Jason Chaffetz

Mr. CHAFFETZ

Mr. CHAFFETZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Again, I thank the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Clay) for his good work on this. The Federal Advisory Committee Act Amendments of 2017 was introduced by Representative Clay to help improve the governance and transparency of the Federal advisory committees. Last Congress, this bill passed through the committee by regular order and passed the House. Congress acknowledged the merits of using advisory committees to acquire viewpoints from business, academic, and other interests when it passed the original act back in 1972. While not necessarily well-known, Federal advisory committees are small bodies of people who provide advice, guidance, and recommendation to Federal policymakers on a wide range of topics. All told, in fiscal year 2015, there were roughly 1,000 Federal advisory committees, and they held roughly 7,400 meetings at a cost to the American taxpayers of more than $369 million. Now, this strikes me personally as an exceptionally high number. It is a large amount of money. We need to learn more about them, and I personally would help champion to reduce the number of overall Federal advisory committees. We have some 2 million Federal employees, I think, who are highly capable, motivated, and compensated to provide this work. It is good to get outside perspective; but, at some point, we are going to have to look at the cost, the size, and the scope of this as well. Nevertheless, we have to make sure that we are getting the most of these taxpayer dollars. Some agencies believe the FACA requirements are cumbersome and resource intensive. We could certainly streamline this. This reduces the ability of committees to focus on substantive issues in a timely fashion. Both governmental agencies and private groups say the 1972 act does not do enough to require agencies to promote openness and transparency with regard to Federal advisory committees. The bill works to address these problems and bring transparency to the Federal advisory committees and the Federal agency decisionmaking process. The bill provides needed transparency for how committee members are selected in several ways. First, the bill requires members to be selected without political affiliation. The bill also authorizes agency heads to require members to fully disclose any conflicts of interest. You would think that that would be common sense but something that we actually need to put into this bill and make sure that we understand that. In addition, the bill allows these individuals who regularly attend and participate in committee meetings to be considered as a member, even if they are not allowed to vote. The bill also improves transparency of committee activities. This is done by increasing the independence of these committees and making sure its advice, information, and recommendations are a judgment of the committee and not the agency. The bill also increases transparency by requiring each agency to make available on their Web site the committee and its activities. I urge our Members to support this. It has wide support and has had it in the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. I urge its passage. I again thank Mr. Clay, Mr. Connolly, and others who were working on this issue. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. CHAFFETZ. Mr. Speaker, I have no additional speakers. I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. CHAFFETZ

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

Mr. CHAFFETZ. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Committee on Ways and Means for their work on the bill, and I include the committee exchange of letters into the Record. House of Representatives, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Washington, DC, January 4, 2017. Hon. Kevin Brady, Chairman, Committee on Ways and Means, Washington, DC. Dear Mr. Chairman: On January 3, 2017, H.R. 72, the GAO Access and Oversight Act of 2017, was introduced by Rep. Earl L. ``Buddy'' Carter (R-GA-1). The bill was referred primarily to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, with an additional referral to the Committee on Ways and Means. I ask that you allow the Ways and Means Committee to be discharged from further consideration of the bill so that it may be scheduled by the Majority Leader. This discharge in no way affects your jurisdiction over the subject matter of the bill, and it will not serve as precedent for future referrals. In addition, should a conference on the bill be necessary, I would support your request to have the Committee on Ways and Means represented on the conference committee. Finally, I would be pleased to include this letter and any response in the bill report filed by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, as well as in the Congressional Record during floor consideration, to memorialize our understanding. Thank you for your consideration of my request. Sincerely, Jason Chaffetz, Chairman.

Mr. CHAFFETZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Carter), the original cosponsor of the bill. I want to thank the gentleman for his championing this bill through.

Mr. CHAFFETZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 72, the GAO Access and Oversight Act of 2017, and its chief sponsor, Mr. Buddy Carter of Georgia. We have a duty to ensure that taxpayer money is spent efficiently and effectively. One of the key ways we carry out this duty is through the key watchdog of the government, the Government Accountability Office. The GAO has a proven track record of excellence, and we rely heavily on this group, thousands of professionals who pour their heart and soul into diving deep into organizations and understanding how they function. But as this bill states, we need some more openness and transparency. In the past 6 years alone, it has identified more than 200 areas of duplication, overlap, and fragmentation. They have made recommendations on 600 actions to make our government more effective and efficient. We need to listen to them and understand them. We also, I would argue, Mr. Speaker, have a duty and an obligation to give them the tools and access that they need in order to do their jobs even better. We must put GAO in the best position possible to rout out and deter waste, fraud, and abuse. Today, we have an opportunity to better arm the GAO by clarifying its right to access data contained in the National Directory of New Hires. This gives GAO access to the most up-to-date data to ensure Federal program dollars go to the folks Congress intended to receive them. Doing so, we will help GAO better investigate potential fraud and improper payments, including those overextended disability insurance programs. The GAO's objectives are hindered without access to the data, and taxpayer dollars are not as well protected. This bill has previously received overwhelming support in the House, and it is time for us to finish the job and pass the bill to the Senate and get it to the President's desk. On September 16, the House approved this important bill by a vote of 404-0. The language in this bill was also included in bipartisan legislation that was approved unanimously by the full House in the 113th Congress. Again, it is time to send this bill to the President. I would like to thank my colleagues, and Representative Buddy Carter in particular, for sponsoring this legislation and believing in it so wholeheartedly. I would also like to thank Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska as the lead sponsor in the United States Senate. I urge passage of this bill. I have no additional speakers. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. CHAFFETZ

Mr. CHAFFETZ. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 69) to reauthorize the Office of Special Counsel, to amend title 5, United States Code, to provide modifications to authorities relating to the Office of Special Counsel, and for other purposes.

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

Mr. CHAFFETZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Blum), the lead sponsor of this legislation.

Mr. CHAFFETZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. First, let me note in the last Congress this legislation passed out of committee by regular order and passed the House on January 11, 2016. The Office of Special Counsel is tasked with protecting Federal employees from prohibited personnel practices, including reprisals on whistleblowers. Whistleblowers are an indispensable part of helping Congress identify waste, fraud, and abuse at Federal agencies. Information provided by these brave folks can result in investigations and legislation that changes the way we conduct ourselves in government. As the agency tasked with protecting whistleblowers, the OSC is vital to make sure these individuals feel comfortable coming forward and that they are offered protections. The agency has been busy. From 2013 to 2015, OSC's caseload increased from 4,500 cases open to more than 6,100. That increase coincided with multiple scandals within the Veterans Administration, as Mr. Blum of Iowa has highlighted. In fiscal year 2016, OSC projected nearly 2,500 cases from just the VA--2,500 cases at just the Veterans Administration. This reauthorization will ensure the OSC has adequate funding to continue protecting whistleblowers in the VA and other agencies as well. The majority of the OSC funding goes directly to hiring employees who work to protect whistleblowers. The bill also makes substantive improvements to current law to ensure the OSC can carry out its mission more effectively. Those reforms cover a few areas, ensuring agencies cooperate with the OSC, clarifying OSC's investigative procedures and making sure Congress receives clear information on whistleblower reprisal throughout the Federal Government. With this bill, the OSC has clear authority to access agency records and to conduct its investigations. For its part, the OSC must treat those records in the same manner of confidentiality as the agency would, alleviating concerns about disclosure of sensitive information. The bill also gives OSC needed flexibility to focus on claims that deserve our attention. It will allow the agency to terminate duplicative claims already being pursued by the Merit Systems Protection Board and claims that exceed statutory timeframes. Agencies will also be required to submit reports detailing what actions they take as a result of these OSC investigations--something in Congress that we should be paying attention to. This reporting provision requires agencies to admit any failures in holding people accountable and gives Congress much-needed transparency. Finally, the bill codifies OSC's practice under the current special counsel of disclosing to Congress results and statistics. Codifying this transparency ensures the practice will continue and allow for easier oversight of these activities. In order to help protect the whistleblowers and reform the Federal agencies, I would urge our colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 69. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. CHAFFETZ. Mr. Speaker, I urge the passage of this bill, H.R. 69. We have had four good champions led by Mr. Blum of Iowa in our committee who have helped put this together: Mr. Meadows of North Carolina, Mr. Connolly of Virginia, and Mr. Cummings, the ranking member out of Maryland. All four have come together as original cosponsors here in the 115th Congress. Mr. Speaker, I urge its passage, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. CHAFFETZ

Mr. CHAFFETZ. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform be discharged from further consideration of the bill (H.R. 6450) to amend the Inspector General Act of 1978 to strengthen the independence of the Inspectors General, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. CHAFFETZ. Mr. Speaker, I have an amendment to the bill at the desk.

Mr. CHAFFETZ

Mr. CHAFFETZ. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure be discharged from further consideration of the bill (H.R. 6451) to improve the Government-wide management of Federal property, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. CHAFFETZ

Mr. CHAFFETZ. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5790) to provide adequate protections for whistleblowers at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as amended.

Mr. CHAFFETZ. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on the bill under consideration.

Mr. CHAFFETZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 5790, the FBI Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2016, as amended. We have great respect and admiration for the FBI. They do wonderful work. In fact, I was always proud of my grandfather. He was a career FBI agent serving here in the Greater Washington, D.C., area and then up in Pennsylvania for a long period of time. It is because I respect the FBI and its agents that I helped introduce this bill. The whistleblower protections in the FBI have really not kept up with the rest of government. That is why we need a change here. The whistleblowers at the FBI should be treated the same as they are within the rest of the Federal Government, and this simple bill goes to help correct that. H.R. 5790 would clarify Congress' longstanding intent to protect whistleblowers when they make disclosures to the same supervisors who have the power to take personnel actions against them. While a great many changes remain to be made in how the Department of Justice and the FBI respond to whistleblowers, this clarification is not a minor one. If implemented, it would have far-reaching implications in protecting whistleblowers at the FBI just as Congress intended in 1978 in the Whistleblower Protection Act. The FBI Director, Mr. Comey, testified a year ago in the Senate that he ``very much'' supports legal protections for FBI employees who follow FBI's own policies and report wrongdoing to their supervisors. Similarly, the Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, testified: ``We certainly support protecting those who report within their chain of command.'' I want to thank, in particular, the Senate Judiciary Committee, and specifically Chairman Chuck Grassley for his leadership in first introducing this version of the bill. We are also grateful for the support of my colleagues, including Representative Hakeem Jeffries, who joined me as the lead Democrat on this bill in this House. I also want to particularly thank Elijah Cummings, the ranking member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, a great friend and colleague and somebody who also has been very supportive of the passage of this bill. I thank him for his work and commitment on this issue. Mr. Cummings, personally and through his dedicated staff, continually has worked hand in hand on whistleblower protections, and this is no exception. Together, we have sent the message throughout the Federal Government that protecting whistleblowers is not a partisan issue, and passing this bill will not mark the end of the road for reforming whistleblower protections at the FBI. In fact, in the next Congress, I look forward to addressing other issues raised by the whistleblower community in the GAO as well as the Department of Justice. I urge my colleagues to support this bill. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. CHAFFETZ. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank, again, Mrs. Lawrence. I want to thank the ranking member, Mr. Cummings. This is a good, bipartisan issue. It is really a nonpartisan issue. It is to protect Federal employees within the FBI so that they can have the whistleblower protections that, really, most of the rest of the government has, and I urge its adoption. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. CHAFFETZ

Mr. CHAFFETZ. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 795) to enhance whistleblower protection for contractor and grantee employees.

Mr. CHAFFETZ. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on the bill under consideration.

Mr. CHAFFETZ. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of this bill, S. 795, a bill to enhance whistleblower protection for contractor and grantee employees. It is a bill with good bipartisan support in both Chambers of Congress. I really do applaud and thank, in particular, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cummings), the ranking member on our committee, who has helped champion this and point this out and lead our efforts in the House on this. In the House, the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform considered an identical bill, the Whistleblower Protections for Contractors Act, introduced by Ranking Member Cummings and myself, and the committee reported this legislation by unanimous consent. In the Senate, it has been Senators McCaskill and Ron Johnson who have worked arm in arm on this and are also very supportive of it. Today we bring up the Senate version of this bill to expedite its approval to get this bill to the President's desk. As you know, Mr. Speaker, whistleblowers are invaluable to the oversight work of Congress. We rely on people who are on the front lines seeing things as they truly are to provide information and blow the whistle when they see something going awry. They are one of our best sources of information about waste, fraud, and abuse within the Federal Government. As an institution, we should try to do everything we can to encourage them to come and speak with us, and when they do, to make sure that they have the proper and adequate protections. That is exactly what this bill does, by recognizing that not all whistleblowers are Federal employees. We have robust Federal recognition and whistleblower protection for Federal employees, and we believe that contractors and others should have that as well. It makes permanent a successful pilot program that extended whistleblower protections to civilian contractor and grantee employees. It also ensures whistleblower protections are extended to subgrantees and personal services contractors for both defense and civilian contractors. It is important because the Federal Government spends half a trillion dollars a year on grants and contracts. Think about that; half a trillion dollars is going out the door. There is always somebody doing something stupid somewhere; so to have this protection for a whistleblower as a contractor, for instance, just seems wise and prudent. In overseeing how these funds are spent, the best source for rooting out waste is from grantees, subgrantees, contractors, and subcontractors. One loophole this bill closes is that personal services contractors were not protected in the past. These contractors can be just as valuable in identifying the waste and fraud we are committed to preventing in the first place. It only makes sense to offer those personal services contractors the same protections we give other contractors. With this bill, we are sending a strong message to both whistleblowers and their employers. We are serious about stopping waste, fraud, and abuse, and we are serious about protecting those who bring that information forward. Every dollar of wasted funds comes from the pocket of the same hardworking men and women who elected us to Congress. It is their money. It is not our money. It is not the Federal Government's money. It is the taxpayers' money. As we work to protect these taxpayer dollars, we also have a duty and responsibility to protect these whistleblowers. They are the best allies we have. S. 795 accomplishes that goal. An identical bill was passed out of our committee. I would appreciate the support of our colleagues to further this. Again, I thank Mr. Cummings for his good work and passion on this. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. CHAFFETZ. Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. CHAFFETZ

Mr. CHAFFETZ. Madam Speaker, notwithstanding the order of the House of September 22, 2016, I ask unanimous consent that the veto message of the President on the bill, H.R. 1777, together with the accompanying bill, be referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Mr. CHAFFETZ

Mr. CHAFFETZ. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6302) to provide an increase in premium pay for United States Secret Service agents performing protective services during 2016, and for other purposes.