[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4587 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4587

    To amend title 5, United States Code, to require a judge on the 
 appropriate court of appeals of the United States to appoint certain 
  acting Inspectors General in the event of a vacancy, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 22, 2025

  Mr. Cohen introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
              Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend title 5, United States Code, to require a judge on the 
 appropriate court of appeals of the United States to appoint certain 
  acting Inspectors General in the event of a vacancy, 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 ``Independent Acting IGs Act of 
2025''.

SEC. 2. VACANCY OF INSPECTOR GENERAL POSITIONS.

    (a) Amendments.--Section 403(h) of title 5, United States Code, is 
amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1)(A)--
                    (A) in clause (i)(I), by inserting ``for at least 
                180 of the proceeding 365 days'' after ``that Office''; 
                and
                    (B) in clause (ii)--
                            (i) in subclause (I), by inserting ``if the 
                        Principal Deputy Inspector General of that 
                        Office has been serving in that position for at 
                        least 180 of the proceeding 365 days'' after 
                        ``of that position''; and
                            (ii) in subclause (II), by inserting ``if 
                        the Deputy Inspector General of that Office has 
                        been serving in that position for at least 180 
                        of the proceeding 365 days'' after ``of that 
                        position'';
            (2) in paragraph (2), by striking subparagraph (C) and 
        inserting the following:
                    ``(C) if an Inspector General position that 
                requires appointment by the President by and with the 
                advice and consent of the Senate to be filled is 
                vacant, the first assistant to the position of 
                Inspector General shall serve as the acting Inspector 
                General; and
                    ``(D) if the first assistant to the position of 
                Inspector General is vacant or the first assistant to 
                the position of Inspector General is unable or 
                unavailable or declines to serve as acting Inspector 
                General, an individual shall be appointed in accordance 
                with paragraph (5) to serve as acting Inspector 
                General.''; and
            (3) by striking paragraph (5) and inserting the following:
            ``(5) The process by which an individual shall be appointed 
        pursuant to paragraph (2)(D) as the individual to perform the 
        functions and duties of the Inspector General temporarily in an 
        acting capacity subject to the time limitations of section 3346 
        of title 5 (in this paragraph referred to as the `acting 
        Inspector General'), is as follows:
                    ``(A) A judge, selected at random from the court of 
                appeals for the circuit within which the headquarters 
                of the Office of the Inspector General is located by 
                the chief judge of such court of appeals, shall appoint 
                the acting Inspector General in accordance with 
                subparagraph (D).
                    ``(B) Not later than 14 days after the date on 
                which an Inspector General position becomes vacant as a 
                result of vacancy in the first assistant position as 
                described in paragraph (2)(D), the Chairperson of the 
                Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and 
                Efficiency shall convene a committee of 3 Inspectors 
                General who are members of the Chairperson of the 
                Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and 
                Efficiency, and the committee shall recommend to the 
                judge selected under subparagraph (A) to appoint the 
                acting Inspector General not fewer than 2 candidates to 
                serve as the acting Inspector General.
                    ``(C) Not later than 14 days after the date on 
                which the committee is convened under subparagraph (B), 
                the committee shall submit a list of the recommended 
                candidates to the judge selected under subparagraph 
                (A).
                    ``(D) Not later than 14 days after the date on 
                which the judge receives the list of the recommended 
                candidates, the judge shall appoint the acting 
                Inspector General.
                    ``(E) The judge has the sole authority to appoint 
                an individual to carry out the duties of the relevant 
                office until the vacancy is filled.''.
    (b) Authorization.--Notwithstanding section 3347 of title 5, United 
States Code, in the event of a vacancy for a position of Inspector 
General, section 403(h) of such title, as amended by this Act, shall 
apply.
    (c) Technical Amendment.--
            (1) In general.--Section 3(a)(2)(C) of H.R. 7326, as passed 
        by the House of Representatives on December 3, 2024, shall have 
        the force and effect of law.
            (2) Effective date.--This subsection shall take effect 
        before the amendments made by subsection (a).
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