1.Short title; table of
contents
(a)This Act may be cited
as the Roosevelt Scholars Act of
2009
.
(b)The table of contents is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings.
Sec. 3. Definitions.
Sec. 4. Theodore Roosevelt Scholarship Foundation.
Sec. 5. Roosevelt Scholars.
Sec. 6. Requirements for Roosevelt Scholars.
Sec. 7. Special hiring authority.
Sec. 8. Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Scholarship Trust
Fund.
Sec. 9. Expenditures and audit of Trust Fund.
Sec. 10. Executive Secretary of the Foundation.
Sec. 11. Administrative provisions.
Sec. 12. Additional functions of the Foundation.
Sec. 13. Exclusion of Roosevelt Scholarship awards from gross
income.
Sec. 14. Authorization of appropriations.
2.Congress finds the following:
(1)According to the Government Accountability
Office, about one-third of Federal employees who were employed by the Federal
Government at the end of fiscal year 2007 will become eligible to retire by
2012. Proportions of workers eligible to retire are projected to be especially
high in certain occupations—some of them mission critical—as well as in key
leadership positions. The Government will lose additional employees to
non-retirement attrition.
(2)The Office of Personnel Management
estimates that about 550,000 Federal employees will leave the Government in the
next 5 years, the majority through retirement, and a recent survey indicates
that Federal agencies will need to hire nearly 193,000 new employees to fill
mission-critical positions (including highly specialized professionals, such as
scientists, engineers, physicians, mathematicians, and economists) through
September 2009.
(3)The ability of the
Federal Government to perform mission-critical functions depends on a strong,
well-trained, and highly engaged Federal workforce.
(4)Heavy educational debt and lack of
knowledge about Federal job opportunities drive many students to seek
employment in the private sector, making it difficult for the Federal
Government to replace needed talent in mission-critical positions.
(5)A new scholarship program to help finance
graduate-level education and to connect students directly with mission-critical
Federal positions would help build a much needed pipeline of talent for the
Government.
3.For purposes of this Act—
(1)the term
Foundation means the Theodore Roosevelt Scholarship Foundation, as
described in section 4(a);
(2)the term
Board means the Board of Trustees of the Theodore Roosevelt
Scholarship Foundation, as described in section 4(b);
(3)the term
Fund means the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Scholarship Fund, as
described in section 8;
(4)the term
Federal agency means an Executive agency, as defined by section
105 of title 5, United States Code;
(5)the term
State includes the District of Columbia;
(6)the term graduate student
means a student in a master’s, law, or doctoral degree program at a university
accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or association;
and
(7)the term mission-critical
occupational area refers to those positions that a Federal agency
identifies as essential to achieving its strategic goals, as determined through
the workforce analysis process of the Federal agency’s workforce planning
system.
4.Theodore
Roosevelt Scholarship Foundation
(a)There is established, as an independent
establishment in the executive branch of the Government, a foundation to be
known as the Theodore Roosevelt Scholarship Foundation
.
(b)The Foundation shall be subject to the supervision and
direction of a Board of Trustees. The Board shall be composed of 9 members,
plus 1 non-voting ex officio member, as follows:
(1)Two members shall be appointed by the House
of Representatives, one appointed by the Speaker, and one appointed by the
minority leader.
(2)Two members shall be appointed by the
Senate, one appointed by the majority leader, and one appointed by the minority
leader.
(3)Five members, not
more than 3 of whom shall be of the same political party, shall be appointed by
the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, from among
individuals who—
(A)have demonstrated
leadership or expertise in public service or higher education; or
(B)represent a
Federal agency or a professional association related to mission-critical
occupational areas.
(4)The Director of the
Office of Personnel Management (or a designee), who shall serve as a
non-voting, ex officio member of the Board.
(c)
(1)Except as provided in paragraph (2) or (3), the term of
each member (other than the ex officio member) shall be 6 years.
(2)As designated by
the President at the time of appointment, of the members first
appointed—
(A)1 member appointed under subsection (b)(2)
and 2 members appointed under subsection (b)(3) shall be appointed for a term
of 2 years;
(B)1 member appointed under subsection (b)(1)
and 2 members appointed under subsection (b)(3) shall be appointed for a term
of 4 years; and
(C)1 member appointed under subsection (b)(1),
1 member appointed under subsection (b)(2), and 1 member appointed under
subsection (b)(3) shall be appointed for a term of 6 years.
(3)Any member appointed to fill a vacancy
occurring before the expiration of the term for which the member’s predecessor
was appointed shall be appointed only for the remainder of that term. A vacancy
on the Board shall be filled in the manner in which the original appointment
was made.
(d)Members
of the Board shall serve without pay, but shall be entitled to reimbursement
for travel, subsistence, and other necessary expenses incurred in the
performance of their duties as members of the Board.
5.
(a)The Foundation shall award scholarships to graduate
students who demonstrate outstanding potential for a career in a
mission-critical occupational area within the Federal Government. The recipient
of a scholarship under this Act shall be known as a Roosevelt
Scholar
.
(b)
(1)The Foundation
shall, directly or by contract—
(A)provide for the
conduct of an annual nationwide competition, including an application and
interview process, for the purpose of selecting Roosevelt Scholars; and
(B)market the
scholarship program to diverse populations.
(2)The Foundation shall adopt selection criteria and
procedures to ensure a diverse cohort of scholarship recipients each year
who—
(A)at the time of
applying for a scholarship under this Act, are enrolled in or seeking admission
to an accredited full-time graduate degree program at an institution of higher
education in a discipline that is determined by the Foundation to be directly
related to 1 or more mission-critical occupational areas within the Federal
Government;
(B)have been nominated by an appropriate
faculty member or other representative of the institution of higher education
in which they are enrolled, of which they are a graduate, or to which they are
seeking admission, or by another individual, approved by the Foundation, who
has direct knowledge of the candidate’s academic or work experience; and
(C)are citizens or legal permanent residents
of the United States.
(c)Each student awarded
a scholarship under this Act shall receive, for each academic year in which
such student is enrolled full time in the graduate degree program described in
subsection (b)(2)(A), the cost of
tuition plus a stipend, except that—
(1)the stipend awarded
under this Act to a student for an academic year may not exceed the lesser
of—
(A)a monthly living stipend of not more than
$300 per month and an amount equal to the cost to the student, for such
academic year, of—
(i)room
and board;
(ii)books; and
(iii)materials and
fees associated with coursework; or
(B)$12,000 (adjusted
annually to reflect any increase in the consumer price index for all urban
consumers, as published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics);
(2)the total
scholarship awarded under this Act to a student for an academic year, for
tuition and stipend combined, may not exceed—
(A)$60,000 (adjusted
at the same time and in the same manner as the dollar amount under paragraph
(1)(B)), minus
(B)the sum of all
scholarships, grants, or other similar cash awards received by the student for
such academic year from any source apart from this Act; and
(3)scholarships under this Act may be awarded
to a student for such periods as the Foundation may prescribe, but not to
exceed 5 academic years.
(d)
(1)A student awarded
a scholarship under this Act shall continue to receive the payments provided
for under this Act only during such periods as the Foundation finds that such
student is maintaining satisfactory proficiency and devoting full time to study
or research designed to prepare such student for a career in the Federal
Government, unless otherwise approved by the Foundation.
(2)The Foundation may require reports
containing such information, in such form, and to be filed at such times as the
Foundation determines to be necessary from any student awarded a scholarship
under this Act. Such reports shall be accompanied by a certificate from an
appropriate official at the institution of higher education, approved by the
Foundation, stating that such individual is making satisfactory progress in,
and is devoting essentially full time to study or research, except as otherwise
provided in this subsection.
6.Requirements for
Roosevelt Scholars
(a)
(1)Each student awarded a scholarship under this Act shall
be required to enter into a service agreement with the Foundation which
provides for such student to complete, in return for the scholarship, a
specified period of service with the Federal Government. Under the agreement,
the period of service shall be for the number of years equal to the total
number of academic years for which the student received a scholarship under
this Act, except that the total period of service shall not be less than 3
years nor more than 5 years.
(2)An agreement under this section shall provide that an
individual shall, in the event that such individual fails to meet the service
requirement under paragraph (1), be required to repay to the Foundation the
amount equal to—
(A)the total amount
of scholarship monies (tuition and stipends combined) received by the
individual under such agreement, multiplied by
(B)a fraction, the
numerator of which is the amount of service not completed and the denominator
of which is the total period of service agreed to.
An amount
under this paragraph shall be treated as a Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford
Loan under part D of title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.
1087a and following), and shall be subject to repayment, together with interest
thereon accruing from the date of the scholarship award, in accordance with
terms and conditions specified by the Secretary of Education in regulations
under this subpart.(3)The Foundation, in consultation with the
Office of Personnel Management, shall prescribe any regulations necessary to
carry out this subsection, including provisions under which the service
requirement specified by paragraph (1) or a repayment otherwise required under
paragraph (2) may be waived, in whole or in part, or deferred, in appropriate
circumstances.
(b)
(1)Roosevelt Scholars shall be required to complete at least
1 internship related to their field of study in a Federal agency while earning
their graduate or other advanced degree.
(2)The Foundation, in consultation with the
Office of Personnel Management, shall prescribe any regulations necessary to
carry out this subsection, including provisions under which the internship
requirement specified by subsection (b) may be waived in appropriate
circumstances.
(c)Participation in
extracurricular activitiesWhile earning their graduate or other
advanced degree and during their period of obligated service (as described in
subsection (a)), Roosevelt Scholars shall be required, in accordance with such
terms as the Foundation shall establish, to participate in extracurricular
activities as described in section 12(a)(5).
(d)Availability as
a source of information
(1)While earning their
graduate or other advanced degree and during their period of obligated service
(as described in subsection (a)), Roosevelt Scholars shall be required, in
accordance with such terms as the Foundation shall establish, to serve as a
resource for—
(A)individuals interested in becoming a
Roosevelt Scholar or seeking temporary or permanent employment with the Federal
Government;
(B)faculty, career services professionals, and
other personnel at institutions of higher education who advise students on
career and other scholarship opportunities with the Federal Government;
and
(C)Federal agencies which might be interested
in promoting, at the institution of higher education at which the student is
enrolled, career opportunities with the Federal Government.
(2)Memoranda of
understandingThe Foundation may enter into memoranda of
understanding with any institution of higher education regarding any facilities
or resources that will be made available to Roosevelt Scholars for purposes of
this subsection.
(3)The
Foundation, in cooperation with the Office of Personnel Management, may provide
for Roosevelt Scholars to receive any training which they might need in order
to carry out their responsibilities under this subsection.
7.Under such
regulations as the Office of Personnel Management shall prescribe, a Federal
agency may make a noncompetitive appointment (in the excepted service, as
defined by section 2103 of title 5, United States Code, leading to conversion
to career or career-conditional employment) of any Roosevelt Scholar who has
successfully completed the program of study for which the scholarship was
granted. A noncompetitive appointment under this section shall be for a period
not to exceed 2 years, and shall be to a mission-critical position, with the
possibility of an extension for one additional year by the employing agency. At
the end of the period of the noncompetitive appointment, conversion to career
or career-conditional employment in a mission-critical position shall be
granted to those Roosevelt Scholars who meet all qualification, suitability,
and performance requirements.
8.Theodore
Roosevelt Memorial Scholarship Trust Fund
(a)There is established in the Treasury of the
United States a trust fund to be known as the Theodore Roosevelt
Memorial Scholarship Trust Fund
to be administered by the Foundation.
The Fund shall consist of amounts appropriated to it pursuant to
section 14 and amounts paid into the Fund
pursuant to
section 11(a)(4).
(b)Investment in
interest-Bearing obligations
(1)Upon request by the
Foundation, it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to invest
such currently available portions of the Fund as are not, in the judgment of
the Secretary, immediately required for payments from the Fund. Such
investments may be made only in interest-bearing obligations of the United
States or in obligations guaranteed as to both principal and interest by the
United States.
(2)Acquisition of
obligationsThe purposes for which obligations of the United
States may be issued under chapter 31 of title 31, United States Code, are
hereby extended to authorize the issuance at par of special obligations
directly to the Fund. Such special obligations shall bear interest at a rate
equal to the average rate of interest, computed as to the end of the calendar
month next preceding the date of such issue, borne by all marketable
interest-bearing obligations of the United States then forming a part of the
public debt; except that where such average rate is not a multiple of
one-eighth of 1 per centum, the rate of interest of such special obligations
shall be the multiple of one-eighth of 1 per centum next lower than such
average rate. All requests of the Foundation to the Secretary of the Treasury
provided for in this section shall be binding upon the Secretary.
(c)Authority To
sell obligationsAt the request of the Foundation, the Secretary
of the Treasury shall redeem any obligation issued directly to the Fund.
Obligations issued to the Fund under
subsection (b)(2) shall be redeemed at
par plus accrued interest. Any other obligations issued directly to the Fund
shall be redeemed at the market price.
(d)Proceeds from
certain transactions credited to FundIn addition to the appropriations received
pursuant to
section 14, the interest on, and the proceeds
from the sale or redemption of, any obligations held in the Fund pursuant to
section 11(a), shall be credited to and
form a part of the Fund.
9.Expenditures and
audit of Trust Fund
(a)The Secretary of the Treasury may pay to the Foundation
from the interest and earnings of the Fund such sums as the Board determines
are necessary and appropriate to enable the Foundation to carry out the
purposes of this Act.
(b)Audits by
Government Accountability OfficeThe activities of the Foundation
under this Act may be audited by the Government Accountability Office under
such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Comptroller General.
Representatives of the Government Accountability Office shall have access to
all books, accounts, records, reports, and files and all other papers, things,
or property belonging to or in use by the Foundation, pertaining to such
activities and necessary to facilitate the audit.
10.Executive
Secretary of the Foundation
(a)There shall be an
Executive Secretary of the Foundation, who shall be the chief executive officer
of the Foundation and shall carry out the functions of the Foundation, subject
to the supervision and direction of the Board. The Executive Secretary shall
carry out such other functions consistent with the provisions of this Act as
the Board may delegate.
(b)The Executive Secretary shall be appointed
by the Board and shall be a member of the Senior Executive Service. The
Executive Secretary shall have demonstrated significant management experience
and shall possess a high level of expertise in the recruitment and retention of
personnel.
(c)The Executive
Secretary shall serve for a term of 5 years, and may be reappointed. The
Executive Secretary may be removed by a vote of 2/3 of the
Board membership.
(d)The
Board shall appoint and fix the compensation of the Executive Secretary at a
rate not to exceed the maximum rate for a member of the Senior Executive
Service.
11.Administrative
provisions
(a)In order to carry out this Act, the Foundation
may—
(1)appoint and fix
the compensation of such personnel as may be necessary, at rates not to exceed
level IV of the Executive Schedule under section 5315 of title 5, United States
Code;
(2)procure temporary
and intermittent services of experts and consultants as are necessary to the
extent authorized by section 3109 of title 5, United States Code, but at rates
not to exceed the rate for level IV of the Executive Schedule under section
5315 of title 5, United States Code;
(3)prescribe such
regulations as it considers necessary to carry out its functions under this
Act;
(4)receive money and
other property donated, bequeathed, or devised, without condition or
restriction other than that it be used for the purposes of the Foundation; and
to use, sell, or otherwise dispose of such property for the purpose of carrying
out its functions;
(5)accept and utilize
the services of voluntary and non-compensated personnel and reimburse them for
travel expenses, including per diem, as authorized by section 5703 of title 5,
United States Code;
(6)enter into
contracts, grants, or other arrangements, or modifications thereof, to carry
out such provisions of this Act, and such contracts or modifications may, with
the concurrence of 2/3 of the members of the Board, be
entered into without performance or other bonds, and without regard to section
5 of title 41, United States Code;
(7)rent office space
in the District of Columbia; and
(8)make other
necessary expenditures.
(b)The Foundation shall submit to the President and to the
Congress an annual report on its operations under this Act.
(c)The Foundation may enter into contracts under this Act
only to such extent or in such amounts as may be provided for in advance in
appropriations Acts.
12.Additional
functions of the Foundation
(a)In addition to its
other functions, the Foundation shall—
(1)create, maintain,
and promote an on-line directory of all Federal scholarship opportunities
available to individuals pursuing temporary or permanent employment with the
Federal Government;
(2)create and maintain an online directory of
current mission-critical occupational areas;
(3)partner with
Federal agencies to place Roosevelt Scholars in positions in the Federal
Government;
(4)to the extent
practical, assist Federal agencies and other Federal scholarship foundations in
placing Federal scholarship recipients in positions in the Federal
Government;
(5)work with
nonprofit organizations to design and implement mandatory extracurricular
programs and activities that—
(A)promote
team-building and create a network and community for past, present, and future
Roosevelt Scholars;
(B)motivate Roosevelt
Scholars to become career Federal employees;
(C)are offered
regularly during each year in which an individual is receiving a Roosevelt
Scholarship, including during intervals between periods of enrollment;
(D)expose Roosevelt
Scholars to the business, political, demographic, cultural, and economic
climate of the Federal Government; and
(E)help Roosevelt
Scholars to develop leadership qualities; and
(6)within 2 years after the date of the
enactment of this Act, submit to Congress (and make available to the public) a
report regarding—
(A)any barriers to
appointing Roosevelt Scholars and other Federal scholarship recipients to
positions in the Federal Government; and
(B)recommendations to—
(i)remove barriers to
appointing Roosevelt Scholars and other Federal scholarship recipients to
positions in the Federal Government; and
(ii)educate Federal
agencies on the best use of personnel flexibilities in the appointment of
Federal scholarship recipients, including Roosevelt Scholars.
(b)The Foundation may, consistent with regulations of the
Office of Personnel Management, request and fund security clearances for
Roosevelt Scholars, as necessary.
13.Exclusion of
Roosevelt Scholarship awards from gross income
(a)Section 117 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986
(relating to qualified scholarships) is amended by adding at the end the
following new subsection:
(e)Gross income shall not include any amount awarded
under section 5 of the Roosevelt Scholars Act
of
2009.
.
(b)The amendment made by this section shall apply to taxable
years beginning after the date of the enactment of this Act.
14.Authorization of
appropriationsThere are
authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section $10,000,000 for fiscal
year 2010 and such sums as may be necessary for succeeding fiscal years.