[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8623 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 8623
To require that Members of Congress hold a security clearance at the
level of top secret or higher to obtain access to Sensitive
Compartmented Information, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 29, 2022
Mr. Phillips introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on House Administration
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A BILL
To require that Members of Congress hold a security clearance at the
level of top secret or higher to obtain access to Sensitive
Compartmented Information, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Member Security Clearance Updates
Required for Everyone Act'' or the ``Member SECURE Act''.
SEC. 2. SECURITY CLEARANCE REQUIREMENT FOR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS.
(a) In General.--A Member of Congress who does not hold a security
clearance at the level of top secret or higher that grants the Member
access to Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) may not be provided
access to any material classified at the SCI level or higher.
(b) Special Rule for Interim Security Clearance.--A Member of
Congress who applies for a security clearance described in subsection
(a) shall be granted an interim security clearance that grants the
Member access to SCI until a final determination with respect to the
security clearance of the Member has been made pursuant to subsection
(c).
(c) Final Determination With Respect to Security Clearance.--With
respect to an application for a security clearance described in
subsection (a) submitted by a Member of Congress--
(1) the final determination of the application shall be
made pursuant to a vote of the appropriate ethics committee
after the committee receives the background investigation for
such Member under subsection (d); and
(2) such security clearance shall be granted to the Member
only by an affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the
appropriate ethics committee.
(d) Expedited Background Investigations Processing.--With respect
to an application for a security clearance described in subsection (a)
submitted by a Member of Congress, the appropriate background
investigations department of the Central Intelligence Agency shall, to
the greatest extent possible, ensure the expedited completion of the
background investigation required for the appropriate ethics committee
to make a final determination for such application.
(e) Implementation of Secure Information Systems Procedures.--Not
later than 360 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the
Sergeant at Arms and Doorkeeper of the Senate and the Sergeant at Arms
of the House of Representatives shall, with respect to each House,
develop and implement information systems procedures with the same
level of security and protection of sensitive information as the Secure
Internet Protocol Router Network used to manage access to sensitive
information for personnel of the Department of Defense for the purpose
of enabling Members of Congress and staff with the appropriate security
clearance to securely gain access to such sensitive information.
(f) Definitions.--In this section, the following definitions apply:
(1) Member of congress.--The term ``Member of Congress''
includes a Delegate or Resident Commissioner to the Congress.
(2) Appropriate ethics committee.--The term ``appropriate
ethics committee'' means--
(A) in the case of an application for a security
clearance described in subsection (a) submitted by a
Member of the Senate, the Select Committee on Ethics of
the Senate; and
(B) in the case of an application for a security
clearance described in subsection (a) submitted by a
Member of the House of Representatives, the Committee
on Ethics of the House of Representatives.
(g) Effective Date.--This requirements under this section shall
take effect 360 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.
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