[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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