Chairman Comer Announces Full Committee Markup of Legislation to Improve Transparency and Accountability in the Federal Workforce & Agencies

WASHINGTON—Today, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) announced a markup will take place on Tuesday, December 2 at 10:00am ET to consider a series of legislation to reform procedures in the federal workforce, to promote greater transparency, and bring accountability to federal agencies and the District of Columbia.

“The American people deserve a productive federal government that provides transparency and accountability across all agencies, processes, and procedures. The House Oversight Committee is dedicated to ensuring that Americans’ voices are not diluted and that they can be employed in the federal workforce without undue burdens and other hinderances. Working in tandem with President Trump’s mission to reform the federal government, the Committee will do its part to examine the efficiency of agencies’ operations and remove any barriers that prevent Americans from fully participating in them,” said Chairman Comer.

WHAT: Full Committee Markup

H.R. 151, Equal Representation Act: The bill adds a citizenship inquiry to the decennial census and excludes noncitizens from the apportionment base. Specifically, the bill requires for the 2030 decennial census and each subsequent census, the inclusion of a checkbox or similar option for the respondent and each member of the respondent’s household to indicate whether that individual is a citizen of the United States. The bill would also exclude from the apportionment base “individuals who are not citizens of the United States” for the 2030 census and any future decennial census.

H.R. 5750, Ensuring a Qualified Civil Service Act (EQUALS) Act of 2025: The bill establishes one-year probationary periods following their initial appointment, completion of training and/or licensing for “preference eligible” (e.g. veterans, widows, etc.) competitive and excepted service positions and two-year probationary periods for other federal employees.  Employment will be terminated at the end of the applicable probationary period unless the employee is certified for retention by the agency head.

H.R. 5749, Official Time Reporting Act: This bill codifies annual reporting requirements for federal agencies, which must submit information to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). OPM will then make publish a report detailing the scope and cost of the government of funding “official time.” Among the information the annual report must include is agency justification for any aggregate annual increase in the use of official time; the average official time per union employee; the activities and purposes for which the time is used; the associated costs to the government; and the free or discounted use of government property used for such activities.

H.R. 5810, Federal Supervisor Education Act of 2025: This bill directs agencies to strengthen existing legally required training in ways that enhance supervisory competencies and support mission execution and goal achievement. Specifically, the bill requires agencies to improve established training programs to better develop future agency managers and offer a range of provide individual development initiatives. These include: performance goals aligned with agency missions; providing mentorship to enhance productivity; addressing poor performers and utilizing disciplinary options; effectively using probationary periods to evaluate new employees; addressing retaliation and harassment; improving effective recruitment; and covering prohibited personnel practices and employee rights. The bill also mandates knowledge-transfer mentorship for new supervisors. All required training must be completed within the first year of a supervisor’s employment, with refresher training every three years.

H.R. ____, Federal Relocation Payment Improvement Act: The bill authorizes federal agencies to pay federal employee relocation expenses using a lump-sum payment method instead of the current actual-expense method. It also directs the Administrator of General Services to issue regulations for the administration and implementation of this new methodology.

H.R. _____, Information Quality Assurance Act (IQAA): This legislation builds upon the Information Quality Act (P.L. 106-554, Sec. 515) and the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 (P.L. 115-435) by requiring  influential information or evidence (e.g., scientific, technical, or statistical information) on which agencies base new rules and guidance to be the best, reasonably available information or evidence. This bill also requires agencies to  make available in their administrative records for new rules and guidance documents the critical factual information on which they rely as an open government data asset and citations to any other source of information used to inform the rulemaking or guidance development process.

H.R. 3766, a bill to prohibit the District of Columbia from requiring tribunals in court or administrative proceedings in the District of Columbia to defer to the Mayor of the District of Columbia’s interpretation of statutes and regulations, and for other purposes: This bill prohibits the District of Columbia from requiring D.C. courts or administrative tribunals reviewing any rule, order or decision of the D.C. Mayor or any D.C. agency to defer to the Mayor’s or the agency’s interpretation of any statute or regulation they administer. The bill ensures D.C. courts follow the same rule against judicial deference to administrative bodies’ legal interpretations that the Supreme Court recently established for federal courts in Loper-Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, 603 U.S. 369 (2024).

H.R. 5457, the Strengthening Agency Management and Oversight of Software Assets (SAMOSA) Act: This bill reduces wasteful spending on duplicative software licenses by requiring agencies to update and expand their software inventories and develop a plan for consolidating or updating costly, unnecessary licenses.

H.R. 5235, Skills-Based Federal Contracting Act: The bill amends Chapter 33 of title 41 (Public Contracts—Procurement—Planning and Solicitation) to prohibit federal contract solicitations from requiring minimum education or experience qualifications for proposed contractor personnel, except when an agency’s needs cannot be met without such requirements. If these requirements are included, the contracting officer must provide a written justification explaining why they are necessary. The bill requires the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to issue implementation guidance to executive agencies within 180 days of enactment and encourages the use of alternatives to education requirements. It also repeals a provision of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2001 that restricted the use of minimum education or experience requirements for a narrower set of contracting personnel. Additionally, the bill directs the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to submit an evaluation of agency compliance to Congress within three years of enactment. The amendments made by the Act will apply to solicitations issued one year and three months after enactment.

H.R. 5578, Expanding Whistleblower Protections for Contractors Act of 2025: The bill extends whistleblower protections to federal contractors and their employees, shielding them from reprisal for certain disclosures. It protects contractors and employees working on defense, civilian, and intelligence agency contracts—including subcontractors, grantees, subgrantees, and their employees—from retaliation when they 1) refuse to obey an order that would require violating a law, rule, or regulation; or 2) disclose information related to gross mismanagement of a contract or grant, waste of funds, abuse of authority, violations any law, rule, regulation, or danger to public health or safety. The bill also requires agency heads to propose disciplinary action against any executive branch official who engages in prohibited reprisals against protected individuals. Additionally, it prohibits the waiver of these protections in any public or private agreement.

H.R. 143, Unauthorized Spending Accountability (USA) Act: The bill phases out programs whose authorized appropriations have expired. It establishes a three-year budget reduction cycle for unauthorized programs funded through the annual appropriations process, based on the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) annual report. Under the bill, a budgetary level refers to an allocation provided to the congressional appropriations committees under Section 302(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 by a congressional budget resolution or a deeming resolution. In the first year after a program’s authorization expires, the overall budgetary level is reduced by 10 percent of the program’s annual appropriated funds. Reductions of 15 percent apply both in the second and third years. The program is then terminated at the end of the third unauthorized year. Programs reauthorized during the three-year period are exempt if the reauthorization includes a three-year sunset provision for authorized appropriations.

DATE: Tuesday, December 2, 2025

TIME: 10:00am ET

LOCATION: HVC-210, U.S. Capitol Visitors Center

The markup will be open and available to the public and press and will be livestreamed online at https://oversight.house.gov/.