congressional Subpoena Compliance and Enforcement Act
Bill: H.R.6079 | Sponsor: Rep. Dean, Madeleine (D-PA)
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics

Summary:
Congressional Subpoena Compliance and Enforcement Act

To protect our democracy by preventing abuses of presidential power, 
 restoring checks and balances and accountability and transparency in 
 government, and defending elections against foreign interference, and 
                          for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Congressional Subpoena Compliance 
and Enforcement Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds as follows:
            (1) As the Supreme Court has repeatedly affirmed, including 
        in its July 9, 2020, holding in Trump v. Mazars, Congress's 
        ``power of inquiry--with process to enforce it--is an essential 
        and appropriate auxiliary to the legislative function''. 
        Congress's power to obtain information, including through the 
        issuance of subpoenas and the enforcement of such subpoenas, is 
        ``broad and indispensable''.
            (2) Congress ``suffers a concrete and particularized injury 
        when denied the opportunity to obtain information necessary'' 
        to the exercise of its constitutional functions, as the U.S. 
        Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit correctly 
        recognized in its August 7, 2020, en banc decision in Committee 
        on the Judiciary of the U.S. House of Representatives v. 
        McGahn.
            (3) Accordingly, the Constitution secures to each House of 
        Congress an inherent right to enforce its subpoenas in court. 
        Explicit statutory authorization is not required to secure such 
        a right of action, and the contrary holding by a divided panel 
        of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia 
        Circuit in McGahn, entered on August 31, 2020, was in error.

SEC. 3. ENFORCEMENT OF CONGRESSIONAL SUBPOENAS.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 85 of title 28, United States Code, is 
amended by inserting after section 1365 the following:
``Sec. 1365a. Congressional actions against subpoena recipients
    ``(a) Cause of Action.--The United States House of Representatives, 
the United States Senate, or a committee or subcommittee thereof, may 
bring a civil action against the recipient of a subpoena issued by a 
congressional committee or subcommittee to enforce compliance with the 
subpoena.
    ``(b) Special Rules.--In any civil action described in subsection 
(a), the following rules shall apply:
            ``(1) The action may be filed in a United States district 
        court of competent jurisdiction.
            ``(2) Notwithstanding section 1657(a), it shall be the duty 
        of every court of the United States to expedite to the greatest 
        possible extent the disposition of any such action and appeal. 
        Upon a showing by the plaintiff of undue delay, other 
        irreparable harm, or good cause, a court to which an appeal of 
        the action may be taken shall issue any necessary and 
        appropriate writs and orders to ensure compliance with this 
        paragraph.
            ``(3) If a three-judge court is expressly requested by the 
        plaintiff in the initial pleading, the action shall be heard by 
        a three-judge court convened pursuant to section 2284, 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 jurisdictional statement within 30 days, of the entry of the 
        final decision.
            ``(4) The initial pleading must be accompanied by 
        certification that the party bringing the action has in good 
        faith conferred or attempted to confer with the recipient of 
        the subpoena to secure compliance with the subpoena without 
        court action.
    ``(c) Penalties.--
            ``(1) Cases involving government agencies.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The court may impose monetary 
                penalties directly against each head of a Government 
                agency and the head of each component thereof held to 
                have knowingly failed to comply with any part of a 
                congressional subpoena, unless--
                            ``(i) the President instructed the official 
                        not to comply; and
                            ``(ii) the President, or the head of the 
                        agency or component thereof, submits to the 
                        court a letter confirming such instruction and 
                        the basis for such instruction.
                    ``(B) Prohibition on use of government funds.--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 imposed by the court pursuant to 
                this paragraph.
            ``(2) Legal fees.--In addition to any other penalties or 
        sanctions, the court shall require that any defendant, other 
        than a Government agency, held to have willfully failed to 
        comply with any part of a congressional subpoena, pay a penalty 
        in an amount equal to that party's legal fees, including 
        attorney's fees, litigation expenses, and other costs. If such 
        defendant is an officer or employee of a Government agency, 
        such fees may be paid from funds appropriated to pay the salary 
        of the defendant.
    ``(d) Waiver.--Any ground for noncompliance asserted by the 
recipient of a congressional subpoena shall be deemed to have been 
waived as to any particular information withheld from production if the 
court finds that the recipient failed in a timely manner to comply with 
the applicable requirements of section 105(b) of the Revised Statutes 
of the United States with respect to such information.
    ``(e) Rules of Procedure.--The Supreme Court and the Judicial 
Conference of the United States shall prescribe rules of procedure to 
ensure the expeditious treatment of actions described in subsection 
(a). Such rules shall be prescribed and submitted to the Congress 
pursuant to sections 2072, 2073, and 2074. This shall include 
procedures for expeditiously considering any assertion of 
constitutional or Federal statutory privilege made in connection with 
testimony by any recipient of a subpoena from a congressional committee 
or subcommittee. The Supreme Court shall transmit such rules to 
Congress within 6 months after the effective date of this section and 
then pursuant to section 2074 thereafter.
    ``(f) Definition.--For purposes of this section, the term 
`Government agency' means any office or entity described in sections 
105 and 106 of title 3, an executive department listed in section 101 
of title 5, an independent establishment, commission, board, bureau, 
division, or office in the executive branch, or other agency or 
instrumentality 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. 4. COMPLIANCE WITH CONGRESSIONAL SUBPOENAS.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 7 of title II of the Revised Statutes of 
the United States (2 U.S.C. 191 et seq.) is amended--
            (1) 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 committee or subcommittee shall appear 
and testify, produce, or otherwise disclose information in a manner 
consistent with the subpoena and this section.
    ``(b) Failure To Produce Information.--
            ``(1) Grounds for withholding information.--Unless required 
        by the Constitution or by Federal statute, no claim of 
        privilege or protection from disclosure shall be a ground for 
        withholding information responsive to the subpoena or required 
        by this section.
            ``(2) Identification of information withheld.--In the case 
        of information that is withheld, in whole or in part, by the 
        subpoena recipient, the subpoena recipient shall, without delay 
        provide a log containing the following:
                    ``(A) An express assertion and description of the 
                ground asserted for withholding the information.
                    ``(B) The type of information.
                    ``(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 information.
                    ``(G) Any other descriptive information that may be 
                produced or disclosed regarding the information that 
                will enable the congressional committee or subcommittee 
                issuing the subpoena to assess the ground asserted for 
                withholding the information.
    ``(c) Definition.--For purposes of this section the term 
`information' includes any books, papers, documents, data, or other 
objects requested in a subpoena issued by a congressional 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 following:

``105. Response to congressional subpoenas.''.

SEC. 5. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.

    Nothing in this Act may be interpreted to limit or constrain 
Congress' inherent authority or foreclose any other means for enforcing 
compliance with congressional subpoenas, nor may anything in this Act 
be interpreted to establish or recognize any ground for noncompliance 
with a congressional subpoena.
                                 <all>