[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 3 (Wednesday, January 13, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H65-H67]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 2009

  Mr. LYNCH. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 2646) to amend title 31, United States Code, to enhance the 
oversight authorities of the Comptroller General, and for other 
purposes.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 2646

       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 ``Government Accountability 
     Office Improvement Act of 2009''.

     SEC. 2. AUTHORITY TO OBTAIN INFORMATION.

       (a) Authority To Obtain Records.--Section 716 of title 31, 
     United States Code, is amended in subsection (a)--
       (1) by striking ``(a)'' and inserting ``(2)''; and
       (2) by inserting after the section heading the following:

[[Page H66]]

       ``(a)(1) The Comptroller General is authorized to obtain 
     such agency records as the Comptroller General requires to 
     discharge his duties (including audit, evaluation, and 
     investigative duties), including through the bringing of 
     civil actions under this section. In reviewing a civil action 
     under this section, the court shall recognize the continuing 
     force and effect of the authorization in the preceding 
     sentence until such time as the authorization is repealed 
     pursuant to law.''.
       (b) Copies and Interviews.--Section 716(a) of title 31, 
     United States Code, as amended by subsection (a), is further 
     amended in the second sentence of paragraph (2) by striking 
     ``inspect an agency record'' and inserting ``inspect, and 
     make and retain copies of, an agency record and interview 
     agency officers and employees''.
       (c) Rules of Construction.--Section 716 of title 31, United 
     States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following 
     new subsection:
       ``(f) No provision of any law in existence on the date of 
     the enactment of this section or enacted after such date 
     shall be construed to limit, amend, or supersede the 
     authority of the Comptroller General to obtain any 
     information, to inspect any record, or to interview any 
     officer or employee under this section, except to the extent 
     such provision expressly and specifically refers to this 
     section and provides for such limitation, amendment, or 
     supersession.''.

     SEC. 3. ADMINISTERING OATHS.

       Paragraph (4) of section 711 of title 31, United States 
     Code, is amended to read as follows:
       ``(4) administer oaths to witnesses, except that, in 
     matters other than auditing and settling accounts, the 
     authority of an officer or employee to administer oaths to 
     witnesses pursuant to a delegation under paragraph (2) shall 
     not be available without the prior express approval of the 
     Comptroller General (or a designee).''.

     SEC. 4. AGENCY REPORTS.

       Section 720(b) of title 31, United States Code, is 
     amended--
       (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by inserting 
     ``or planned'' after ``action taken''; and
       (2) by amending paragraph (1) to read as follows:
       ``(1) the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 
     Affairs of the Senate, the Committee on Oversight and 
     Government Operations of the House of Representatives, the 
     congressional committees with jurisdiction over the agency 
     program or activity that is the subject of the 
     recommendation, and the Government Accountability Office 
     before the 61st day after the date of the report; and''.

  Mr. KUCINICH. Madam Speaker, I rise to claim time in opposition.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is the gentleman opposed to the motion?
  Mr. KUCINICH. As it is presently.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is the gentleman from Missouri opposed to 
the motion?
  Mr. LUETKEMEYER. No, I am not.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Ohio will control the 
time in opposition.
  Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Lynch) 
and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Kucinich) each will control 20 
minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Massachusetts.


                             General Leave

  Mr. LYNCH. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their 
remarks and add any extraneous materials.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Massachusetts?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. LYNCH. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Madam Speaker, on behalf of the Committee on Oversight and Government 
Reform, I rise in strong support of H.R. 2646, the Government 
Accountability Office Improvement Act of 2009. This legislation, 
introduced by the chairman of the Oversight Committee, Representative 
Ed Towns of Brooklyn, will increase the effectiveness of the GAO by 
clarifying and strengthening the GAO's authority in several critical 
areas, including its access to records.
  Congress relies heavily on the GAO as a force multiplier in carrying 
out the investigative and oversight functions vested in the legislative 
branch. The GAO helps inform the Congress and executive agencies and 
the public about areas and programs within the Federal Government that 
are performing well and those that need to be improved or are 
vulnerable to waste, fraud, and abuse. General Accounting Office audits 
provide reliable assessments as to whether the taxpayers are receiving 
full value from important government programs. This legislation is 
necessary to ensure that GAO can successfully carry out all of these 
important functions for the Congress.

                              {time}  1245

  Specifically, the GAO Improvement Act addresses a 2002 Federal court 
decision that limited the GAO's ability to question agency access 
determinations in court. The bill explicitly provides the Comptroller 
General with standing to pursue litigation if the Comptroller General 
determines that the performance of her official duties has been harmed 
by an agency improperly withholding information.
  The bill also clarifies the GAO's access to information in two 
important areas. First, it confirms the GAO's right to make and retain 
copies of records, which has been denied by Federal agencies in some 
cases. And it provides the GAO with the right to interview agency 
officers and employees. The bill also says that the GAO's access to 
agency information should be limited only if an act passed by the 
Congress expressly and specifically extends to limit such access.
  Additionally, the bill clarifies GAO's authority to administer oaths, 
an important tool in conducting audits and taking statements. Lastly, 
it provides agencies more flexibility in reporting to Congress in their 
responses to GAO recommendations. The Committee on Oversight and 
Government Reform reported H.R. 2646 favorably on a voice vote on June 
4, 2009.
  At the committee markup, a bipartisan amendment was added to the bill 
that would have allowed the GAO to conduct reviews of certain actions 
taken by the Federal Reserve that previously have been exempt from GAO 
review. However, similar language was included in the Wall Street 
Reform and Consumer Protection Act which passed the House before the 
holiday recess.
  Therefore, the legislation that we are considering today is the bill 
introduced by Representative Towns on June 4 and is without the 
committee's amendment related to the Federal Reserve.
  Madam Speaker, the Congress and the American people need the GAO to 
help us remain informed about what's being done well and what needs to 
be improved within the Federal Government. The GAO can only do this 
effectively if it has access to all the information it needs. This bill 
strengthens the GAO in this manner. It is an important good-government 
initiative that will improve the effectiveness of government 
operations.
  I urge all Members to support the legislation, and I reserve the 
balance of my time.
  Mr. KUCINICH. As has been recounted by my friend from Massachusetts, 
the amendment which was in the bill that would have given the GAO the 
ability to audit the Fed was taken out of the bill; and the bill, as it 
was introduced originally, is before this Congress. I question the 
wisdom of moving on this bill, absent a provision to audit the Fed 
prior to the Senate acting because suppose the Senate, which has the 
ability to go any direction on this, suppose the Senate strips out the 
provision that I did support, the Ron Paul provision, the Senate strips 
that out, and then we have stripped out a provision in our bill. It 
just sends a signal to the Fed that it's business as usual.
  That's the reason I am raising this question right now, because it 
hasn't passed the Senate. If it passed the Senate, I would not be on 
the floor challenging this legislation. Because if it had been passed, 
it went through conference, then finally at last the Fed is going to be 
held accountable; but we aren't that far along yet.
  So I bring on the first day of legislative action in this second 
session of the 111th Congress a bill to the floor that essentially 
gives the Fed what they want, which is they don't want any oversight at 
all. And why was this brought forward in the first place? Because 
Congress and our committee, particularly, depend on the Government 
Accountability Office and the audits and the reviews they perform to 
assist us in helping us justify our oversight responsibilities.
  But GAO currently, unless the law changes, cannot perform audits or 
conduct reviews of the various credit facilities that the Federal 
Reserve created. And due to an express prohibition on auditing monetary 
activities of the Fed containing section 714 of title 31, GAO isn't 
allowed to assist Congress in conducting oversight on the Fed's role.

[[Page H67]]

  Now, this Congress voted for the financial reforms. A majority of 
Members of Congress signed on to Mr. Paul's very strong proposal to 
audit the Fed. I was one of those signatories. So this isn't a question 
of whether we want to audit the Fed or not. A majority of the Members 
of Congress agree on that. Well, why start off this new year with a 
bill that strips that provision out long before the Senate acts? Let's 
see what the Senate is going to do. That's why I didn't want to see 
this bill brought to the floor at a time when the Senate hasn't acted 
on the Fed language; and if we go ahead and take that language out of 
our bill, some could read it in the Senate as a green light to strip 
out the Paul provision, which is a much stronger provision than what I 
brought forward in my amendment.
  So those are the concerns that I wanted to bring forward and air them 
publicly, and just ask Members--a cautionary note here about what's 
happening with respect to the Fed. Since a majority of Members of 
Congress already want to audit the Fed, why should we go and weaken our 
position by passing a bill that strips out audit provisions before the 
Senate has acted on the bill that contains the Paul amendment?
  With that, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LYNCH. Madam Speaker, I yield 10 minutes to the gentleman from 
Missouri (Mr. Luetkemeyer).
  Mr. LUETKEMEYER. As noted all year, oversight and accountability are 
critically important. This bill provides GAO additional process 
authorities regarding access to information and enhances GAO's ability 
to carry out its mission. The GAO has done a long-standing right-of-
access to agency records. On occasion, its efforts have been frustrated 
and delayed by agencies refusing to provide GAO with copies of 
necessary records or by a lack of willingness on the part of agency 
officers and employees to discuss the content of records or provide 
background information relevant to programs under review.
  This bill augments the GAO's existing access authority by confirming 
GAO's right to make and retain copies of records and by providing GAO 
with the right to interview agency officers and employees. In addition, 
the bill requires agencies to interpret statutes as requiring 
disclosure of information to GAO unless the statute expressly prohibits 
disclosure to GAO. Finally, the bill makes some commonsense changes to 
the Comptroller General's ability to administer oaths as well as agency 
reporting requirements.
  Madam Speaker, Congress looks to the GAO to assist with the 
investigative and oversight functions vested in the legislative branch. 
This bill is intended to increase the effectiveness of GAO by ensuring 
that the agency is not unnecessarily restricted in its efforts to 
secure necessary information when performing these necessary and 
important functions.
  I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I thank the 
gentleman from Massachusetts for yielding his time.
  Mr. LYNCH. Madam Speaker, in closing, before I yield back, I just 
want to say that I understand the spirit in which the gentleman from 
Ohio has brought this issue forward. I do understand the central role 
that oversight and investigation have in this Congress. It is the only 
way that we can make sure that the executive follows the legislative 
mandate of Congress and that the resources provided by the taxpayer are 
properly used to limit fraud, waste and abuse. So I understand the 
spirit in which he acts.
  I think his desire for transparency is spot on, and I agree with it. 
I think the position of the chairman, Mr. Towns of New York, is that we 
have included a provision in another bill recently passed that would 
provide for all of that. I understand, however, that the belt-and-
suspenders approach that the gentleman would like to see, which is, 
let's put it in every bill that we send over there, is germane. And I 
respect that urgency.
  However, I do in this case agree with the chairman that we have 
addressed those concerns in the other bill, and we will need to be 
diligent in making sure that the effect of that language is carried 
into law.
  Mr. KUCINICH. I want to say to my friend from Massachusetts, you and 
I both support our Chair. We support the oversight function of our 
committee and of the Congress, and that is the spirit in which I rise. 
Also, I think it's critical that we track this financial reform 
legislation as it moves through the Senate to make sure that the 
provisions that were put in by Representative Paul are not going to be 
stripped. I would not want the Senate to misinterpret the stripping of 
a Federal audit provision from a government oversight bill as being an 
indication of the weakening of the intention of Congress to hold the 
Fed accountable.
  So it's for that reason that I raise that issue, and I appreciate the 
gentleman's remarks.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. LYNCH. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Lynch) that the House suspend the 
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 2646.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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