[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1992, Book I)]
[April 9, 1992]
[Page 576]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



[[Page 576]]

Message to the Congress Transmitting Proposed Legislation on 
Accountability in Government

April 9, 1992
To the Congress of the United States:
    I am pleased to transmit today for your immediate consideration and 
enactment the ``Accountability in Government Act of 1992.''
    The legislation would extend to the Congress and the White House the 
relevant portions of five laws that apply to the private sector. The 
laws in question are the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (minimum wage 
law), the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment 
Act of 1967, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the damages remedy 
created by the Civil Rights Act of 1991. The proposal also makes 
available the remedies currently available to other employees for 
violations of these laws, rather than special remedial schemes based 
entirely or in large part on internal congressional grievance 
mechanisms.
    The legislation would also extend to the analogous portions of 
Congress five laws that presently apply to various portions of the 
executive branch. The laws in question are Title VI of the Ethics in 
Government Act, conflicts of interest laws, the Hatch Act, the Freedom 
of Information Act, and the Privacy Act. The scope of this proposal has 
been carefully tailored to take into account the unique characteristics 
of the Congress and its Members. Moreover, none of the provisions of 
this legislation except those implicating criminal penalties calls for 
executive branch enforcement. Rather, all are to be enforced either by 
private suit, entities within the General Accounting Office (an 
instrumentality of the legislative branch), or both. This legislation 
therefore does not present the constitutional separation-of-powers 
questions that might be presented by general executive branch 
administration of laws applied to the legislative branch.
    I urge the Congress to give this legislation prompt and favorable 
consideration.

                                                             George Bush

The White House,
April 9, 1992.