Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Upholding Standards of Accountability Act of 2024” or the “USA Act of 2024”.
Upholding Standards of Accountability Act of 2024
A BILL
To require agency officials to communicate with and testify before Congress regarding certain agency actions, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Testimony regarding major rules
Section 801(a) of title 5, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
“(6) Agency testimony
“(A) In general—Except as provided in subparagraph (B), not later than 30 days after the publication of a final major rule in the Federal Register, the officer of the Federal agency signing such major rule shall testify about the rule before each standing committee of Congress with jurisdiction under the rules of the House of Representatives or the Senate to report a bill to amend the provision of law under which the rule is issued.
“(B) Waiver
“(i) In general—The chair of a committee may waive the requirements of subparagraph (A) on a case-by-case basis with respect to such committee.
“(ii) Written determination—If the chair waives such requirements, the chair must issue a written determination that such testimony is unnecessary and would not be beneficial to Congress in carrying out its legislative function.
“(C) Rule of construction—Nothing in this paragraph shall be construed to impact the appearance of other Federal officials at committee hearings at other times and for purposes other than the times and purposes described in subparagraph (A).”
Sec. 3 Testimony for Senate-confirmed nominees
In general— Subchapter III of chapter 33 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
“3349f. Nominee testimony
“(a) In general—Except as provided in subsection (b), each person nominated to a position that requires the advice and consent of the Senate shall testify in a hearing before the committee of the Senate with jurisdiction under the rules of the Senate over such nomination. Such hearing shall be held before the nomination may be confirmed by the Senate.
“(b) Waiver
“(1) In general—The chair of a committee may waive the requirements of subsection (a) on a case-by-case basis with respect to such committee.
“(2) Written determination—If the chair waives such requirements, the chair shall issue a written determination that such testimony is unnecessary and would not be beneficial to Congress in carrying out its legislative function.
“(c) Rule of construction—Nothing in this section shall be construed to impact the appearance of other Federal officials at committee hearings at times and for purposes other than the times and purposes described in subsection (a).”
Clerical amendment— The table of sections for subchapter III of chapter 33 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 3349e the following:
Sec. 4 Retrospective cost-benefit review
Section 801(a) of title 5, United States Code, as amended by section 2, is amended by adding at the end the following:
“(7) Retrospective report
“(A) Agency report
“(i) In general—Not later than 5 calendar years after the effective date of a major rule, the Federal agency that promulgated the major rule shall submit to each House of Congress, the Comptroller General, and the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs and publish on the website of the Federal agency a report containing a retrospective analysis of the rule based on the report submitted under paragraph (1)(B).
“(ii) Contents of report—The report submitted under subparagraph (A) shall include, at minimum—
“(I) an updated cost-benefit analysis of the rule, describing the actual costs and benefits of the rule in quantified and monetized terms when possible, and otherwise in qualitative terms;
“(II) an explanation of any material differences between the initial cost-benefit analysis and the updated cost-benefit analysis of the rule;
“(III) recommendations for changes to the rule, if any, based on the actual costs and benefits of the rule since the effective date;
“(IV) an updated regulatory flexibility analysis of the rule, describing the actual significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities, if any; and
“(V) an updated analysis of the actual costs resulting from the rule imposing Federal mandates upon State, local, and Tribal governments and the private sector, if any.
“(B) OIRA report—Not later than 60 days after the end of each fiscal year, the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs shall submit to each House of Congress and to the Comptroller General a report containing—
“(i) a summary of all reports submitted pursuant to subparagraph (A) during the previous fiscal year; and
“(ii) a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the reports, which shall include, at minimum—
“(I) recommendations to improve future cost-benefit analyses conducted by Federal agencies promulgating such rules;
“(II) recommendations to improve future economic or regulatory impact analyses conducted by Federal agencies promulgating such rules;
“(III) any other recommendations for agencies for future rulemakings based on the analysis of the reports compiled pursuant to clause (i).
“(C) Interim analysis
“(i) In general—Not later than 2 calendar years after the date of enactment of this Act, each Federal agency shall submit to each House of Congress, the Comptroller General, and the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs and publish on the website of the agency a report containing a retrospective analysis of the cost-benefit analyses supporting recent major rules.
“(ii) Contents of report—The report submitted under clause (i) shall—
“(I) contain a quantitative and qualitative analysis of that agency’s rulemaking analyses, including plans for prospectively improving such analyses based on differences between past analyses and the real-world impact of the applicable rules; and
“(II) address the greater of—
“(aa) the most recent 20 major rules promulgated; or
“(bb) all major rules promulgated during the previous 5 calendar years.
“(D) Effective date—The requirements under subparagraph (A) shall apply to all major rules promulgated on or after the date of enactment of the Upholding Standards of Accountability Act of 2024. The requirements under subparagraph (B) shall apply to the first fiscal year in which reports were submitted pursuant to subparagraph (A).”
Sec. 5 Informal rulemaking
Section 553 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
“(f) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit an agency from communicating with members of Congress regarding a proposed rule outside of the comment period provided in subsection (c) and no such communication shall be held to be unlawful under section 706.”
Sec. 6 Written response
Definitions— In this section:
Letter— The term letter means written correspondence signed by—
the chair or ranking member of any committee of the House of Representatives or the Senate, not to include subcommittees, pertaining to a matter under the jurisdiction of such committee under the rules of the House of Representatives or the Senate;
at least 7 members of any committee of the House of Representatives, not to include subcommittees, including at least 3 members of a different political party than the majority of signing members, pertaining to a matter under the jurisdiction of such committee under the rules of the House of Representatives; or
at least 5 members of any committee of the Senate, not to include subcommittees, including at least 2 members of a different political party than the majority of signing members, pertaining to a matter under the jurisdiction of such committee under the rules of the Senate.
Agency— The term agency means any agency as that term is defined in section 551 of title 5, United States Code.
Agency officer— The term agency officer means any officer of the United States employed by an agency.
Response by agency— Not later than 30 days after the date on which a letter is sent to an agency officer, the agency shall provide a substantive response to the letter in writing.
Failure To respond—
In general— If the agency fails to provide a substantive response to the letter on or before the date that is 60 days after the letter is sent, unless the authors of such letter approve in writing an extension of the response deadline, the agency officer to whom the letter is addressed shall appear and testify before the committee of the chair or ranking member who sent the letter pursuant to subsection (a)(1)(A) or the committee of members who sent the letter pursuant to subparagraph (B) or (C) of subsection (a)(1).
Penalties— In the case of a letter that was sent from both the chair or ranking member of a Senate committee and the chair or ranking member of a House committee, if the agency fails to respond to the letter on or before the date that is 90 days after the letter was sent, the annual rate of basic pay for the agency officer to whom the letter was addressed shall be $1 during the period—
beginning on the first day of the first applicable pay period beginning after such date; and
ending on the day before the first day of the first applicable pay period beginning after the date on which the agency responds to the letter.