Tim Walberg: “I thank the gentleman from North Carolina for yielding to me and also thank him for his comments on this legislation. He…”

“I thank the gentleman from North Carolina for yielding to me and also thank him for his comments on this legislation. He laid it out extremely well. Mr. Speaker, Congress expects the Senior Executive Service to provide leadership so the Federal Government may successfully fulfill their obligations to the American people. That is what it is all about. We serve at their will and for their purpose and so does the Senior Executive Service. We also look to senior leaders to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars so citizens can have confidence that their hard-earned tax dollars are being utilized sensibly. Unfortunately and especially in light of the numerous scandals at the IRS and Veterans Administration perpetuated by senior executive branch officials who let things happen and get out of control, we need to take legislative action to restore public confidence and increase accountability and performance within the Senior Executive Service. The bill I have introduced, the Senior Executive Service Accountability Act, gives agencies commonsense tools to hold senior leaders more accountable for their taxpayer-funded work. Let me make this clear: the bill will make it easier to remove officials who have been found to have engaged in misconduct. Specifically, it eliminates the current loophole that allows an executive who has been removed for poor performance and placed in a new Federal job from retaining their executive salary.…”