[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9084 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 9084

 To amend section 102 of the Revised Statutes of the United States to 
  provide that a person who refuses to answer certain questions or is 
 finally convicted of perjury before either House of Congress shall be 
       debarred from Federal employment, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 22, 2024

 Mr. McCormick (for himself, Mr. Nehls, and Mr. Van Orden) introduced 
    the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the 
     Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Oversight and 
 Accountability, and Rules, for a period to be subsequently determined 
 by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as 
        fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend section 102 of the Revised Statutes of the United States to 
  provide that a person who refuses to answer certain questions or is 
 finally convicted of perjury before either House of Congress shall be 
       debarred from Federal employment, 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 ``Safeguarding Transparency and 
Oversight to Prevent the Spread of Washington's Administrative 
Misconduct and Partisanship Act'' or the ``STOP the SWAMP Act''.

SEC. 2. IN GENERAL.

    (a) Debarment of Certain Witnesses From Federal Employment.--
Section 102 of the Revised Statutes of the United States relating to 
congressional investigations (2 U.S.C. 192) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``Every'' at the beginning and inserting 
        the following:
    ``(a) Every'';
            (2) by striking ``, or who, having appeared, refuses to 
        answer any question pertinent to the question under inquiry,''; 
        and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(b) Every person who having been summoned as a witness pursuant 
to subsection (a), having appeared, refuses to answer any question 
pertinent to the question under inquiry, shall, in addition to any 
other penalties provided by law, be--
            ``(1) deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine 
        of not more than $1,000 nor less than $100 and imprisoned in a 
        common jail for not less than one month nor more than twelve 
        months; and
            ``(2) debarred from Federal employment.
    ``(c) --
            ``(1) Every person who having been summoned as a witness 
        pursuant to subsection (a), having appeared, is finally 
        convicted of perjury under section 1621 of title 18, United 
        States Code, or an offense under section 1001 of title 18, 
        United States Code, shall, in addition to any other penalties 
        provided by law, be debarred from Federal employment.
            ``(2) In this subsection, the term `finally convicted' 
        refers to a conviction--
                    ``(A) which has not been appealed and is no longer 
                appealable because the time for taking an appeal has 
                expired; or
                    ``(B) which has been appealed and the appeals 
                process for which is completed.
    ``(d) A person who is found in violation of subsection (b) or (c) 
who is a Federal employee shall, in addition to any other penalties 
provided by law, be removed from the civil service, as such term is 
defined in section 2101 of title 5, United States Code.
    ``(e) Any debarment from Federal employment pursuant to this 
section shall be subject to judicial review.''.
    (b) Procedures for Rescinding Salary Funds.--Section 104 of the 
Revised Statutes of the United States relating to congressional 
investigations (2 U.S.C. 194) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``Whenever'' at the beginning and inserting 
        the following:
    ``(a) Whenever'';
            (2) by striking ``filed with the President of the Senate or 
        the Speaker of the House, it shall be the duty of the said 
        President of the Senate or Speaker of the House,'' and 
        inserting ``filed with an appropriate Member of Congress, it 
        shall be the duty of the said appropriate Member of 
        Congress,''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(b) Not later than 180 days after the date of certification of a 
statement of facts to a United States attorney pursuant to subsection 
(a), any member of either House may introduce a joint resolution to 
rescind funds appropriated or otherwise made available for the salary 
and expenses of a witness who is a Federal employee from the employing 
entity of the witness for the fiscal year. Such joint resolution shall 
be privileged, subject to judicial review, and further subject to the 
following procedures:
            ``(1) A joint resolution shall be referred to the Committee 
        on Appropriations of the House of Representatives or the 
        Committee on Appropriations of the Senate, as the case may be, 
        and one such joint resolution shall be reported out by such 
        committee together with its recommendations within fifteen 
        calendar days, unless such House shall otherwise determine by 
        the yeas and nays.
            ``(2) A joint resolution so reported shall become the 
        pending business of the House in question (in the case of the 
        Senate the time for debate shall be equally divided between the 
        proponents and the opponents) and shall be voted on within 
        twenty calendar days thereafter, unless such House shall 
        otherwise determine by yeas and nays.
            ``(3) A joint resolution passed by one House shall be 
        referred to the committee of the other House named in 
        subsection (a) and shall be reported out by such committee 
        together with its recommendations within fifteen calendar days 
        and shall thereupon become the pending business of such House 
        and shall be voted upon within three calendar days, unless such 
        House shall otherwise determine by yeas and nays.
            ``(4) In the case of any disagreement between the two 
        Houses of Congress with respect to a joint resolution passed by 
        both Houses, conferees shall be promptly appointed and the 
        committee of conference shall make and file a report with 
        respect to such joint resolution within six calendar days after 
        the legislation is referred to the committee of conference. 
        Notwithstanding any rule in either House concerning the 
        printing of conference reports in the Record or concerning any 
        delay in the consideration of such reports, such report shall 
        be acted on by both Houses not later than six calendar days 
        after the conference report is filed. In the event the 
        conferees are unable to agree within fifteen days, the 
        conferees shall report back to their respective Houses in 
        disagreement.
    ``(c) In this section, the term `appropriate Member of Congress' 
means--
            ``(1) the President of the Senate;
            ``(2) the Speaker of the House;
            ``(3) the Chairman or ranking minority member of the 
        standing committee of the House of Congress in which the 
        witness appeared pursuant to section 102; or
            ``(4) the Chairman or ranking minority member of the 
        Committee on Oversight and Accountability of the House of 
        Representatives.''.
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