Amending Congressional Accountability Act to Permit Second Term For Board of Directors of Office of Compliance

AMENDING CONGRESSIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY ACT TO PERMIT SECOND TERM FOR BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF OFFICE OF COMPLIANCE -- (House of Representatives - October 06, 2004)

Mr. NEY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speaker's table the bill (H.R. 5122) to amend the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 to permit members of the Board of Directors of the Office of Compliance to serve for 2 terms, with a Senate amendment thereto, and concur in the Senate amendment.

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Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Reserving the right to object, Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the chairman for his expeditious handling of this matter.

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Mr. Speaker, as I indicated during earlier debate on this bill, I believe that the Members of the Board of Directors of the Office of Compliance should be eligible for a second term of service. The current Board has constructively served Legislative Branch employees, the Members of this body, and the public, by applying the same workplace laws to the Legislative Branch, and to the Congress, that are applied to the private sector. The Board has promoted educational opportunities for both employees and managers, and has undertaken outreach efforts to promote life-safety awareness, and to raise workplace consciousness.

The Board should be congratulated for taking a positive approach to the tasks of education and enforcement. A Government Accountability Office audit has confirmed that the Board, and the Office of Compliance, are operating efficiently and consistent with their statutory mandate.

However, the GAO audit also found that the efficiency of the Office would be greatly impaired by the loss of institutional memory and operational continuity. To remedy this situation, the GAO recommended that both the board, and the four statutory executive officers of the Office, each of whom is appointed by the Board, be eligible for an additional term of service. By allowing the Board an additional term, but denying the Board the opportunity to reappoint their executive staff, much of the efficiency and continuity recognized by the GAO may be lost.

It is my continued hope that a way can be found allow the Board to reappoint their management team to a second term of service. I do not know what concerns led the drafters of the Congressional Accountability Act to limit the Compliance Office's executives to a single 5 year term of service, but it now appears that dropping that limit will make for a better and more efficient Office. So I hope that we will consider implementing the GAO's full recommendation, and lift the term limit on the executive officers, as we are lifting the term limit on the Members of the Board.

Again, I want to recognize my chairman, and thank him for his cooperation in taking this first step to maintaining the efficiency and continuity of the Office of Compliance.

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Mr. Speaker, I withdraw my reservation of objection.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the initial request of the gentleman from Ohio?

There was no objection.

A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.