Speeches & Testimony

Mr. Speaker,

I rise today to urge my colleagues to join me in strengthening and protecting Congress as a separate, independent and co-equal branch of our government by cosponsoring my Legislative Branch Independence Act.

My bill would amend the appointment processes for three key legislative branch positions - the Librarian of Congress, the Comptroller General and the Director of the Government Publishing Office (GPO) - to provide that appointment and removal of their leaders are the exclusive purview of Congress. These three agencies are critical to the independent operations of Congress and should not be subject to undue influence by the executive branch or any other external organization.

The Librarian of Congress is the main research arm of Congress, managing the Congressional Research Service. The Comptroller General leads the Government Accountability Office, which conducts audits and reviews government programs to provide nonpartisan oversight for Congress. The GPO prints and distributes official Congressional and federal publications. 

To ensure their independence from the executive branch, there must be no question that Congress has complete authority to dictate the appointment as well as the removal of the leaders of these organizations. Thus, my proposal would remove the President from the appointment process for all these positions and change it to a commission structure. The commissions would be made up of House and Senate leadership, as well as members from the relevant Congressional committees. The House would now also have a say in the appointment process, since its appointees would have to be confirmed by the adoption of concurrent resolutions. This bill would also codify Congress’ exclusive authority to remove the Librarian of Congress and the GPO Director. Specifically, their removal would only occur by an affirmative vote of three-fifths of the Members of the Senate and House and clarify that the executive branch has no role in these decisions. (This is already the case for the Comptroller General.)

I ask for my colleagues’ support for this bill, which empowers Congress to control all aspects of key legislative branch agencies. As the independence of the legislative branch continues to be challenged and eroded, we must take the necessary steps to ensure our ability to function as an unimpeded co-equal branch of government.