§333 Training Courses on Workings of Congress

Summary

The Commandant must create a training course that teaches how Congress works. The course must be offered at least once each year and can be run more often if needed. Certain people must take it every year: Coast Guard flag officers, career Senior Executive Service members in Coast Guard jobs, and political appointees who work in the Coast Guard or at the Department of Homeland Security with Coast Guard duties (including the Senior Advisor to the Secretary for the Coast Guard). Other required participants who must take the course in person include people who work in the Coast Guard’s Office of Congressional and Governmental Affairs (fellows, liaisons, counsels, and administrative staff), district or area government affairs officers, staff who prepare or send Coast Guard correspondence to Congress, people in the Office of Coordination, Programs, and Accountability or Force Design 2028, and Coast Guard Office of General Law personnel. Members chosen for those jobs must finish the training before they start. The course gives a basic overview of Congress, how the House and Senate are set up, and how committees work (including the named House and Senate committees). It explains the papers Congress creates, the budget and lawmaking steps, Senate advice-and-consent for nominees and treaties, required notices and reports to Congress, and the roles of Members and staff. It covers congressional oversight, outside oversight bodies like Inspectors General and the Government Accountability Office, legal and ethical duties for responding to oversight, a short look at the Privacy Act, and the right of Coast Guard members to talk with Congress. It also reviews Coast Guard laws and policies needed for better compliance, ethics, professionalism, and faster responses to oversight. At a congressional office’s written request, the course must include a multi-day detail inside the Coast Guard oversight offices; that detail can be nonconsecutive. At least 60 percent of instructors must be outside federal executive-branch employment, and the Commandant may accept pro bono teaching help.