IIB 118th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 6972 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES May 7, 2024 Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs AN ACT To amend title 5, United States Code, to require an Executive agency whose head is a member of the National Security Council to notify the Executive Office of the President, the Comptroller General of the United States, and congressional leadership of such head becoming medically incapacitated within 24 hours, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Securing Chain of Command Continuity Act . 2. National Security Council medical incapacity notification enhancement Section 3349 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection: (c) (1) Not later than 24 hours after the head of an Executive agency who is a member of the National Security Council becomes medically incapacitated or 24 hours in advance of a planned medical procedure where incapacitation is known or may be reasonably assumed, the person serving or who will be serving in an acting capacity as such head or, if no person is or will be so acting, the first assistant to the office of such head, shall submit to the appropriate Federal officials a notification that such head is or will be medically incapacitated. (2) If the notification required by paragraph (1) with respect to a head of an Executive agency becoming medically incapacitated is not submitted in accordance with the requirements of such paragraph, not later than 72 hours after such head became subject to such medical incapacity the person serving in an acting capacity as such head or, if no person is so acting, the first assistant to the office of such head, shall submit to the appropriate Federal officials a report including— (A) the name of each individual who served in an acting capacity as such head pursuant to such medical incapacity and, for each such individual— (i) the dates of such service; (ii) whether such individual was authorized to serve in such acting capacity; and (iii) a comprehensive list of resources and authorities allocated to such individual while serving in such acting capacity to ensure that such individual could perform the functions and duties of the office of such head; (B) an explanation why the notification required by paragraph (1) was not submitted in accordance with the requirements of such paragraph; (C) the dates of such head’s medical incapacitation, and if such head has resumed performing the functions and duties of the office, the date such head so resumed performing such functions and duties; and (D) an explanation why such head was medically incapacitated. (3) In the event the head of an Executive agency remains medically incapacitated on the date the report is submitted under paragraph (2), the person serving in an acting capacity as such head or, if no person is so acting, the first assistant to the office of such head, shall submit periodic updates, as such person or first assistant considers appropriate, to such report to the appropriate Federal officials. (4) In this subsection— (A) the term appropriate Federal officials means the Executive Office of the President, the Comptroller General of the United States, the Majority Leader of the Senate, the Minority Leader of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives; (B) the terms medical incapacity and medically incapacitated mean, with respect to the head of an Executive agency, that such head is unable to perform the functions and duties of the office of such head due to sickness, injury, or other medical condition and such inability to perform the functions and duties of the office of such head constitutes a vacancy of the office of such head to which this section and sections 3345, 3346, 3347, 3348, 3349a, 3349b, 3349c, and 3349d apply; and (C) the term National Security Council means the council established under section 101 of the National Security Act of 1947 ( 50 U.S.C. 3021 ). .

Passed the House of Representatives May 6, 2024. Kevin F. McCumber, Clerk.