[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 17 (Thursday, February 24, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: February 24, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
            INDEPENDENT COUNSEL REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 1994

  Mr. PELL. Mr. President, I ask that the Chair lay before the Senate a 
message from the House of Representatives on S. 24, a bill to 
reauthorize the Independent Counsel Law for an additional 5 years, and 
for other purposes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER laid before the Senate the following message 
from the House of Representatives:

       Amendment: Strike out all after the enacting clause and 
     insert:

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Independent Counsel 
     Reauthorization Act of 1994''.

     SEC. 2. FIVE-YEAR REAUTHORIZATION.

       (a) Reauthorization.--Section 599 of title 28, United 
     States Code, is amended by striking ``1987'' and inserting 
     ``1993''.
       (b) Effectiveness of Statute.--Chapter 40 of title 28, 
     United States Code, shall be effective, on and after the date 
     of the enactment of this Act, as if the authority for such 
     chapter had not expired before such date.

     SEC. 3. ADDED CONTROLS.

       (a) Cost Controls and Administrative Support.--Section 594 
     of title 28, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 
     end the following new subsection:
       (l) Cost Controls and Administrative Support.--
       ``(1) Cost Controls.--
       ``(A) In general.--An independent counsel shall--
       ``(i) conduct all activities with due regard for expense;
       ``(ii) authorize only reasonable and lawful expenditures; 
     and
       ``(iii) promptly, upon taking office, assign to a specific 
     employee the duty of certifying that expenditures of the 
     independent counsel are reasonable and made in accordance 
     with law.
       ``(B) Department of justice policies.--An independent 
     counsel shall comply with the established policies of the 
     Department of Justice respecting expenditures of funds, 
     except to the extent that compliance would be inconsistent 
     with the purposes of this chapter.
       ``(2) Administrative support.--The Director of the 
     Administrative Office of the United States Courts shall 
     provide administrative support and guidance to each 
     independent counsel. No officer or employee of the 
     Administrative Office of the United States Courts shall 
     disclose information related to an independent counsel's 
     expenditures, personnel, or administrative acts or 
     arrangements without the authorization of the independent 
     counsel.
       ``(3) Office space.--The Administrator of General Services, 
     in consultation with the Director of the Administrative 
     Office of the United States Courts, shall promptly provide 
     appropriate office space for each independent counsel. Such 
     office space shall be within a Federal building unless the 
     Administrator of General Services determines that other 
     arrangements would cost less.''.
       (b) Independent Counsel Per Diem Expenses.--Section 594(b) 
     of title 28, United States Code, is amended--
       (1) by striking ``An independent counsel'' and inserting--
       ``(1) In general.--An independent counsel''; and
       (2) by adding at the end the following new paragraphs:
       ``(2) Travel expenses.--Except as provided in paragraph 
     (3), an independent counsel and persons appointed under 
     subsection (C) shall be entitled to the payment of travel 
     expenses as provided by subchapter 1 of chapter 57 of title 
     5, including travel or transportation expenses in accordance 
     with section 5703 of title 5.
       ``(3) Travel to primary office.--An independent counsel and 
     any person appointed under subsection (c) shall not be 
     entitled to the payment of travel and subsistence expenses 
     under subchapter 1 of chapter 57 of title 5 with respect to 
     duties performed in the city in which the primary office of 
     that independent counsel or person is located after 1 year of 
     service by that independent counsel or person (as the case 
     may be) under this chapter unless the employee assigned 
     duties under subsection (l)(1)(A)(iii) certifies that the 
     payment is in the public interest to carry out the purposes 
     of this chapter. Any such certification shall be effective 
     for 6 months, but may be renewed for additional periods of 6-
     months each if, for each such renewal, the employee assigned 
     duties under subsection (l)(1)(A)(iii) makes a 
     recertification with respect to the public interest described 
     in the preceding sentence. In making any certification or 
     recertification under this paragraph with respect to travel 
     and subsistence expenses of an independent counsel or person 
     appointed under subsection (c), such employee shall consider, 
     among other relevant factors--
       ``(A) the cost to the Government of reimbursing such travel 
     and subsistence expenses;
       ``(B) the period of time for which the independent counsel 
     anticipates that the activities of the independent counsel or 
     person, as the case may be, will continue;
       ``(C) the personal and financial burdens on the independent 
     counsel or person, as the case may be, of relocating so that 
     such travel and subsistence expenses would not be incurred; 
     and
       ``(D) the burdens associated with appointing a new 
     independent counsel, or appointing another person under 
     subsection (c), to replace the individual involved who is 
     unable or unwilling to so relocate.

     An employee making a certification or recertification under 
     this paragraph shall be liable for an invalid certification 
     or recertification to the same extent as a certifying 
     official certifying a voucher is liable under section 3528 of 
     title 31.''.
       (c) Independent Counsel Employee Pay Comparability.--
     Section 594(c) of title 28, United States Code, is amended by 
     striking the last sentence and inserting the following: ``Not 
     more than 2 such employees may be compensated at a rate not 
     to exceed the rate of basic pay payable for level V of the 
     Executive schedule under section 5316 of title 5, and all 
     other such employees shall be compensated at rates not to 
     exceed the maximum rate of basic pay payable for GS-15 of the 
     General Schedule under section 5332 of title 5.''.
       (d) Ethics Enforcement.--Section 594(j) of title 28, United 
     States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following 
     new paragraph:
       ``(5) Enforcement.--The Attorney General and the Director 
     of the Office of Government Ethics have authority to enforce 
     compliance with this subsection.''.
       (e) Compliance With Policies of the Department of 
     Justice.--Section 594(f) of title 28, United State Code, is 
     amended by striking ``shall, except where not possible, 
     comply'' and inserting ``shall, except to the extent that to 
     do so would be inconsistent with the purposes of this 
     chapter, comply''.
       (f) Publication of Reports.--Section 594(h) of title 28, 
     United States Code, is amended--
       (1) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
       ``(3) Publication of reports.--At the request of an 
     independent counsel, the Public Printer shall cause to be 
     printed any report previously released to the public under 
     paragraph (2). The independent counsel shall certify the 
     number of copies necessary for the public, and the Public 
     Printer shall place the cost of the required number to the 
     debit of such independent counsel. Additional copies shall 
     be made available to the public through the Superintendent 
     of Documents sales program under section 1702 of title 44 
     and the depository library program under section 1903 of 
     such title.''; and
       (2) in the first sentence of paragraph (2), by striking 
     ``appropriate'' the second place it appears and inserting 
     ``in the public interest, consistent with maximizing public 
     disclosure, ensuring a full explanation of independent 
     counsel activities and decisionmaking, and facilitating the 
     release of information and materials which the independent 
     counsel has determined should be disclosed''.
       (g) Annual Reports to Congress.--Section 595(a)(2) of title 
     28, United States Code, is amended by striking ``such 
     statements'' and all that follows through ``appropriate'' and 
     inserting ``annually a report on the activities of the 
     independent counsel, including a description of the progress 
     of any investigation or prosecution conducted by the 
     independent counsel. Such report may omit any matter that in 
     the judgment of the independent counsel should be kept 
     confidential, but shall provide information adequate to 
     justify the expenditures that the office of the independent 
     counsel has made''.
       (h) Periodic Reappointment of Independent Counsel.--Section 
     596(b)(2) of title 28, United States Code, is amended by 
     adding at the end the following new sentence: ``If the 
     Attorney General has not made a request under this paragraph, 
     the division of the court shall determine on its own motion 
     whether termination is appropriate under this paragraph not 
     later than 3 years after the appointment of an independent 
     counsel and at the end of each succeeding 3-year period.''.
       (i) Audits by the Comptroller General.--Section 596(c) of 
     title 28, United States Code, is amended to read as follows:
       ``(c) Audits.--By December 31 of each year, an independent 
     counsel shall prepare a statement of expenditures for the 
     fiscal year that ended on the immediately preceding September 
     30. An independent counsel whose office is terminated prior 
     to the end of the fiscal year shall prepare a statement of 
     expenditures by the date that is 90 days after the date on 
     which the office is terminated. The Comptroller General shall 
     audit each such statement and shall, not later than March 31 
     of the year following the submission of any such statement, 
     report the results of each audit to the Committee on the 
     Judiciary and the Committee on Government Operations of 
     the House of Representatives and to the Committee on 
     Governmental Affairs and the Committee on the Judiciary of 
     the Senate.''.

     SEC. 4. MEMBERS OF CONGRESS.

       Section 591(c) of title 28, United States Code, is 
     amended--
       (1) by indenting paragraphs (1) and (2) two ems to the 
     right and by redesignating such paragraphs as subparagraphs 
     (A) and (B), respectively;
       (2) by striking ``The Attorney'' and all that follows 
     through ``if--'' and inserting the following:
       ``(1) In general.--The Attorney General may conduct a 
     preliminary investigation in accordance with section 592 if--
     ''; and
       (3) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
       ``(2) Members of congress.--Whenever the Attorney General 
     determines that it would be in the public interest, the 
     Attorney General may conduct a preliminary investigation in 
     accordance with section 592 if the Attorney General has 
     received information sufficient to constitute grounds to 
     investigate whether a Member of Congress may have violated 
     any Federal criminal law other than a violation classified as 
     a Class B or C misdemeanor or an infraction.''.

     SEC. 5. GROUNDS FOR REMOVAL.

       Section 596(a)(1) of title 28, United States Code, is 
     amended by striking ``physical disability, mental 
     incapacity'' and inserting ``physical or mental disability 
     (consistent with prohibitions on discrimination otherwise 
     imposed by law)''.

     SEC. 6. NATIONAL SECURITY.

       Section 597 of title 28, United States Code, is amended by 
     adding at the end the following:
       ``(c) National Security.--An independent counsel shall 
     comply with guidelines and procedures used by the Department 
     in the handling and use of classified materials.''.

     SEC. 7. EFFECTIVE DATE.

       The amendments made by this Act shall become effective on 
     the date of the enactment of this Act.

  Mr. PELL. I ask unanimous consent the Senate disagree to the House 
amendment and agree to the request for a conference with the House on 
the disagreeing votes of the two Houses, and that the Chair be 
authorized to appoint conferees.
  There being no objection, the Presiding Officer appointed Mr. Glenn, 
Mr. Levin, Mr. Pryor, Mr. Cohen, and Mr. Stevens, conferees on the part 
of the Senate.

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