[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 20 (Monday, February 24, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1471-S1472]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. ROBB:
  S. 345. A bill to amend chapter 57 of title 5, United States Code, to 
provide for the payment to Federal employees of meal expenses required 
while serving on a security detail in the protection of a Federal 
officer, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Governmental 
Affairs.


                      FEDERAL EMPLOYEE LEGISLATION

 Mr. ROBB. Mr. President, today I introduce legislation to 
right an obvious wrong. As I was reading the Washington Post on January 
6, 1997, I ran across a brief mention that employees of the CIA who are 
assigned to protect the Director of Central Intelligence must pay their 
own way when they are forced to buy meals because of their assigned 
protection duties.
  Evidently these Federal employees are required to keep a line of 
sight on the Director 24 hours a day, which sometimes entails following 
him to restaurants. These restaurants in turn refuse to let the 
protection detail occupy a table without purchasing a meal. While this 
may sound trivial, I do not believe it is fair to require a Federal 
employee to buy an expensive meal as part of their job. I am sure 
you'll agree that if a person is going to spend that kind of money on a 
meal, they should be enjoying it with a good friend or loved one, not 
watching their boss across the room.
  For that reason, I am introducing this bill, which would authorize 
any Federal agency to pay the meal expenses for cases like this one for 
an employee who is serving on a 24-hour-a-day security detail which 
requires the employee to remain in the line of sight of the person 
being protected. I understand that certain agencies already have this 
authority, but it clearly should be extended to all Federal agencies. I 
hope that this noncontroversial measure can be examined by the 
appropriate committee and quickly passed. The existing situation is 
blatantly unfair and needs to be changed.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the article be printed in 
the Record.
  There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                          Looks Unlike America

                             (By Al Kamen)

       Even some of the Clinton administration diversity policy 
     were embarrassed by President Clinton's strong-arming 
     Transportation Secretary Federico Pena into accepting a 
     nomination to be energy secretary--a job for which he is 
     notably lacking in credentials.
       But the ethno-gender contortions were deemed, in the best 
     inside-the-Beltway political wisdom, essential to pay off the 
     Hispanic vote with two Cabinet seats.
       Yet, after so much effort expended on Cabinet diversity, 
     the Clinton White House itself remains a comfortable, mostly 
     white boys club, with hardly an African American, Latino or 
     Asian American in any senior job.
       With the anticipated departure of public liaison office 
     director Alexis M. Herman, the only minority in the top 25 or 
     so senior staff members is first lady Hillary Rodham 
     Clinton's chief of staff, Margaret A. Williams--and she may 
     leave soon.
       New Chief of Staff Erskine B. Bowles has three openings--
     and may have more--at that assistant to the president level: 
     a political affairs director to replace Douglas Sosnik, who 
     moved up to be ``counselor''; a replacement for Herman; and 
     one for outgoing White House counsel Jack Quinn.
       Administration officials say to keep an eye on former 
     representative Alan Wheat (D-Mo.) and the Labor Department's 
     wage and hour division chief Maria Echaveste, both mentioned 
     for Cabinet jobs.
       But ``Look Like America''? Not the senior staff.

[[Page S1472]]

                             In Like Quinn?

       Speaking of Quinn, the search goes on for a replacement, 
     and the list doesn't appear too long. The problem, as one 
     senior administration official put it, is ``finding someone 
     who's smart enough to do it and yet dumb enough to take it.''
       The most prominently mentioned name for the job is former 
     U.S. attorney Charles F.C. Ruff, who had been under 
     consideration for the attorney generalship after Zoe E. Baird 
     went down in flames until it was discovered he had a nanny 
     problem himself. Ruff is public-service minded, so he might 
     be persuaded. And he's been a partner at Covington & Burling, 
     so he presumably would have enough savings to cover his legal 
     fees.


                            Career Counselor

       Job alert. There are lots of openings in the counsel's 
     office.
       Associate White House counsel Elena Kagan, a tenured 
     constitutional law professor on leave from the University of 
     Chicago, had two going-away parties, the movers ready to go 
     and a class waiting for her today. But the students will have 
     to wait. New domestic policy chief Bruce Reed persuaded her 
     to stick around and be his top deputy.
       Another associate counsel, David B. Fein, however, stuck 
     with his original plan and has gone to private practice in 
     Connecticut. Even before Quinn threw in the towel, he was 
     looking for staff. Shortly after the election, Quinn asked 
     U.S. Attorney Eric H. Holder Jr. to ``make referrals and 
     recommendations to him about individuals who might be 
     interested in moving to the White House Counsel's Office 
     in the new administration,'' according to a memo Holder 
     sent his assistants.
       ``So that I can be responsive to Quinn,'' Holder said, ``I 
     would like to gather the names of those interested in this 
     opportunity and will then personally forward them to Quinn. . 
     . . (And don't worry, I won't hold it against you for 
     expressing interest in this opportunity--I think it's a great 
     one!)''


                              dinner duty

       Browsing on the General Accounting Office World Wide Web 
     page (we obviously need to get out more), we came across the 
     Ebenezer Scrooge Memorial Memo of 1996. The Dec. 30 GAO 
     decision memo involves a CIA request to reimburse members of 
     the director's security detail for meals they were obliged to 
     buy on duty.
       ``According to the CIA,'' the memo says, the security folks 
     traveling with the director or deputy are to ``remain in the 
     line of sight of the official they are protecting. On 
     occasion [they] must accompany one of the officials'' to area 
     restaurants and sit at nearby tables so as to be unobtrusive 
     but in the line of sight. ``Some restaurants require that 
     members of the detail order meals while sitting at these 
     tables. The cost of these meals, often substantial, has been 
     borne by the individual members of the detail,'' the memo 
     said, adding that the agency thinks it, not the overworked 
     security people, should pick up the tab.
       Tough luck, the GAO said. The law says no government 
     employee can get a free meal while at ``a normal duty 
     station,'' except for ``extreme emergency situations,'' and 
     this isn't one of them. Congress can and has overridden the 
     restriction for some agencies, but not for the CIA. So until 
     Congress acts, the security detail pays.


                             starring roles

       John D. Bates, deputy independent counsel in charge of the 
     Washington operation for Kenneth W. Starr, is resuming his 
     responsibilities at the end of this month as head of the 
     civil division in the U.S. Attorney's Office here. Bates had 
     been on a six-month leave that somehow stretched two years. 
     But he'll continue to oversee some matters at Starr's shop 
     for some time. Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric A. Dubelier, who 
     had been working on White House travel office matters for 
     Starr, also has returned to run the terrorism section of the 
     criminal division, while continuing to do some work in the 
     counsel operation. Should we read something into this? 
     Probably not.


                         life after legislature

       Retiring Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.), who chaired the Armed 
     Services Committee back when Democrats were in the majority, 
     has signed on as a partner in King & Spaulding's Atlanta 
     office, with a second office here.
       Outgoing Rep. Robert S. Walker (R-Pa.), who chaired the 
     Science Committee and the House Republican Leadership, is off 
     to be president of the Wexler Group.
                                 ______