SIGHT Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 3766 To prohibit the President from blocking Inspectors General from reporting to Congress and to require a report to Congress if the Department of the Treasury or the White House does not provide timely access to records, documents, and other materials relating to the implementation and execution of the CARES Act, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 19, 2020 Mr. TESTER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs A BILL To prohibit the President from blocking Inspectors General from reporting to Congress and to require a report to Congress if the Department of the Treasury or the White House does not provide timely access to records, docu- ments, and other materials relating to the implementa- tion and execution of the CARES Act, 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 ‘‘Seeking Inspector Gen- 4 eral’s Honest Testimony Act’’ or the ‘‘SIGHT Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:17 Jun 11, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3766.IS S3766 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 3766 IS SEC. 2. COMPLIANCE WITH ACCESS TO RECORDS UNDER 1 THE CARES ACT. 2 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 3 (1) the term ‘‘Committee’’ means the Pandemic 4 Response Accountability Committee established 5 under section 15010 of division B of the Coronavi- 6 rus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (Public 7 Law 116–136); 8 (2) the term ‘‘covered records’’ means all 9 records, documents, and other materials in the cus- 10 tody or possession of the Department or the White 11 House, as applicable, relating to the implementation 12 and execution of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and 13 Economic Security Act (Public Law 116–136); 14 (3) the term ‘‘Department’’ means the Depart- 15 ment of the Treasury; and 16 (4) the term ‘‘Special Inspector General’’ means 17 the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recov- 18 ery appointed under section 4018 of the Coronavirus 19 Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (Public Law 20 116–136). 21 (b) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—If the Inspector 22 General of the Department, the Committee, or the Special 23 Inspector General determines that the Department or the 24 White House has not complied with the requirement to 25 provide timely access to covered records or has prevented 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:17 Jun 11, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3766.IS S3766 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 3766 IS or impeded the access of the Inspector General of the De- 1 partment, the Committee, or the Special Inspector General 2 to those covered records— 3 (1) the Inspector General of the Department, 4 the Committee, or the Special Inspector General, as 5 applicable, shall submit to Congress a report on the 6 noncompliance or lack of access not later than 5 7 days after the date on which the Department or the 8 White House, as applicable, does not comply with 9 the requirement or prevents such access; and 10 (2) if the Department has not complied with 11 the requirement or has prevented or impeded such 12 access, there shall be rescinded from the Office of 13 the Secretary of the Department any amounts ap- 14 propriated to that Office for the fiscal year and de- 15 posited into the general fund of the Treasury until 16 the Department complies with the requirement. 17 SEC. 3. REPORTING ON CARES ACT. 18 (a) DEFINITION OF INSPECTOR GENERAL.—In this 19 section, the term ‘‘Inspector General’’ means— 20 (1) an Inspector General of an establishment or 21 a designated Federal entity (as defined in sections 22 12 and 8G of the Inspector General Act of 1978 (5 23 U.S.C. App.)), respectively; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:17 Jun 11, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3766.IS S3766 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 3766 IS (2) the Special Inspector General for Pandemic 1 Recovery established under section 4018 of the 2 Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act 3 (Public Law 116–136). 4 (b) PROHIBITION.—The President shall not block or 5 otherwise prevent an Inspector General from reporting to 6 Congress on issues related to the implementation of the 7 CARES Act (Public Law 116–136). 8 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:17 Jun 11, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S3766.IS S3766 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS