[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 118 (Monday, July 23, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H8234-H8236]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                FEDERAL CUSTOMER SERVICE ENHANCEMENT ACT

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill 
(H.R. 404) to require the establishment of customer service standards 
for Federal agencies, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                                H.R. 404

       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 ``Federal Customer Service 
     Enhancement Act''.

     SEC. 2. DEVELOPMENT OF PERFORMANCE MEASURES AND STANDARDS FOR 
                   CUSTOMER SERVICE PROVIDED BY FEDERAL AGENCIES.

       (a) Requirement.--
       (1) Performance measures and standards.--The Director of 
     the Office of Management and Budget shall develop--
       (A) performance measures to determine whether Federal 
     agencies are providing high-quality customer service; and
       (B) standards to be met by Federal agencies in order to 
     provide high-quality customer service.
       (2) Requirement to take into account certain information.--
     The standards under paragraph (1) shall be developed after 
     taking into account the information collected by Federal 
     agencies under subsection (b).
       (b) Customer Service Input.--The head of each Federal 
     agency shall collect information from its customers regarding 
     the quality of customer services provided by the agency. The 
     information shall be collected through a survey, focus 
     groups, or other appropriate methods. Each Federal agency 
     shall include this information in its performance report 
     submitted under section 1116 of title 31, United States Code.
       (c) Annual Report.--The Director of the Office of 
     Management and Budget shall issue

[[Page H8235]]

     an annual report on the success of Federal agencies in 
     meeting the customer service performance measures and 
     standards developed under subsection (a).

     SEC. 3. IMPLEMENTATION OF CUSTOMER SERVICE STANDARDS.

       (a) Customer Relations Representative.--The head of each 
     Federal agency shall designate an employee to be the customer 
     relations representative of the agency. Such representative 
     shall be responsible for implementing the customer service 
     standards developed under section 2 and the agency 
     requirements under subsection (b).
       (b) Agency Requirements.--
       (1) Guidelines and contact information.--
       (A) In general.--The head of each Federal agency, acting 
     through its customer relations representative, shall--
       (i) issue guidelines to implement the customer service 
     standards developed under section 2 within the agency, 
     including specific principles of customer service applicable 
     to that agency; and
       (ii) publish customer service contact information, 
     including a mailing address, telephone number, and e-mail 
     address.
       (B) Availability.--The guidelines and the customer service 
     contact information required under this paragraph shall be 
     available on the agency's public website.
       (2) Stationery requirements.--Each Federal agency shall 
     include its address and phone number on any agency 
     stationery. In the case of correspondence originating from a 
     regional or local office of a Federal agency, the agency 
     shall include the address and phone number of the regional or 
     local office on the stationery.

     SEC. 4. REPORT BY GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE.

       (a) Report Required.--Not later than two years after the 
     date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 
     shall submit to the Committee on Oversight and Government 
     Reform of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
     Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate a 
     report analyzing the information reported by agencies under 
     section 2(b).
       (b) Matters Covered.--The report shall include--
       (1) whether agencies are implementing the customer service 
     standards;
       (2) whether there is an increase in overall quality in 
     customer service in the Federal Government; and
       (3) any recommendations the Comptroller General may have to 
     improve performance measures and standards for customer 
     service in the Federal Government.
       (c) Use of Report.--The report may be used by Congress as 
     well as the Director of Office of Management and Budget to 
     update performance measures for customer service.

     SEC. 5. INCENTIVES FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE.

       (a) Award Program.--The head of a Federal agency may 
     establish an awards program to pay a cash award under chapter 
     45 of title 5, United States Code, to employees for 
     demonstrated excellence in customer service.
       (b) Performance Appraisal.--Compliance with customer 
     service standards developed under this Act shall, to the 
     extent practicable, be an element of a performance appraisal 
     system referred to in section 5307(d) of title 5, United 
     States Code.

     SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.

       In this Act:
       (1) The term ``customer'', with respect to a Federal 
     agency, means any individual or entity, including a business, 
     State or local government, other Federal agency, or Congress, 
     to which the agency provides services or information.
       (2) The term ``Federal agency'' has the meaning given the 
     term ``Executive agency'' by section 105 of title 5, United 
     States Code, except that the term does not include an agency 
     if the President determines that this Act should not apply to 
     the agency for national security reasons.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Towns) and the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Duncan) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New York.


                             General Leave

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 
5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from New York?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, the Federal Customer Service Enhancement Act 
will require Federal agencies to set higher performance standards in 
delivering customer service. Sometimes we complain about how we are 
treated, but do not take any action. This legislation is a step in the 
right direction, and we are doing something about the attitude of 
government employees.

                              {time}  1600

  We have worked with the GAO, OMB, and the minority, and in particular 
the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx) to improve this bill. We 
have also incorporated the language from H.R. 2324, a bill sponsored by 
the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Duncan), who shares the same birthday 
with me.
  This bill is important to highlight the importance that the Congress 
puts on better customer service. I support its passage and urge my 
colleagues to do the same.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  First of all, I would like to commend Chairman Waxman and my 
colleague from New York, my longtime friend (Mr. Towns), with whom, as 
he noted, we share the same birthday, for bringing the Federal Customer 
Service Enhancement Act to the floor today. I also appreciate their 
efforts as it moved through committee, and I certainly want to thank 
him for accommodating comments and concerns we raised during the 
process. As Chairman Towns noted, he has included and the chairman has 
included in this legislation concerns that the gentlewoman from North 
Carolina (Ms. Foxx) raised and also has included legislation that I 
introduced, H.R. 2324, in this bill. As a cosponsor of this 
legislation, I fully support this bill, and I want to commend the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Cuellar) for his hard work on this, and we 
will hear from him in just a few minutes.
  The Oversight and Government Reform Committee has always sought to 
improve the performance of the Federal Government, and as anyone who 
has ever worked in the private sector knows, customer service is the 
lifeblood of any organization.
  As we often look to the private sector for best practices, I think it 
is important, Mr. Speaker, that we in the Federal Government are able 
to capture data on how each and every agency is doing in regard to 
customer service. The administration continues to work with us on this 
bill so no unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles are created.
  This bill recognizes the importance of the agencies within the 
Federal Government to be responsive to their various constituencies and 
for the government to remain accountable to the American taxpayer. 
Responsiveness and accountability are the things that really are behind 
this legislation.
  I particularly appreciate section 2 in which the Director of the 
Office of Management and Budget shall develop standards and measures of 
customer service performance. I think that is very important and is a 
first. It has not been done before within the Federal Government. And 
especially, also, the parts in section 3, which incorporate much of my 
legislation and require customer service information such as a mailing 
address, phone number, and e-mail address. It requires the appointment 
of a customer relations representative. And one thing I have noticed, I 
have gotten letters from Federal Departments and agencies in the past, 
and there has been no mailing address, no phone number on there, almost 
as if the people within that Department or agency really didn't want to 
be bothered by their bosses, bothered by the American people calling on 
them or finding out how to contact them, and making it very difficult 
for many people to do so.
  Section 5 is another good section of this bill and really is the 
result of the work of the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx), 
and that includes some incentives in there to do better jobs. Bonuses 
to Federal employees will now be based, at least in part, on customer 
service.
  So with all of these things, I think this is good legislation. I ask 
my colleagues to join me in support of H.R. 404.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas 
(Mr. Cuellar), who has worked very hard on this legislation. And let me 
also add, it has been a delight to work with him and his staff to bring 
this legislation to the floor.
  Mr. CUELLAR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding the time 
on H.R. 404.
  First of all, I want to start off by thanking Chairman Towns and his 
staff. The outstanding work that the chairman has done on moving this 
bill forward, I certainly want to thank him very much for the work that 
he has done. I also want to thank Mr. Duncan for the work that he has 
done because

[[Page H8236]]

apparently he has done a lot of work on customer service, and I thank 
him for putting those provisions in my bill also. I also want to thank 
the gentlewoman from North Carolina, Virginia Foxx. I don't see her 
here. I know she has put a lot of time in, she and her staff, so I want 
to thank her in making this a bipartisan bill.
  Today Congress takes a major step towards improving how Federal 
Government interacts with the American people. I think we all want a 
government that works with the people. I think we all want results-
oriented government, and part of the results-oriented government is 
customer service.
  H.R. 404 will raise the level of attention given to how the Federal 
Government responds to the American public. The bill requires the 
Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the OMB, to develop 
performance measures to determine whether Federal agencies are 
providing high-quality customer service to all the agencies to make 
sure that they have those customer service standards in place. It sets 
in place standards for Federal agencies to increase the quality of 
customer service and enhances the access to Federal information and 
services, like Mr. Duncan said a few minutes ago. It is important to 
know whom we are dealing with at the Federal Government and to make 
sure that people can access that information and get the quality of 
customer service that they deserve.
  The legislation includes accountability provisions as well as 
incentives to Federal employees who go above this requirement. H.R. 404 
also ensures that the initiatives outlined in this bill achieve their 
objectives through the use of both external and internal reviews by 
Congress. That is the oversight that Congress will provide on the 
customer service provisions that will be provided by the Federal 
agencies to the American public.
  I believe that this bill improves Federal customer service, and this 
is something that is long overdue. I ask for a ``yes'' vote on this 
bipartisan bill, H.R. 404.
  Again, Mr. Towns, thank you for the outstanding work you have done on 
this bill.
  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, I would like to just simply once again thank 
Chairman Towns and also thank the primary author of this legislation, 
Mr. Cuellar, for their work in bringing this bill to the floor.
  I urge my colleagues to support what I think is very worthwhile and 
timely legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back 
the balance of my time.
  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Let me point out when complaints are not promptly resolved, 
frustrated customers seek redress in different agencies or at different 
parts or level of the same agency, resulting in duplicate effort and 
compounding costs and a waste of time.
  Just as costs rise when citizens do not receive reliable information 
in a timely manner, trust also erodes as citizens become frustrated 
with a nonresponsive bureaucracy. Indeed, there has been a cumulative 
erosion of public confidence in government.
  Please, let's work together to create a more responsive and more 
accountable government. So I urge my colleagues to support this 
legislation.
  I would also like to thank some folks. I would like to thank 
Congressman Waxman, who is the Chair of the full committee, in terms of 
his support and what he has done to help move this legislation forward. 
I would like to thank the ranking member of the full committee, Mr. 
Davis from Virginia, in terms of all of his support and help in moving 
it. I also, I think, indicated earlier on my colleague, Mr. Duncan, who 
has worked very hard to make this a reality. And, of course, I would 
like to thank Congressman Bilbray, who is the ranking member on the 
subcommittee, for all of his support as well, and all the staff members 
who worked so hard, along with Congressman Cuellar from Texas, along 
with Congresswoman Foxx. There have been a lot of people that really 
put a lot of time and energy into this to try to strengthen this bill. 
It might not be perfect, but I think it is a giant step in the right 
direction.
  I urge all of my colleagues to support this legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from New York (Mr. Towns) that the House suspend the rules 
and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 404, as amended.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

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