[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6972 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6972

 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.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 11, 2024

Mrs. Kiggans of Virginia (for herself, Mr. Davis of North Carolina, Mr. 
Wittman, Mr. Fallon, Mr. Van Orden, Ms. Mace, Mr. Gimenez, Mr. Moylan, 
and Mr. Owens) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
               Committee on Oversight and Accountability

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 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.

    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 ``Securing Chain of Command Continuity 
Act''.

SEC. 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, 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 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 a notification that such head is 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 30 days after the date on which 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 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 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 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 during which such head was subject to such 
        medical incapacity, including the date on which such head 
        resumed performing the functions and duties of the office of 
        the head; and
            ``(D) an explanation why such head was medically 
        incapacitated.
    ``(3) In this subsection:
            ``(A) 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 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.
            ``(B) The term `National Security Council' means the 
        council established under section 101 of the National Security 
        Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3021).''.
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