Comer Opens Markup of Legislation Aimed at Government Efficiency, Transparency, and Modernization

WASHINGTON— House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) opened today’s markup of several bills, including the bipartisan D.C. Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Campus Revitalization Act, which transfer the administrative jurisdiction over the RFK stadium site from the Secretary of the Interior to the Administrator of the General Services Administration (GSA), allowing the District of Columbia to revitalize the RFK Memorial stadium campus site. Additionally, the Committee will consider several bills that reform the federal government hiring and procurement process, improve government transparency, and modernize federal government IT.

Below are Chairman Comer’s opening remarks as prepared for delivery.

Today, the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability will consider a range of bills that go to the core of this Committee’s legislative jurisdiction.

First, we will address legislation to enable the ability of the District of Columbia to better utilize one of the most important assets in our great Nation—land.

Second, we will debate how the federal government should vet applicants for our Nation’s most sensitive positions.

Third, we will consider legislation reforming our government’s financing methods for modernizing costly and risky legacy IT systems.

Fourth, we will move a targeted and commonsense bill to bring clarity to the meaning of federal agency policy and regulatory guidance documents.

And lastly, we will take up a simple review requirement of our federal agency’s procurement methods.
I look forward to robust debate and bipartisan consideration of today’s legislative business.

With that I yield to the Ranking Member, Mr. Raskin.

Bills considered for markup:

• H.R. 4984, the D.C. Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Campus Revitalization Act: This bipartisan legislation transfers administrative jurisdiction over the RFK stadium site from the Secretary of the Interior to the Administrator of the GSA. The bill requires GSA to enter into a lease with the District of Columbia, under which D.C. may use the land for stadium redevelopment, commercial and residential development, or other public purposes.

• H.R. 5040, the Cannabis Users Restoration of Eligibility (CURE) Act: The bill prevents prior marijuana use from becoming grounds for failing to receive security clearance or for being found unsuitable for federal employment. The CURE Act will also allow for someone who has previously been denied a security clearance or a federal job opportunity based on marijuana use the chance to have that denial reviewed.

• H.R. 5527, the Modernizing Government Technology Reform Act: This bill reauthorizes and restores the original purpose of the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) to ensure that the TMF can be a sustainable, revolving fund dedicated to addressing federal legacy IT.

• H.R. 4428, the Guidance Clarity Act: This bill improves government transparency by requiring federal agencies to state prominently on the opening page of any guidance document that agency guidance does not have the force and effect of law and is not binding on the public; and the document is intended only to provide clarity to the public about existing legal requirements or agency policies.

• H.R. 5528, the Safe and Smart Federal Purchasing Act: This bill requires the OMB Director to evaluate federal procurement law to determine whether the current process creates a national security risk.

• Several postal naming measures.