[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5799 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 5799
To amend chapter 4 of title 5, United States Code, to require
cooperation with Inspector General requests, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
October 21, 2025
Mr. Garcia of California (for himself, Ms. Norton, Mr. Lynch, Ms.
DeLauro, Mr. Scott of Virginia, Mr. Mfume, Ms. Brown, Ms. Stansbury,
Ms. Simon, Mr. Frost, Ms. Lee of Pennsylvania, Mr. Casar, Ms. Crockett,
Mr. Min, Mr. Subramanyam, and Ms. Ansari) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government
Reform
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend chapter 4 of title 5, United States Code, to require
cooperation with Inspector General requests, 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 ``Fast Action for Lawful Compliance
with Oversight Needs Act of 2025'' or the ``FALCON Act of 2025''.
SEC. 2. COOPERATION WITH INSPECTOR GENERAL REQUESTS.
(a) In General.--Chapter 4 of title 5, United States Code, is
amended by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 425. Cooperation with Inspector General requests.
``(a) Requirement To Comply With IG Requests.--Any officer or
employee of a covered agency (including the head of such agency and any
political appointee of such agency), grant recipient of a covered
agency (or any subgrantee thereof at any tier), or contractor of a
covered agency (or any subcontractor thereof at any tier) that receives
a covered request from an Inspector General shall comply with such
request not later than 60 days after receiving such request.
``(b) Appropriate Administrative Discipline.--
``(1) In general.--Any individual or entity described under
subsection (a) that receives a covered request from an
Inspector General, and fails to comply with such request in
accordance with such subsection, may be subject to appropriate
administrative discipline, including as applicable and when
circumstances so warrant--
``(A) removal or suspension without pay when the
circumstance warrants such discipline; or
``(B) an adverse contract action.
``(2) Limitation.--Any discipline under this subsection--
``(A) with respect to an officer, employee, grant
recipient, subgrantee, contractor, or subcontractor
shall be at the sole discretion of the head of the
covered agency concerned; and
``(B) with respect to the head of a covered agency,
shall be at the sole discretion of the President.
``(c) Notification.--
``(1) With respect to failure to comply.--If an individual
or entity described under subsection (a) receives a covered
request from an Inspector General, and the Inspector General
determines that the individual or entity failed to comply with
such request in accordance with such subsection, such Inspector
General shall, not later than 30 days after making such
determination, submit to the appropriate congressional
committees and the head of such agency a notification regarding
such noncompliance.
``(2) Contents.--Each notification required by paragraph
(1) shall include the following:
``(A) With respect to the individual or entity that
failed to comply with the request--
``(i) the job title of such individual (in
the case that the individual is an officer or
employee of a covered agency), or the name of
the individual or entity (in the case that the
individual or entity is a contractor,
subcontractor, grantee, or subgrantee); and
``(ii) the organizational unit of the
agency within which the individual or entity
works.
``(B) The date on which the request was initially
made.
``(C) The general subject matter of the information
of requested.
``(3) Form.--The notification required by paragraph (1)
shall be in unclassified form, but may include a classified
annex containing additional information relating to the general
subject matter of any information requested.
``(d) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) Covered agency.--The term `covered agency' means the
following:
``(A) An establishment.
``(B) A designated Federal entity.
``(2) Covered request.--The term `covered request'--
``(A) means a request for information, access, or
assistance under section 406, including an interview or
access for documents; and
``(B) does not include a request for--
``(i) access to any information with
respect to which Congress has, in accordance
with section 406(a)(1)(B), limited the right of
access of the Inspector General;
``(ii) information or assistance under
subsection (a)(1) or (a)(3) of section 406 that
is, in the judgment of an Inspector General,
reasonably refused or not provided;
``(iii) access to any information or
assistance prohibited by--
``(I) the Secretary of Defense
pursuant to section 408(b)(2);
``(II) the Secretary of Treasury
pursuant to section 412;
``(III) the Attorney General
pursuant to section 413;
``(IV) the Secretary of Homeland
Security pursuant to section 417; or
``(V) the Secretary of Energy
pursuant to section 421; or
``(iv) grand jury materials--
``(I) that are protected from
disclosure pursuant to rule 6(e) of the
Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure;
and
``(II) with respect to which the
Attorney General has not granted the
Inspector General access.
``(3) Inspector general.--The term `Inspector General'
means an Inspector General of a covered agency.''.
(b) Directives.--Not later than 30 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the head of each covered agency (as such term is
defined in section 425 of title 5, United States Code (as added by
subsection (a))) shall make explicit in writing to all personnel of the
agency (and shall consider updating any agency personnel directives or
policies) to specify, that if any of such personnel does not comply
within 60 days with a request for an interview or access to documents
from the Inspector General of the covered agency in accordance with
section 425 of title 5, United Sates Code, such personnel may be
subject to appropriate administrative discipline (including, as
applicable and when circumstances so warrant, suspension without pay or
removal or an adverse contract action) under such section.
(c) Technical Amendments.--
(1) Table of contents.--The table of sections for chapter 4
of title 5, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end
the following:
``425. Cooperation with Inspector General requests.''.
(2) Definition of appropriate congressional committees.--
Section 401 of title 5, United States Code, is amended--
(A) by redesignating paragraphs (1), (2), (3), (4),
and (5) as paragraphs (2), (3), (4), (5), and (6),
respectively; and
(B) by inserting before paragraph (2), as
redesignated, the following new paragraph (1):
``(1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term
`appropriate congressional committees' means--
``(A) the Committee on Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs of the Senate;
``(B) the Committee on Oversight and Government
Reform of the House of Representatives; and
``(C) any other relevant congressional committee or
subcommittee of jurisdiction.''.
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