Agency Subpoena Compliance Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3901 To establish procedures to reduce agency funding for failure to comply with lawfully issued congressional subpoenas, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 7, 2023 Mr. DONALDS (for himself, Mrs. LUNA, and Ms. GREENE of Georgia) intro- duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Rules, and in addition to the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com- mittee concerned A BILL To establish procedures to reduce agency funding for failure to comply with lawfully issued congressional subpoenas, 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 ‘‘Agency Subpoena 4 Compliance Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:44 Jul 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3901.IH H3901 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 3901 IH SEC. 2. PROCEDURES FOR REDUCING AGENCY FUNDING 1 FOR A FAILURE TO ADHERE TO COMPLY 2 WITH SUBPOENAS. 3 (a) REPORT FROM THE PRESIDENT.— 4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than October 31 of 5 each year, the President shall submit to the Com- 6 mittee on Oversight and Accountability of the House 7 of Representatives and the Committee on Homeland 8 Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate a 9 report that includes, with respect to the previous fis- 10 cal year, each subpoena issued to or received by, or 11 both, an agency which received funding pursuant to 12 a regular appropriation bill. 13 (2) REPORT FORMAT.—The report described in 14 paragraph (1) shall separate each such agency and 15 subpoena issued to, received by, or both into sepa- 16 rate titles of the report pursuant to the regular ap- 17 propriation bill which provides funding for each such 18 agency. 19 (b) COMMITTEE HEARING WITH RESPECT TO AGEN- 20 CY ACTIONS.—Not later than 45 days after the date on 21 which a report is received pursuant to subsection (a), each 22 such committee shall hold a hearing with respect to wheth- 23 er each lawfully issued congressional subpoena included in 24 such report was complied with by the relevant agency. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:44 Jul 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3901.IH H3901 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 3901 IH (c) COMMITTEE REPORT.—Not later than 45 day 1 after the date on which a hearing is held pursuant to sub- 2 section (b), the Committee on Oversight and Account- 3 ability of the House of Representatives and the Committee 4 on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the 5 Senate shall each, with respect to each title of the report 6 submitted by the President under subsection (a)— 7 (1) vote on a report that contains the conclu- 8 sions of the committee with respect to whether each 9 agency complied with each lawfully issued congres- 10 sional subpoena; 11 (2) in the case that either committee, by major- 12 ity vote, determines that any agency did not comply 13 with a lawfully issued congressional subpoena to the 14 relevant agency, include in the report a proposed re- 15 duction of funding in the regular appropriation bill 16 which provides funding for each such agency for the 17 subsequent fiscal year in the amount equal to a half 18 of a percent for each lawfully issued congressional 19 subpoena that was not complied with; 20 (3) in the case that the report submitted by the 21 President under subsection (a) was submitted after 22 the deadline required under subsection (a)(1), in- 23 clude in the report a proposed reduction of funding 24 in the regular appropriation bill which provides 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:44 Jul 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3901.IH H3901 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 3901 IH funding for the Executive Office of the President for 1 the subsequent fiscal year in the amount equal to 2 two percent for each week during the period that 3 starts on the deadline under subsection (a)(1) and 4 ends on the date the President submits such report; 5 and 6 (4) submit such report to the House of Rep- 7 resentatives or the Senate, as the case may be. 8 (d) PROVIDING FOR REDUCTION IN AGENCY FUND- 9 ING.— 10 (1) PROCEDURES IN THE HOUSE OF REP- 11 RESENTATIVES.—Clause 2 of rule XXI of the Rules 12 of the House of Representatives is amended by add- 13 ing at the end the following new paragraph: 14 ‘‘(h) It shall be in order, if offered by the chair of 15 the Committee on Oversight and Accountability or the 16 chair’s designee, to offer an amendment to a general ap- 17 propriation bill for a fiscal year providing for a reduction 18 in funding for an agency or, if applicable, the Executive 19 Office of the President in such general appropriation bill 20 in the amount equal to a proposed reduction of funding 21 for such agency or the Executive Office of the President 22 for such fiscal year as reported by the committee pursuant 23 to subsection (c) of the Agency Subpoena Compliance 24 Act.’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:44 Jul 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3901.IH H3901 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 3901 IH (2) PROCEDURES IN THE SENATE.—Notwith- 1 standing any rule of the Standing Rules of the Sen- 2 ate, it shall be in order, if offered by the chair of 3 the Committee on Homeland Security and Govern- 4 mental Affairs of the Senate or the chair’s designee, 5 to offer an amendment to a general appropriation 6 bill for a fiscal year providing for a reduction in 7 funding for an agency or, if applicable, the Execu- 8 tive Office of the President, in such general appro- 9 priation bill in the amount equal to a proposed re- 10 duction of funding for such agency or the Executive 11 Office of the President for such fiscal year as re- 12 ported by the committee pursuant to subsection (c) 13 of this Act. 14 (e) EXERCISE OF RULEMAKING POWER.—This sec- 15 tion, except with respect to subsection (a), is enacted by 16 Congress— 17 (1) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of 18 the House of Representatives and the Senate, re- 19 spectively, and as such shall be considered as part 20 of the rules of each House, respectively, or of that 21 House to which it specifically applies, and it super- 22 sedes other rules only to the extent that they are in- 23 consistent therewith; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:44 Jul 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3901.IH H3901 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •HR 3901 IH (2) with full recognition of the constitutional 1 right of either House to change the rules (so far as 2 relating to the procedure of that House) at any time, 3 in the same manner, and to the same extent as in 4 the case of any other rule of that House. 5 (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following defi- 6 nitions apply: 7 (1) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the 8 meaning given the term in section 551 of title 5, 9 United States Code. 10 (2) SUBPOENA.—The term ‘‘subpoena’’ has the 11 meaning given the term in Rule XI, clause 2(m)(1) 12 of the Rules of the House of Representatives. 13 (3) REGULAR APPROPRIATION BILL.—The term 14 ‘‘regular appropriation bill’’ means any annual ap- 15 propriation bill which, with respect to the Congress 16 involved, is under the jurisdiction of a single sub- 17 committee of the Committee on Appropriations of 18 the House of Representatives (pursuant to the Rules 19 of the House of Representatives for that Congress) 20 and a single subcommittee of the Committee on Ap- 21 propriations of the Senate (pursuant to the Standing 22 Rules of the Senate). 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:44 Jul 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3901.IH H3901 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •HR 3901 IH (g) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall take effect 1 on the date of the enactment of this Act. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:44 Jul 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3901.IH H3901 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB