[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 164 (Wednesday, December 19, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H7324-H7326]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE ACCOUNTABILITY ACT

  Mr. FARENTHOLD. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 6016) to amend title 5, United States Code, to provide for 
administrative leave requirements with respect to Senior Executive 
Service employees, and for other purposes, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 6016

       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 Employee 
     Accountability Act''.

     SEC. 2. SUSPENSION FOR 14 DAYS OR LESS FOR SENIOR EXECUTIVE 
                   SERVICE EMPLOYEES.

        Paragraph (1) of section 7501 of title 5, United States 
     Code, is amended to read as follows:
       ``(1) `employee' means--
       ``(A) an individual in the competitive service who is not 
     serving a probationary or trial period under an initial 
     appointment or who has completed 1 year of current continuous 
     employment in the same or similar positions under other than 
     a temporary appointment limited to 1 year or less; or
       ``(B) a career appointee in the Senior Executive Service 
     who--
       ``(i) has completed the probationary period prescribed 
     under section 3393(d); or
       ``(ii) was covered by the provisions of subchapter II of 
     this chapter immediately before appointment to the Senior 
     Executive Service;''.

     SEC. 3. INVESTIGATIVE LEAVE FOR SENIOR EXECUTIVE SERVICE 
                   EMPLOYEES.

       (a) In General.--Chapter 75 of title 5, United States Code, 
     is amended by adding at the end the following:

   ``SUBCHAPTER VI--INVESTIGATIVE LEAVE FOR SENIOR EXECUTIVE SERVICE 
                               EMPLOYEES

     ``Sec. 7551. Definitions

       ``For the purposes of this subchapter--
       ``(1) `employee' has the meaning given such term in section 
     7541; and
       ``(2) `investigative leave' means a temporary absence 
     without duty for disciplinary reasons, of a period not 
     greater than 90 days.

     ``Sec. 7552. Actions covered

       ``This subchapter applies to investigative leave.

     ``Sec. 7553. Cause and procedure

       ``(a)(1) Under regulations prescribed by the Office of 
     Personnel Management, an agency may place an employee on 
     investigative leave, without loss of pay and without charge 
     to annual or sick leave, only for misconduct, neglect of 
     duty, malfeasance, or misappropriation of funds.
       ``(2) If an agency determines that such employee's conduct 
     is serious or flagrant, the agency may place such employee on 
     investigative leave under this subchapter without pay.
       ``(b)(1) At the end of each 45-day period during a period 
     of investigative leave implemented under this section, the 
     relevant agency shall review the investigation into the 
     employee with respect to the misconduct, neglect of duty, 
     malfeasance, or misappropriation of funds.
       ``(2) Not later than 5 business days after the end of each 
     such 45-day period, the agency shall submit a report 
     describing such review 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.
       ``(3) At the end of a period of investigative leave 
     implemented under this section, the agency shall--
       ``(A) remove an employee placed on investigative leave 
     under this section;
       ``(B) suspend such employee without pay; or
       ``(C) reinstate or restore such employee to duty.
       ``(4) The agency may extend the period of investigative 
     leave with respect to an action under this subchapter for an 
     additional period not to exceed 90 days.
       ``(c) An employee against whom an action covered by this 
     subchapter is proposed is entitled to, before being placed on 
     investigative leave under this section--
       ``(1) at least 30 days' advance written notice, stating 
     specific reasons for the proposed action, unless--
       ``(A) there is reasonable cause to believe that the 
     employee has committed a crime for which a sentence of 
     imprisonment can be imposed; or
       ``(B) the agency determines that the employee's conduct 
     with respect to which an action covered by this subchapter is 
     proposed is serious or flagrant as prescribed in regulation 
     by the Office of Personnel Management;
       ``(2) a reasonable time, but not less than 7 days, to 
     answer orally and in writing and to furnish affidavits and 
     other documentary evidence in support of the answer;
       ``(3) be represented by an attorney or other 
     representative; and
       ``(4) a written decision and specific reasons therefor at 
     the earliest practicable date.
       ``(d) An agency may provide, by regulation, for a hearing 
     which may be in lieu of or in addition to the opportunity to 
     answer provided under subsection (c)(2).
       ``(e) An employee against whom an action is taken under 
     this section is entitled to appeal to the Merit Systems 
     Protection Board under section 7701.
       ``(f) Copies of the notice of proposed action, the answer 
     of the employee when written, and a summary thereof when made 
     orally, the notice of decision and reasons therefor, and any 
     order effecting an action covered by this subchapter, 
     together with any supporting material, shall be maintained by 
     the agency and shall be furnished to the Merit Systems 
     Protection Board upon its request and to the employee 
     affected upon the employee's request.''.
       (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the 
     beginning of chapter 75 of title 5, United States Code, is 
     amended by adding after the item relating to section 7543 the 
     following:

   ``subchapter vi--investigative leave for senior executive service 
                               employees

``7551. Definitions.
``7552. Actions covered.
``7553. Cause and procedure.''.

     SEC. 4. SUSPENSION OF SENIOR EXECUTIVE SERVICE EMPLOYEES.

       Section 7543 of title 5, United States Code, is amended--
       (1) in subsection (a), by inserting ``misappropriation of 
     funds,'' after ``malfeasance,''; and

[[Page H7325]]

       (2) in subsection (b), by amending paragraph (1) to read as 
     follows:
       ``(1) at least 30 days' advance written notice, stating 
     specific reasons for the proposed action, unless--
       ``(A) there is reasonable cause to believe that the 
     employee has committed a crime for which a sentence of 
     imprisonment can be imposed; or
       ``(B) the agency determines that the employee's conduct 
     with respect to which an action covered by this subchapter is 
     proposed is serious or flagrant as prescribed in regulation 
     by the Office of Personnel Management;''.

     SEC. 5. MISAPPROPRIATION OF FUNDS AMENDMENTS.

       (a) Reinstatement in the Senior Executive Service.--Section 
     3593 of title 5, United States Code, is amended--
       (1) in subsection (a)(2), by inserting ``misappropriation 
     of funds,'' after ``malfeasance,''; and
       (2) in subsection (b), by striking ``or malfeasance'' and 
     inserting ``malfeasance, or misappropriation of funds''.
       (b) Placement in Other Personnel Systems.--Section 3594(a) 
     of title 5, United States Code, is amended by striking ``or 
     malfeasance'' and inserting ``malfeasance, or 
     misappropriation of funds''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Farenthold) and the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Clay) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas.


                             General Leave

  Mr. FARENTHOLD. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include 
extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Texas?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. FARENTHOLD. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Earlier this year, the Committee on Government Oversight and Reform 
held a hearing concerning the wasteful spending that occurred during 
the planning and execution of the General Services Administration 2010 
Western Regional Conference. As you may recall, the GSA spent more than 
$820,000 on a conference originally budgeted at $250,000. The GSA has 
no triggers or controls in place to stop this flagrant overspending. 
GSA employees, including Jeff Neely, a career member of the Senior 
Executive Service, failed to follow GSA policy, Federal procurement 
law, and basic common sense.
  H.R. 6016 helps ensure Senior Executive Service, or SES, employees 
are held accountable for their actions. It allows an SES employee to be 
fired for misappropriation of funds and gives the agency head 
discretion to place an SES on unpaid leave, all while maintaining that 
employee's existing due process rights.
  I'd like to commend my colleague, Mr. Kelly, for his work on this 
bill, and urge all Members to support its adoption.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. CLAY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the majority for working with us to make 
additional improvements to H.R. 6016, the Government Employee 
Accountability Act, as amended. I thank the gentleman, Mr. Kelly from 
Pennsylvania, who introduced this bill to address an unfortunate 
instance where a few Senior Executive Service officials at the GSA 
received a lot of attention regarding their extravagant spending on a 
Las Vegas conference.
  While I fully support the purpose and intent of this legislation to 
prevent misappropriation and misuse of taxpayer dollars, we need to be 
careful not to allow the bad actions of a few government employees to 
take away from the good work that our Federal workers do every day. I 
have the greatest respect and appreciation for our Federal workers, and 
I think we all need to be reminded that these men and women devote 
their professional lives to serving all Americans. This is especially 
important to note given all the recent legislation attacking these 
middle class Federal workers' pay and benefits. I believe in the 
importance of safeguarding taxpayer dollars and holding our public 
servants accountable. For this reason, I support this bill.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. FARENTHOLD. At this time I yield such time as he may consume to 
my friend, colleague, and neighbor on the Government Oversight and 
Reform Committee, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Kelly).
  Mr. KELLY. Mr. Speaker, I do rise today in support of the Government 
Employee Accountability Act, H.R. 6016, and I thank the gentleman from 
Texas and the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Clay).
  As a result of this, I think when we had that hearing last spring, 
both sides were outraged. I remember Chairman Issa speaking out very 
strongly and also Ranking Member Cummings speaking out very strongly. 
Because we truly are the stewards of the taxpayer money. And what we 
said at that time was that we're going to get to the bottom of this, 
and we're going to find out how this happened and why it happened. When 
I got back to my office, our switchboard was lighting up and people 
from back home in western Pennsylvania said, Why is this happening?
  I stress exactly what you said--we have a lot of wonderful people 
working very hard for this country, for this government, and we don't 
want to paint them all with the same brush. But by the same token, when 
there is some wrongdoing, it is up to us in the Congress to step 
forward and do things that make sense.

                              {time}  1620

  So this is just a commonsense solution to a situation that has to be 
addressed. I would say that working together, this is a bipartisan 
effort to make sure that we have great accountability for those 
taxpayer dollars that are being spent.
  This piece of legislation, as it goes forward today--let's make sure 
that we understand this--these are the senior executives, these are the 
creme de la creme, these are the top people that we rely on. That 
Western Region Conference, as Mr. Farenthold pointed out, was $600,000 
over budget, and at some point you've got to wonder why. When we asked 
the GSA, when we asked Ms. Johnson, Why is Mr. Neely on leave with pay, 
she said, Well, we don't have any mechanism to prevent that from 
happening; we don't have the tools to do that. So what we said was, 
let's go back into the regular world, let's go back into commonsense 
rules and let's give them a tool to use that makes sense for the 
American people.
  So, I applaud what you're saying, Mr. Clay. It's nice working with 
you on this. I want to especially thank the committee. We did work very 
hard on this to come up with something that makes sense for America and 
makes sense also for the people that work for us. So I thank you.
  Mr. CLAY. I continue to reserve.
  Mr. FARENTHOLD. At this point, Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the 
chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and my 
colleague on the Government Oversight and Reform Committee, the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mica).
  Mr. MICA. I thank the gentleman for yielding. I thank him for his 
leadership. Particularly, I want to thank Mr. Kelly for his 
perseverance, his introduction and sponsorship of H.R. 6016, and 
encourage my colleagues to support that legislation today.
  Most often when you hear about scandals in the Federal Government, 
there's a little bit of a flurry and then not much is done. Mr. Kelly 
has stepped forward and introduced legislation that will correct one of 
the most egregious actions against the Federal taxpayer that we've 
seen.
  Our committee, the Transportation Committee, does oversee the General 
Services Administration. Within that agency, we heard about the conduct 
of one senior executive employee, the Senior Executive Services, one of 
the highest levels of administration in our government. That person 
thumbed his nose in a hot tub at the taxpayers, at the Congress, and at 
everyone else.
  Today, this is taxpayers' revenge. This is a little gift hopefully we 
can put under the Christmas tree for the taxpayers so that people in 
those positions will not receive their pay and can be removed from 
office. We had to change the law--and we will change the law--to make 
certain that people who are supposed to be good stewards of the 
taxpayer dollars are held accountable. So I thank everyone in a 
bipartisan manner in bringing this legislation forward and strongly 
support its adoption.

[[Page H7326]]

  Mr. CLAY. At this time I have no further speakers, and I yield back 
the balance of my time.
  Mr. FARENTHOLD. As we have heard from both sides of the aisle, this 
is a bill designed to prevent the worst kind of overspending, one of 
the worst examples that we've seen.
  I understand Mr. Clay and agree with his concerns that we cannot 
violate the due process rights of government employees. We've worked to 
protect that, but we've also worked very hard to do the job that we 
were elected to do, and that is to be good stewards of the taxpayers' 
money. This bill, the Government Employees Accountability Act, H.R. 
6016, Mr. Kelly's bill, does just that; and I urge my colleagues to 
support the bill.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Farenthold) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 6016, 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. FARENTHOLD. 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, further 
proceedings on this question will be postponed.

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