Washington Bureaucrat Accountability Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3430 To rescind unused earmarks provided for the Department of Transportation and deposit such funds into the Treasury for purposes of deficit reduc- tion, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 20, 2021 Mr. NEHLS (for himself, Mr. GOHMERT, Mr. WEBER of Texas, and Mr. BABIN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Appropriations, and in addition to the Committees on Trans- portation and Infrastructure, and Oversight and Reform, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider- ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To rescind unused earmarks provided for the Department of Transportation and deposit such funds into the Treas- ury for purposes of deficit reduction, and for other pur- poses. 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 ‘‘Washington Bureau- 4 crat Accountability Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:27 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3430.IH H3430 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3430 IH SEC. 2. UNUSED EARMARKS. 1 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 2 (1) the term ‘‘agency’’ has the meaning given 3 the term ‘‘Executive agency’’ under section 105 of 4 title 5, United States Code; 5 (2) the term ‘‘earmark’’ means— 6 (A) a congressionally directed spending 7 item, as defined in rule XLIV of the Standing 8 Rules of the Senate; and 9 (B) a congressional earmark, as defined in 10 rule XXI of the Rules of the House of Rep- 11 resentatives; and 12 (3) the term ‘‘unused DOT earmark’’ means an 13 earmark of funds provided for the Department of 14 Transportation as to which any funds remain avail- 15 able for obligation at the end of the 9th fiscal year 16 following the fiscal year during which the earmark 17 was made available. 18 (b) RESCISSION OF UNUSED DOT EARMARKS.— 19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para- 20 graph (2), effective on October 1 of the 10th fiscal 21 year after funds under an unused DOT earmark are 22 made available, all unobligated amounts made avail- 23 able under the unused DOT earmark are rescinded 24 and deposited into the Treasury for purposes of def- 25 icit reduction. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:27 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3430.IH H3430 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3430 IH (2) EXCEPTION.—The Secretary of Transpor- 1 tation may delay the rescission of amounts made 2 available under an unused DOT earmark for 1 year 3 if the Secretary determines that an additional obli- 4 gation of the earmark is likely to occur during the 5 10th fiscal year after funds under the unused DOT 6 earmark are made available. 7 (c) AGENCY-WIDE IDENTIFICATION AND REPORT.— 8 (1) AGENCY IDENTIFICATION.—Each agency 9 shall identify and submit to the Director of the Of- 10 fice of Management and Budget an annual report 11 regarding every project of the agency for which— 12 (A) amounts are made available under an 13 earmark; and 14 (B) as of the end of a fiscal year, unobli- 15 gated balances remain available. 16 (2) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Director of the Of- 17 fice of Management and Budget shall submit to 18 Congress and publically post on the website of the 19 Office of Management and Budget an annual report 20 that includes— 21 (A) a listing and accounting for earmarks 22 for which unobligated balances remain avail- 23 able, summarized by agency, which shall in- 24 clude, for each earmark— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:27 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3430.IH H3430 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3430 IH (i) the amount of funds made avail- 1 able under the original earmark; 2 (ii) the amount of the unobligated bal- 3 ances that remain available; 4 (iii) the fiscal year through which the 5 funds are made available, if applicable; and 6 (iv) recommendations and justifica- 7 tions for whether the earmark should be 8 rescinded or retained in the next fiscal 9 year; 10 (B) the number of rescissions resulting 11 from this section and the annual savings result- 12 ing from this section for the previous fiscal 13 year; and 14 (C) a listing and accounting for earmarks 15 provided for the Department of Transportation 16 scheduled to be rescinded under subsection (b) 17 at the end of the fiscal year during which the 18 report is submitted. 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:27 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3430.IH H3430 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS