[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 213 (Thursday, December 9, 2021)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D1362-D1364]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





                        House of Representatives


Chamber Action
Public Bills and Resolutions Introduced: 43 public bills, H.R. 6202-
6244; and 1 resolution, H.J. Res. 67, were introduced.   
  Pages H7634-37
Additional Cosponsors:                                   
  Pages H7638-39
Reports Filed: There were no reports filed today.
Speaker: Read a letter from the Speaker wherein she appointed 
Representative Brownley to act as Speaker pro tempore for today. 
                                                             Page H7559
Protecting Our Democracy Act: The House passed H.R. 5314, to protect 
our democracy by preventing abuses of presidential power, restoring 
checks and balances and accountability and transparency in government, 
and defending elections against foreign interference, by a yea-and-nay 
vote of 220 yeas to 208 nays, Roll No. 440.           
  Pages H7562-H7617
  Rejected the Rodney Davis (IL) motion to recommit the bill to the 
Committee on Oversight and Reform, by a yea-and-nay vote of 212 yeas to 
217 nays, Roll No. 439.                                      
Page H7616
  Pursuant to the Rule, an amendment in the nature of a substitute 
consisting of the text of Rules Committee Print 117-20, modified by the 
amendment printed in part A of H. Rept. 117-205, shall be considered as 
adopted.                                                 
Pages H7563-82
Agreed to:
  Carolyn B. Maloney (NY) amendment en bloc No. 1 consisting of the 
following amendments printed in part B of H. Rept. 117-205: Adams (No. 
1) that requires the FEC to make an income tax return public and post 
online within 48 hours of receiving a return, including redactions; 
Aguilar (No. 2) that requires that each state chief's election official 
creates a database of election officials who have received threats 
against them and need their personally identifiable information (PII) 
protected to ensure safe and fair elections; Cicilline (No. 4) that 
requires the White House to maintain a publicly accessible website that 
includes salary and financial disclosure information for White House 
employees; Clark (MA) (No. 5) that adds the President, Vice President, 
and any Cabinet member to the current statutory prohibition on members 
of Congress contracting with the federal government; Cohen (No. 6) that 
changes the definition of a ``covered offense'' to include pardons 
issued to any third degree relative of the President, any member or 
former member of the President's administration, any person who worked 
on the President's presidential campaign as a paid employee, or any 
person or entity when the offense at issue is motivated by a direct and 
significant personal or pecuniary interest of any of the described 
individuals; Connolly (No. 8) that protects merit system principles by 
limiting federal employee reclassifications to the five excepted 
service schedules in use prior to fiscal year 2021 (based on the 
bipartisan Preventing a Patronage System Act); Correa (No. 9) that 
closes the loophole that allows agencies to treat requests for 
information from members of Congress as FOIA requests by clarifying 
that the Freedom of Information Act prohibits executive branch agencies 
from responding to congressional requests for information with records 
that have been subject to FOIA

[[Page D1363]]

redactions; Correa (No. 10) that requires all Congressionally mandated 
reports from the executive branch to be transmitted to Congress in 
machine readable format; DelBene (No. 11) that directs the Federal 
Election Commission (FEC), in consultation with the National Institute 
of Standards and Technology (NIST), the Cybersecurity and 
Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and other appropriate offices, 
to issue guidance for political committees and vendors on cybersecurity 
risks and best practices; Foxx (No. 12) that creates an Inspector 
General for the Office of Management and Budget to bring transparency 
and accountability to the agency; Foxx (No. 13) that creates parity in 
enforcement for Oversight and Reform Committee ``Rule of 7'' requests 
to protect minority party requests for information; Gallego (No. 14) 
that requires the President-elect to report to Congress on individuals 
in an incoming administration that are seeking a security clearance and 
the status of that clearance, including interim clearances; Golden (No. 
15) that expands President and other covered officials' emolument 
disclosures to cover emoluments received or expected by spouses and 
dependent children, in line with other financial disclosures for 
spouses and dependent children in 5a USC 102(e); Issa (No. 16) that 
states that an incoming staffer in a Member office who already has a 
clearance shall not be counted against the two clearances per office 
that the current House rules allow; Kilmer (No. 17) that modernizes 
Federal Election Commission (FEC) disclosure requirements to ensure 
online political advertisements meet the same transparency and 
disclosure requirements that already apply to political ads sold on TV, 
radio, and satellite platforms; Lynch (No. 18) that prohibits the use 
of deepfakes within 60 days of a federal election and establishes 
corresponding criminal and civil penalties; Sean Maloney (NY) (No. 19) 
that clarifies language in the Former Presidents Act to state that 
impeachment and conviction, regardless of removal, makes a former 
president ineligible for benefits; McGovern (No. 20) that strengthens 
safeguards in the bill against presidential abuse of emergency powers 
by prohibiting their use for purposes other than emergencies; providing 
expedited procedures for joint resolutions to end emergency 
declarations; and ending ``permanent emergencies'' through a five-year 
limit; Ocasio-Cortez (No. 21) that expands coverage of section 3110 of 
title 5 of the U.S. Code to prohibit nepotistic appointments to the 
Executive Office of the President; Ocasio-Cortez (No. 22) that codifies 
President Biden's Executive Order on ethics commitments by executive 
branch personnel; Ocasio-Cortez (No. 23) that directs the Office of 
Government Ethics to promulgate regulations establishing ethics 
requirements for the establishment or operation of legal expense funds 
for the benefit of the President, Vice President, or any political 
appointee; Ocasio-Cortez (No. 24) that imposes disclosure requirements 
on inaugural committees, prohibits committees from taking money from 
foreign nationals; shadow entities; and corporations; and prohibits 
conversion of committee resources for personal use or for personal 
benefit; Omar (No. 26) that ensures agency interns are covered by 
whistle-blower provisions; Pascrell (No. 27) that amends Title X to 
clarify ability of federal officials to visit federal property prior to 
an election, requires disclosure of Hatch Act Investigations for 
certain employees, makes the Hatch Act applicable to the President and 
Vice President while conducting official duties on White House and 
White House grounds, strengthens Hatch Act violation penalties, grants 
the Office of Special Counsel rulemaking authority and ability to 
continue investigating certain employees, grants the Merit System 
Protection Board the ability to enforce subpoenas against certain 
employees, and conducts a GAO review of Hatch Act provisions; Phillips 
(No. 28) that explicitly prohibits conventions of national political 
parties for congressional, presidential, and vice-presidential 
candidates from being held on or in any federal property, including the 
White House and surrounding grounds; Phillips (No. 29) that directs the 
Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to establish a program to support 
state and local governments in the transition to ranked choice voting 
(a system in which voters rank candidates in order of preference); 
Quigley (No. 30) that requires the President to establish and 
periodically update a public database of White House visitor records, 
including the names of visitors, with whom visitors met, and the 
purpose of the visit; Raskin (No. 31) that strengthens Title II of the 
Act to ensure that if a sitting President or Vice President is indicted 
while in office, a trial or other legal proceeding may only be delayed 
if it interferes with the defendant's official duties and ensures the 
burden to delay legal proceedings falls on the defendant; Ross (No. 32) 
that prohibits the President from requiring an officer or employee of 
the Executive Office of the President to enter into a nondisclosure 
agreement that is not related to the protection of classified or 
controlled unclassified information as a condition of employment or 
upon separation from the civil service; Ross (No. 33) that directs the 
Department of Justice (DOJ) to create an election threats task force to 
work with federal, state, and local partners to prioritize identifying, 
investigating, and prosecuting threats and acts of violence against 
election officials, workers, and their families; and Scanlon (No. 34) 
that changes the frequency

[[Page D1364]]

that the Inspector General of the Department of Justice must report to 
Congress improper communications between DOJ and the White House (by a 
yea-and-nay vote of 218 yeas to 211 nays, Roll No. 436). 
                                            Pages H7594-H7608, H7613-14
Rejected:
  Carolyn B. Maloney (NY) amendment en bloc No. 2 consisting of the 
following amendments printed in part B of H. Rept 117-205: Burgess (No. 
3) that sought to strike Title II; and Comer (No. 7) that sought to 
strike all sections of the bill and retitle as the ``Inspector General 
Stability Act'', but preserve a modified Title VII Subtitle A 
(Requiring Cause for Removal) which instead requires Congressional 
notification and a detailed rationale prior to an IG's removal, and 
also preserves Title VII Subtitle C (Congressional Notification) (by a 
yea-and-nay vote of 211 yeas to 218 nays, Roll No. 437); and 
                                               Pages H7608-11, H7614-15
  Ocasio-Cortez amendment (No. 25) printed in part B of H. Rept. 117-
205 that sought to assert the Government Accountability Office's 
investigatory powers over the intelligence community (by a yea-and-nay 
vote of 196 yeas to 233 nays, Roll No. 438).      
Pages H7611-13, H7615
  H. Res. 838, the rule providing for consideration of the bills (H.R. 
5314), (S. 1605), and (S. 610) was agreed to Tuesday, December 7th. 
Agreed that in the engrossment of the bill, the clerk be authorized to 
correct section numbers, punctuation, spelling, and cross-references 
and to make such other technical and conforming changes as may be 
necessary to reflect the actions of the House.               
Page H7617
Senate Referrals: S.J. Res. 29 was held at the desk. S. 2293 was held 
at the desk. S. 2796 was held at the desk. S. 693 was held at the desk.
                                                             Page H7617
Senate Message: Message received from the Senate today appears on page 
H7617.
Quorum Calls--Votes: Five yea-and-nay votes developed during the 
proceedings of today and appear on pages H7613-14, H7614-15, H7615, 
H7616, and H7616-17.
Adjournment: The House met at 12 noon and adjourned at 7:03 p.m.