James Comer

Mr. COMER

Mr. COMER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3121) to require the purchase of domestically made flags of the United States of America for use by the Federal Government, as amended.

Mr. COMER. 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. COMER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise today in support of H.R. 3121, introduced by Congresswoman Bustos of Illinois. H.R. 3121 is a bipartisan bill to ensure government agencies only buy United States flags made from 100 percent American- made material. Most Americans may think American flags purchased with taxpayer money for the government are made here at home by Americans using only U.S. materials. Surprisingly, this is not a uniform requirement in current Federal acquisition laws and regulations. When it comes to the content of American flags purchased by executive agencies, the requirements under the current law are inconsistent. The Department of Defense and the military departments generally are required to buy American flags made entirely of U.S. materials, but civilian agencies are currently permitted to buy flags that are manufactured in the U.S. consisting of only 51 percent American-made materials, or sometimes even less than that. This bill brings all executive agencies under a single rule when it comes to the content of American flags bought by agencies across the government. Rather than impose new rules and exceptions for DOD and civilian agency flag purchases, the All-American Flag Act recognizes and essentially adopts current DOD requirements and exceptions. H.R. 3121 contains limited exceptions that recognize practical realities, such as domestic nonavailability, in keeping with current law governing DOD purchases in textiles, including U.S. flags. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Bustos and the many cosponsors who are leading this effort to honor America's greatest symbol of freedom, and I urge my colleagues to support the bill. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. COMER. Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. COMER

Mr. COMER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3154) to amend the Inspector General Act of 1978 relative to the powers of the Department of Justice Inspector General.

Mr. COMER. 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. COMER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3154 introduced by Congressman Richmond of Louisiana. Inspectors general perform a critical oversight function with regard to misconduct at their respective agencies. The Oversight and Government Reform Committee has long pushed for IGs to have timely and complete access to all the information they need to fulfill their oversight and investigative functions. In continuance of that mission, H.R. 3154 removes an outdated statute that prevents the inspector general from investigating certain misconduct at the Justice Department. Under current statute, the DOJ IG must refer allegations of misconduct by Department attorneys to the Office of Professional Responsibility, or OPR, rather than initiate an investigation himself. The OPR existed prior to the creation of the DOJ IG in 1988, and OPR retained this specific authority when the DOJ IG was created. H.R. 3154 seeks to harmonize the DOJ inspector general's investigative authority with that of the rest of the Federal inspectors general, who are not similarly restricted. The bill repeals the provision requiring the IG to refer allegations of attorney misconduct to OPR. Congress and, in particular, the Oversight and Government Reform Committee have consistently supported the need for independent and transparent oversight of Federal agencies and programs. The current division of investigative authority at DOJ is inconsistent with the committee's history of supporting the notion of an unburdened IG. The IG is confirmed by the Senate, is accountable to the public, and only can be removed by the President after notification to Congress. Further, the IG has statutory reporting obligations to both agency leadership and Congress. In contrast, the Director of OPR is selected and appointed by the Attorney General, answers to the Attorney General, and can be removed or disciplined by the Attorney General. The IG's independence is critical to the value of their work. The IG maintains transparency by publishing its reports on a public website. The website contains information about the reports, operations, and functions of the IG, including a full archive of its completed reports and its ongoing work. This standard of transparency does not apply to OPR. Adverse findings by OPR against a DOJ lawyer are subject to review by the Department's leadership and can be overruled by the Department's leadership without any transparency. It is important to note that this division of authority is a unique situation in the Federal IG community. For instance, the Securities and Exchange Commission Office of Inspector General is responsible for handling misconduct allegations against SEC lawyers, including those with prosecuting authority. The need for this legislation has also been discussed in multiple hearings before our committee and in reports by watchdog groups. The DOJ IG, Michael Horowitz, testified before this committee most recently on November 15, 2017, about the importance of eliminating this discrepancy. Congress' own watchdog, the Government Accountability Office, has issued reports with recommendations to empower the DOJ IG. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. COMER. Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time

Mr. COMER

Mr. COMER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5759) to improve executive agency digital services, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. COMER. 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. COMER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 5759 introduced by Congressman Khanna of California. The U.S. Federal Customer Experience Index measures citizen interactions with the Federal Government. The 2018 index gave Federal agencies failing scores. Citizens deserve and expect better from their government. H.R. 5759, the 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act, or 21st Century IDEA, requires agencies to modernize their websites and digital services. 21st Century IDEA takes a systematic approach to modernizing websites, services, and forms, so as not to unduly burden agencies. New and redesigned agency websites will have to meet modernization requirements, such as being searchable, customizable, and secure. Meanwhile, each agency will survey and create a plan for updating its existing websites and digital services, prioritizing those that are used most by the public. Agencies will also digitize forms so that electronic signatures may be used. All these modernization efforts will improve our constituents' experiences when interacting with Federal agencies. The bill is supported by the Information Technology Industry Council; The Software Alliance; Adobe; Information Technology and Innovation Foundation; Software & Information Industry Association; ServiceNow; CompTIA; and Microsoft. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Khanna and Congressman Ratcliffe for introducing this important piece of legislation, and to all of the cosponsors on the committee. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. COMER. Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. COMER

Mr. COMER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6777) to amend chapter 3 of title 5, United States Code, to require the publication of settlement agreements, and for other purposes.

Mr. COMER. 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. COMER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 6777, introduced by Congressman Palmer of Alabama. Transparency and public participation are critical to maintaining the public's trust in its government. Since the 1970s, however, Federal agencies have increasingly resolved litigation by entering into consent decrees and other legally binding settlement agreements rather than through a public trial. These agreements were often negotiated behind closed doors. Secret negotiations prevent the public from holding the Federal Government accountable for decisions made without their input. States, local governments, industry stakeholders, and taxpayers are often directly affected by the agreements, but are shut out of the negotiations. For example, a consent decree entered into by the Environmental Protection Agency required the city of Fort Smith, Arkansas to reform its sewer systems in 12 years. Sewer utility bills increased by 167 percent in 3 years to fund the obligations of the agreement, while residents' incomes simultaneously decreased by 11 percent. Due to poor recordkeeping, it is impossible for Congress and the public to determine the full cost of Federal settlement agreements. Most of the public's access to Federal settlement agreement information is currently determined by individual agency discretion, usually issued in the form of a press release. Further, heads of agencies can declare a settlement confidential and seal the contents of the agreement without providing any explanation. The Settlement Agreement Information Database Act seeks to correct this problem by shining light on the details of Federal settlement agreements. The bill requires the establishment of an electronic and publicly-available database of agencies' settlement agreements. It requires Federal agencies to enter basic information about settlement agreements into the database. Mr. Speaker, this is a commonsense transparency bill, and I urge my colleagues to support it. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. COMER. Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. COMER

Mr. COMER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6901) to amend chapter 36 of title 44, United States Code, to make certain changes relating to electronic Government services, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. COMER. 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. COMER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 6901, introduced by Congressman Will Hurd of Texas. The Federal CIO Authorization Act is a bipartisan measure to modernize legacy Federal technology policy. The Office of Electronic Government was established by the E- Government Act of 2002. The head of this office is commonly referred to as the Federal Chief Information Officer, or Federal CIO. This bill authorizes and renames the Office of Electronic Government as the Office of the Federal CIO. Codifying the position of the Federal CIO emphasizes the importance of the role to the formation of government-wide technology policy. Under this bill, the Federal CIO will report to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget. The bill also codifies the position of Federal Chief Information Security Officer, under the direction of the Federal CIO. The bill promotes cost-efficient and secure technology use throughout the Federal Government. Mr. Speaker, I strongly urge my colleagues to support the bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. COMER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hurd), the sponsor of this bill.

Mr. COMER. Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. COMER. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. COMER

Mr. COMER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speaker's table the bill (H.R. 1207) to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 306 River Street in Tilden, Texas, as the ``Tilden Veterans Post Office'', with the Senate amendment thereto, and concur in the Senate amendment.

Mr. COMER

Mr. COMER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform be discharged from further consideration of the bill (H.R. 1211) to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 400 N. Main Street, Encinal, Texas, as the ``Encinal Veterans Post Office'', and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. COMER

Mr. COMER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform be discharged from further consideration of the bill (H.R. 3184) to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 180 McCormick Road in Charlottesville, Virginia, as the ``Captain Humayun Khan Post Office'', and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.