Government Accountability Office Improvement Act

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1162) to amend title 31, United States Code, to make improvements in the Government Accountability Office, as amended.

I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

As you know, the Government Accountability Office is a legislative branch agency that investigates how the Federal Government spends taxpayer dollars. Often called the ``congressional watchdog,'' the GAO investigates instances of waste, fraud, and abuse in the Federal Government. My committee has direct jurisdiction over the GAO.

Congress must have current information on how Federal programs are performing in order to both legislate and effectively conduct meaningful oversight.

H.R. 1162, the GAO Improvement Act, will enhance the GAO's ability to serve Congress primarily by ensuring the agency has access to key data warehoused in the executive branch.

This bill ensures that the GAO has access to the National Directory of New Hires, which is used to verify eligibility for Federal programs, to detect or prevent fraud, and to identify improper payments.

H.R. 1162 will ensure the GAO has the ability to obtain agency records and to administer oaths to witnesses when auditing accounts and investigating fraud.

It will allow the Comptroller General to seek judicial remedy to enforce GAO's right to information under the law.

GAO has an exemplary record of protecting sensitive government information, including national security documents. The committee is confident that GAO, a nonpartisan portion of the legislative branch, will continue to vigorously maintain confidentiality regarding information it obtains.

I want to note that the language in this bill was included in previous

versions of the DATA Act that was approved unanimously by the House in the last Congress.

I want to additionally thank the ranking member, Mr. Cummings, for his partnership in this issue. No matter which of us holds the gavel, we together know that the information we base our decisions on, the information critical to the American people, has a balance of time that we must realize must be sooner and not later.

The ranking member and I absolutely support this bill in its current form because we know that fresh information is critically important if we're to make our decisions well timely.

With that, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I now will place in the record a letter from the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee supporting the bill, but recognizing that the primary jurisdiction over this database belongs to the Ways and Means Committee, and we are responding in the affirmative for that.

Committee on Ways and Means,

House of Representatives,

Washington, DC, April 15, 2013.

Hon. Darrell Issa,

Chairman, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform,

Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC.

Dear Chairman Issa, On March 20, 2013, the Committee on

Oversight and Government Reform reported H.R. 1162, the

Government Accountability Office Improvement Act, favorably

to the House. Section 2, dealing with authority to access the

National Directory of New Hires in Section 453 of the Social

Security Act, touches the jurisdiction of the Committee on

Ways and Means. As a result of your having consulted with the

Committee concerning the provision of the bill that falls

within our Rule X jurisdiction, I agree not to seek a

sequential referral so that the bill may proceed

expeditiously to the House floor.

The Committee on Ways and Means takes this action with the

mutual understanding that, by forgoing consideration of H.R.

1162 at this time, we do not waive any jurisdiction over the

subject matter contained in this or similar legislation, and

the Committee will be appropriately consulted and involved as

the bill or similar legislation moves forward so that we may

address any remaining issues that fall within our Rule X

jurisdiction. The Committee also reserves the right to seek

appointment of an appropriate number of conferees to any

House-Senate conference involving this or similar

legislation, and requests your support for such request.

Finally, I would appreciate your response to this letter

confirming this understanding, and would ask that a copy of

our exchange of letters on this matter be included in the

Congressional Record during floor consideration thereof.

Sincerely,

Dave Camp,

Chairman.

Before I recognize the next speaker, I would ask that the House take a moment to recognize the loss of life in Boston as this tragedy continues to unfold.

Mr. Speaker, we have no further requests for time, and I am prepared to close unless there are further speakers on the other side.

Then I think we both ask for favorable consideration, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I first just want to dedicate a moment or two to our fellow citizens up in Boston who are going through some very traumatic times right now. The fact that bombs have gone off in Boston, that sadly there have been fatalities and sadly many people have been injured, our prayers go out to our fellow citizens, to the first responders, and we pray that this matter will be resolved in a way that brings anybody who brings harm to anyone to justice.

With that, Mr. Speaker, on the subject of the bill, I rise in strong support of this bill.

I want to associate myself with the words of our chairman, Mr. Issa. This is truly indeed a bipartisan bill. As to the contents of the bill, GAO assists Congress in identifying waste, fraud, and abuse in Federal programs and recommending ways to make government work better.

Because of its vital role, GAO needs unfetterred access to Federal agencies. Efforts by executive branch officials to withhold information from GAO unfortunately impede Congress' ability to legislate effectively. And I will say it over and over again, as long as I live, we need to be effective and efficient in everything we do on this Earth. This is an effort to make sure that we can be just that, more effective and efficient.

The Government Accountability Office Improvement Act will increase the effectiveness of GAO by clarifying and strengthening its authority in several critical areas, including access to records.

The GAO Improvement Act addresses a Federal court decision in Walker v. Cheney that limited GAO's ability to question agency access determinations in court.

The bill provides the Comptroller General, with express authority from Congress, to pursue litigation if the Comptroller General determines that the performance of her official duties is harmed when an agency improperly withholds information.

The bill also clarifies GAO's access to information in other key areas by confirming GAO's right to make and retain copies of records, authorizing the GAO to administer oaths in certain circumstances and specifically granting GAO access to certain information.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, the bill creates a reporting mechanism so that Congress will be more fully informed when agencies do not cooperate with GAO.

I introduced similar legislation to this bill in the last Congress which passed the House as a provision of H.R. 2146, the DATA Act, to which it was added at my request.

Again, I want to thank the chairman of the committee for his cooperation in getting the bill to the floor, and I urge Members to pass H.R. 1162.

With that, I reserve the balance of my time.

We have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on the evening of Monday, April 15, 2013, I joined Bishop Thomas Paprocki and Father Alan Hunter to celebrate the sacrament of Confirmation of my daughter and her classmates from St. Mary's Parish in Taylorville, St. Rita's Parish in Kincaid, and Holy Trinity Parish in Stonington, Illinois.

Had I been present in Washington DC on Monday April 15, 2013, my votes would have been as follows:

For rollcall No. 103, on suspending the rules and passing H.R. 1162, the Government Accountability Office Improvement Act, which confirms that the GAO has the authority to go to court to force departments to hand over records, as well as generally assures that the GAO has the proper tools to monitor agencies, I would have voted ``yes.''

For rollcall No. 104 on suspending the rules and passing H.R. 882, the Contracting and Tax Accountability Act of 2013, which states that it is the policy of the United States that no government contracts or grants should be awarded to individuals or companies with seriously delinquent federal tax debts, I would have voted ``yes.''

For rollcall No. 105 on suspending the rules and passing H.R. 249, the Federal Employee Tax Accountability Act, which prohibits any person who has a serious delinquent tax debt from serving on an executive agency, working for the U.S. Postal Service, the Postal Regulatory Commission, and an employing authority in the legislative branch, I would have voted ``yes.''

It is an honor to serve the people of the 13th Congressional District of Illinois.

Mr. Speaker, I was due to board a flight about the time of the Boston Marathon Bombing. The flight I was on was canceled and I took another flight later returning to Washington, DC. I unexpectedly missed rollcall votes 103, 104, and 105.

On rollcall vote 103, passage of H.R. 1162, GAO Improvement Act, I would have voted ``yes.''

On rollcall vote 104, passage of H.R. 882, The Contracting and Tax Accountability Act of 2013, I would have voted ``yes.''

On rollcall vote 105, passage of H.R. 249, Federal Employee Tax Accountability Act, I would have voted ``yes.''

Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained in my district and missed the votes on Monday, April 15, 2013.

Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall No. 103, H.R. 1162--GAO Improvement Act, ``yea'' on rollcall No. 104, H.R. 882-- The Contracting and Tax Accountability Act of 2013 and ``no'' on rollcall No. 105, H.R. 249--Federal Employee Tax Accountability Act.