Bonuses for Cost-Cutters Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 103 To amend title 5, United States Code, to enhance the authority under which Federal agencies may pay cash awards to employees for making cost saving disclosures, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 4, 2021 Mr. FLEISCHMANN (for himself and Mr. COOPER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform A BILL To amend title 5, United States Code, to enhance the author- ity under which Federal agencies may pay cash awards to employees for making cost saving disclosures, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Bonuses for Cost-Cut- 4 ters Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. COST SAVINGS ENHANCEMENTS. 6 (a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 4511 of title 5, United 7 States Code, is amended— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:05 Jan 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H103.IH H103 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 103 IH (1) in the section heading, by striking ‘‘Defi- 1 nition’’ and inserting ‘‘Definitions’’; and 2 (2) in subsection (a)— 3 (A) by striking the period at the end and 4 inserting ‘‘; and’’; 5 (B) by striking ‘‘this subchapter, the 6 term’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘this sub- 7 chapter— 8 ‘‘(1) the term’’; and 9 (C) by adding at the end the following: 10 ‘‘(2) the term ‘wasteful expenses’ means 11 amounts made available for salaries and expenses 12 accounts, operations and maintenance accounts, or 13 other equivalent accounts— 14 ‘‘(A) that are identified by an employee of 15 the agency under section 4512(a) as wasteful; 16 and 17 ‘‘(B) that the Chief Financial Officer of 18 the agency determines are not required for the 19 purpose for which the amounts were made 20 available.’’. 21 (b) AUTHORITY.—Section 4512 of title 5, United 22 States Code, is amended— 23 (1) in subsection (a)— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:05 Jan 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H103.IH H103 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 103 IH (A) by inserting ‘‘The head of an agency 1 may pay a cash award to any employee of such 2 agency whose identification of wasteful expenses 3 to the Chief Financial Officer of the agency has 4 resulted in cost savings for the agency.’’ after 5 the first sentence; 6 (B) in paragraph (1) by striking 7 ‘‘$10,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$20,000’’; 8 (C) in paragraph (2)— 9 (i) by inserting ‘‘Chief Financial Offi- 10 cer,’’ after ‘‘Inspector General,’’; 11 (ii) by striking ‘‘employee designated 12 under subsection (b)’’ and inserting ‘‘des- 13 ignated employee’’; and 14 (iii) by inserting ‘‘or identification’’ 15 after ‘‘disclosure’’; and 16 (D) in the matter following paragraph 17 (2)— 18 (i) by inserting ‘‘, Chief Financial Of- 19 ficer,’’ after ‘‘Inspector General’’; and 20 (ii) by inserting ‘‘or identification’’ 21 after ‘‘disclosure’’; 22 (2) in subsection (b) by striking ‘‘awards per- 23 mitted under this section’’ and inserting ‘‘awards for 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:05 Jan 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H103.IH H103 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 103 IH the disclosure of fraud, waste, or mismanagement 1 under this section’’; and 2 (3) by adding at the end the following: 3 ‘‘(c)(1) If the Chief Financial Officer of the agency 4 determines that potential wasteful expenses identified by 5 an employee meet the requirements of section 6 4511(a)(2)(B), the head of the agency shall notify the 7 President for purposes of proposing the expenses for re- 8 scission under title X of the Congressional Budget and 9 Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 681 et seq.). 10 ‘‘(2) In the case of an agency for which there is no 11 Chief Financial Officer, the head of the agency shall des- 12 ignate an agency employee who shall have the authority 13 to make the determinations for identification of wasteful 14 expenses under this section. 15 ‘‘(d) The head of each agency shall make available, 16 along with, and in the same manner and form as, the pro- 17 vision of information required under section 1116 of title 18 31, information on disclosures of wasteful expenses under 19 this section, including— 20 ‘‘(1) a description of each disclosure of possible 21 wasteful expenses identified by an employee and de- 22 termined by the agency to have merit; and 23 ‘‘(2) the number and amount of cash awards 24 provided by the agency under subsection (a). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:05 Jan 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H103.IH H103 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 103 IH ‘‘(e) An individual may not receive a cash award 1 under this subchapter if the individual is— 2 ‘‘(1) an officer or employee of the Office of the 3 Inspector General of an agency; or 4 ‘‘(2) ineligible for a cash award under section 5 4509. 6 ‘‘(f) The Director of the Office of Personnel Manage- 7 ment shall— 8 ‘‘(1) ensure that the cash award program of 9 each agency complies with this section; and 10 ‘‘(2) submit to Congress an annual certification 11 indicating whether the cash award program of each 12 agency complies with this section. 13 ‘‘(g) Not later than 3 years after the date of enact- 14 ment of the Bonuses for Cost-Cutters Act of 2021, and 15 every 3 years thereafter for 6 years, the Comptroller Gen- 16 eral of the United States shall submit to Congress a report 17 on the operation of the cost savings and awards program 18 under this section, including any recommendations for leg- 19 islative changes.’’. 20 (c) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 21 The table of sections for subchapter II of chapter 45 of 22 title 5, United States Code, is amended by striking the 23 item relating to section 4511 and inserting the following: 24 ‘‘4511. Definitions and general provisions.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:05 Jan 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H103.IH H103 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS