All Roll Calls
Yes: 413 • No: 3
117-hr-5961117th CongressWALLET
To make revisions in title 5, United States Code, as necessary to keep the title current, and to make technical amendments to improve the United States Code.
Sponsored By: Representative Neguse, Joe [D-CO-2]
Became Law
Summary
Consolidates federal oversight, ethics, and advisory committee rules into Title 5. This law recodifies advisory committee governance, expands Inspector General authorities, and creates a stronger ethics and financial‑disclosure framework.
Personalized for You
How does this bill affect your finances?
Personalize government policy and PRIA will tell you what this bill means for your household, plus every other piece of legislation we track. PRIA reads each provision against your financial profile to show you exactly what matters to your wallet.
Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
17 provisions identified: 11 benefits, 2 costs, 4 mixed.
Outside pay and honoraria limits for officials
Members of Congress and certain senior noncareer officials face strict caps on outside earned income. Each year, outside earned income cannot exceed 15% of the Level II Executive Schedule pay as of January 1, prorated if you served part of the year. Honoraria are banned. Paid work with fiduciary firms, paid board service, and most compensated teaching without prior approval are barred.
Inspector General pay, staffing, and consolidation
Inspectors General are paid at the Level III Executive Schedule rate plus 3%, and at least the average total pay of an agency’s senior executives. IGs cannot receive cash awards or bonuses. Each IG office must have its own legal counsel or share counsel on a reimbursable basis. IGs may hire temporary experts, but daily rates are capped at the 5 U.S.C. 5376 maximum. Many audit and investigation offices and their staff move into OIGs with pay protection for one year. At CNCS, the IG controls staffing and expert hiring, and the CEO must send key reports to the Board and put audits on the next agenda.
Limits on Inspector General work in sensitive cases
The Defense, Treasury, and Energy Secretaries, the Attorney General, and USPS Governors can block IG audits, subpoenas, or access to protect national security, undercover work, or confidential sources. For DIA, NGA, NRO, and NSA, the Defense Secretary can restrict IG activity after consulting the intelligence chief. When these powers are used, agencies must notify the IG in writing and send reasons to Congress within tight timelines (often within 7–30 days). DOJ must also ensure credible misconduct allegations about its employees are reported to the IG. These rules protect sensitive operations but limit independent oversight.
Stronger whistleblower help and safe channels
If you are a federal employee, you can report law violations, waste, abuse, or dangers to an Inspector General. Your identity is protected unless disclosure is unavoidable in an investigation, and retaliation is banned for protected disclosures. Each IG must name a Whistleblower Protection Coordinator to teach your rights and help route complaints. Every OIG website has a direct link to report fraud without giving your name. In intelligence work, urgent concerns follow firm deadlines: 7 days to forward to the IG, 14 days for the IG’s credibility decision, 7 days for agency heads to send to Congress, and the IG must update you within 3 days of each action.
Faster public access to Inspector General reports
Each Office of Inspector General must post any final audit, inspection, or evaluation within 3 days, with a summary, and make it searchable and downloadable. Every IG must issue semiannual reports by April 30 and October 31. Agency heads send them to Congress within 30 days and make them public within 60 days. When an IG issues a final corrective recommendation, the IG must send it to the agency head and committees and post it within 3 days. Each agency must put a clear link to its OIG on its website homepage.
Inspector General Council and overseas oversight
The law sets up the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency. The Council can run a revolving fund and support training and shared oversight work. When a military operation lasts more than 60 days or after a statutory notice, a lead Inspector General is named within 30 days. The lead IG coordinates reviews, can hire temporary staff, and issues public quarterly and biannual reports.
New rules for federal advisory committees
The law creates a clear rule set for federal advisory committees. A committee must file a charter with goals, duties, expected yearly costs in dollars and person‑years, and meeting plans before it meets. GSA runs a Committee Management Secretariat and reviews each committee every year to continue, change, merge, or end it. Agencies must keep full financial and activity records and provide support services; GSA keeps financial records for Presidential committees. Agencies and committees must provide transcripts at the actual cost of duplication.
Open meetings and time limits for advisory committees
Agencies may create advisory committees only when allowed by law, the President, or with a public‑interest finding and Federal Register notice. Meetings are open to the public unless a security exception applies, and records are available while the committee exists. Member and staff pay is capped at the 5 U.S.C. 5376 maximum; travel pay and some disability services are allowed. Committees end after two years unless renewed or a law sets a longer life, and renewed committees must file a charter.
Special rules for tax, postal, aid, and regulators
The Treasury IG for Tax Administration may access tax data only as tax law allows, and the IRS must track those requests. TIGTA enforces certain criminal tax laws, can carry firearms, and protects IRS staff from outside threats. The Postal Service IG oversees the Postal Inspection Service, and the Chief Postal Inspector must report major activities to the IG. For nuclear and banking regulators, only top leaders may delegate certain IG‑related powers, and their IGs can hire staff and experts as allowed. At USAID, the IG may assign Foreign Service members to the IG and staff overseas IG offices without counting against personnel ceilings.
Stronger independence rules for Inspectors General
Inspectors General are chosen for integrity and skill and cannot be blocked from audits or subpoenas by other officers. The President must tell Congress at least 30 days before removing or transferring an IG, and boards need a two‑thirds vote to remove an IG at designated entities. A member of the Armed Forces cannot serve as the Defense IG. For the tax administration IG office, recent IRS employees cannot be appointed, and certain senior IG officials face a five‑year bar on returning to those roles after they leave.
Stronger Inspector General system and budgets
The law establishes an Inspector General office for each listed federal establishment and for designated entities. Agency heads must give IGs requested information and help unless law or rules bar it. IGs audit programs, review laws, and quickly report suspected federal crimes to the Attorney General. Each IG sends a budget request that appears in the agency and President’s budget, including training and Council support, and may add comments if funding would hinder work. OMB publishes an annual list of federal entities, and each entity head sends a report to OMB and Congress by October 31. IGs are appointed based on integrity and skill; the Federal Reserve Chair appoints the IGs for the Board and the consumer bureau.
Stronger subpoena and records access for Inspectors General
Inspectors General can subpoena witnesses and documents they need. A court can enforce a subpoena. IGs must use other procedures to get information from federal employees. IGs get timely access to agency records despite other laws, unless Congress expressly limits access. Many large IG offices no longer need the Attorney General’s initial sign‑off for law‑enforcement powers and use an external review process.
Which agencies get watchdog oversight and funding
The law defines which agencies count as designated federal entities, such as Amtrak, the Federal Reserve Board, and the Postal Service. Core IG rules apply to these entities using adjusted terms for their structure. If Amtrak has a year with no federal subsidy, it drops from the list at the start of the next fiscal year. The Postal Service Fund may provide whatever money is needed for the USPS Office of Inspector General.
Who must file and what to disclose
Top federal officials, Members of Congress, judges, nominees, and candidates must file public financial reports. File within 30 days of starting, by May 15 each year, and within 30 days after leaving; nominees file within 5 days of nomination. Reports must list income over $200, gifts and reimbursements over $250 (or the higher statutory minimal value), assets over $1,000, liabilities over $10,000, and transactions over $1,000. Late reports filed more than 30 days after the deadline owe a $200 fee, unless waived in extraordinary cases. Defined terms like “dependent child,” “gift,” “income,” and “reimbursement” control what you report.
Stronger ethics and financial disclosure rules
The law creates the Office of Government Ethics, gives it rulemaking and enforcement powers, and sets who runs disclosures in each branch. It sets where to file, when reports become public, how long reports are kept (six years; for Members, six years after leaving), and timelines to provide copies. To get a public report, requestors must submit a written application that is itself public. Agencies and ethics offices must review filings within 60 days. It allows confidential financial disclosure that is not public and does not replace public filing. It enforces accuracy and outside pay limits with penalties: up to $50,000 for willful false filings or willful failures, and for outside income or job violations up to $10,000 or what was earned, whichever is higher. Criminal penalties apply for knowing falsification or failure to file.
Stronger Inspector General powers and access
With the Attorney General’s approval, Inspectors General and certain investigators can carry firearms, make arrests, and execute federal warrants. Before granting those powers, the Attorney General must find the IG is hampered without them, other help is not enough, and safeguards exist, and can suspend them. When an IG asks for grand jury material, the Attorney General must decide within 15 days and, if denying, send written reasons to Congress within 30 days. Defense IG audits and investigations under this law are not restricted by the Posse Comitatus Act.
Ethics office support and funding rules
The Office of Government Ethics can accept gifts, money, services, or use of facilities to aid its work, under strict rules to protect integrity. Congress authorizes whatever funds are needed for OGE for fiscal year 2007. The ethics subchapter stays in force unless Congress later repeals a separate 1989 provision.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Neguse, Joe [D-CO-2]
CO • D
Cosponsors
There are no cosponsors for this bill.
Roll Call Votes
house vote • 12/8/2021
On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass
Yes: 413 • No: 3