Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to require each standing committee to hold periodic hearings on the topic of waste, fraud, abuse, or mismanagement in Government programs which that committee may authorize, and for other purposes.

Amends Rule XI (Procedures of Committees and Unfinished Business) of the Rules of the House of Representatives to require each standing committee or subcommittee to hold: (1) periodic hearings on the topic of waste, fraud, abuse, or mismanagement in government programs which that committee may authorize; (2) at least one hearing in any session to hear from federal agency representatives testimony on auditor disclaimers of audited agency financial statements; and (3) at least one hearing on issues raised by Comptroller General reports indicating that federal programs or operations that the committee may authorize are at high risk for waste, fraud, and mismanagement, known as the "high-risk list" or the "high-risk series."

Requires the oversight activities section of a committee's biennial report to the House on its legislative and oversight activities (required by Rule XI) also to delineate any such hearings held.

[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]
[H. Res. 40 Introduced in House (IH)]







111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 40

  Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to require each 
  standing committee to hold periodic hearings on the topic of waste, 
   fraud, abuse, or mismanagement in Government programs which that 
            committee may authorize, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 9, 2009

   Mr. Tanner (for himself and Mr. Cardoza) submitted the following 
        resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Rules

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to require each 
  standing committee to hold periodic hearings on the topic of waste, 
   fraud, abuse, or mismanagement in Government programs which that 
            committee may authorize, and for other purposes.

    Resolved, That clause 2 of rule XI of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives is amended by adding at the end the following new 
paragraphs:
    ``(n)(1) Each standing committee, or a subcommittee thereof, shall 
hold at least one hearing during each 120-day period following the 
establishment of the committee on the topic of waste, fraud, abuse, or 
mismanagement in Government programs which that committee may 
authorize.
    ``(2) A hearing described in subparagraph (1) shall include a focus 
on the most egregious instances of waste, fraud, abuse, or 
mismanagement as documented by any report the committee has received 
from a Federal Office of the Inspector General or the Comptroller 
General of the United States.
    ``(o) Each committee, or a subcommittee thereof, shall hold at 
least one hearing in any session in which the committee has received 
disclaimers of agency financial statements from auditors of any Federal 
agency that the committee may authorize to hear testimony on such 
disclaimers from representatives of any such agency.
    ``(p) Each standing committee, or a subcommittee thereof, shall 
hold at least one hearing on issues raised by reports issued by the 
Comptroller General of the United States indicating that Federal 
programs or operations that the committee may authorize are at high 
risk for waste, fraud, and mismanagement, known as the `high-risk list' 
or the `high-risk series'.''.
                                 <all>