[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 743 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 743

 To prohibit the President or any other executive branch official from 
 knowingly and willfully misleading the Congress or the people of the 
 United States, for the purpose of gaining support for the use of the 
                   Armed Forces of the United States.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 28, 2009

 Mr. Jones (for himself and Mr. Abercrombie) introduced the following 
       bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To prohibit the President or any other executive branch official from 
 knowingly and willfully misleading the Congress or the people of the 
 United States, for the purpose of gaining support for the use of the 
                   Armed Forces of the United States.

    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 ``Executive Accountability Act of 
2009''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) In 1770, John Adams wrote in ``Argument in Defense of 
        Soldier in the Boston Massacre Trials'': ``Facts are stubborn 
        things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or 
        the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of 
        facts and evidence.''.
            (2) In 1787, John Jay wrote in ``The Federalist No. 4'': 
        ``There are pretended as well as just causes of war.''.
            (3) In 1865, Abraham Lincoln said: ``I have faith in the 
        people . . . the danger is, they are misled. Let them know the 
        truth and the country is safe.''.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITION AGAINST EXECUTIVE BRANCH MISREPRESENTATIONS MADE 
              FOR THE PURPOSE OF GAINING SUPPORT FOR THE USE OF THE 
              ARMED FORCES OF THE UNITED STATES.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 47 of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 1041. Executive branch misrepresentations for the purpose of 
              gaining support for the use of the Armed Forces of the 
              United States
    ``(a) Whoever, being a covered official, for the purpose of 
influencing a member of the Congress to authorize the use of the Armed 
Forces of the United States, knowingly and willfully--
            ``(1) falsifies, conceals, or covers up by any trick, 
        scheme, or device a material fact;
            ``(2) makes any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent 
        statement or representation; or
            ``(3) makes or uses any false writing or document knowing 
        the same to contain any materially false, fictitious, or 
        fraudulent statement or entry,
shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 10 years, or 
both.
    ``(b) In subsection (a), the term `covered official' means the 
President or an officer or employee of the executive branch of the 
Government.''.
    (b) Suspension of Limitations During Presidential Term.--Chapter 
213 of such title is amended by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 3301. Suspension of limitations during Presidential term
    ``The running of any statute of limitations applicable to an 
offense under section 1041 shall be suspended until the end of the term 
of the President in office at the time the offense is committed.''.
    (c) Clerical Amendments.--
            (1) The table of sections for chapter 47 of such title is 
        amended by adding at the end the following:

``1041. Executive branch misrepresentations for the purpose of gaining 
                            support for the use of the Armed Forces of 
                            the United States.''.
            (2) The table of sections for chapter 213 of such title is 
        amended by adding at the end the following:

``3301. Suspension of limitations during Presidential term.''.

SEC. 4. REFERRAL OF VIOLATIONS FOR PROSECUTION.

    (a) Referral for Prosecution.--If a House of Congress passes a 
resolution or concurrent resolution in which the House of Congress 
finds that a violation of section 1041 of title 18, United States Code, 
has occurred, the referring party of the House of Congress shall 
transmit a copy of the resolution to the Attorney General.
    (b) Referring Party Defined.--In this section, the term ``referring 
party'' means--
            (1) in the case of the House of Representatives, the Clerk 
        of the House of Representatives; or
            (2) in the case of the Senate, the Secretary of the Senate.
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