H.R. 8623 — Introduced in House

I 117th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 8623 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES July 29, 2022Mr. Phillips introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration A BILL To require that Members of Congress hold a security clearance at the level of top secret or higher to obtain access to Sensitive Compartmented Information, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Member Security Clearance Updates Required for Everyone Act or the Member SECURE Act. 2. Security clearance requirement for Members of Congress (a) In general A Member of Congress who does not hold a security clearance at the level of top secret or higher that grants the Member access to Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) may not be provided access to any material classified at the SCI level or higher. (b) Special rule for interim security clearance A Member of Congress who applies for a security clearance described in subsection (a) shall be granted an interim security clearance that grants the Member access to SCI until a final determination with respect to the security clearance of the Member has been made pursuant to subsection (c). (c) Final determination with respect to security clearance With respect to an application for a security clearance described in subsection (a) submitted by a Member of Congress— (1) the final determination of the application shall be made pursuant to a vote of the appropriate ethics committee after the committee receives the background investigation for such Member under subsection (d); and (2) such security clearance shall be granted to the Member only by an affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the appropriate ethics committee. (d) Expedited background investigations processing With respect to an application for a security clearance described in subsection (a) submitted by a Member of Congress, the appropriate background investigations department of the Central Intelligence Agency shall, to the greatest extent possible, ensure the expedited completion of the background investigation required for the appropriate ethics committee to make a final determination for such application. (e) Implementation of secure information systems procedures Not later than 360 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sergeant at Arms and Doorkeeper of the Senate and the Sergeant at Arms of the House of Representatives shall, with respect to each House, develop and implement information systems procedures with the same level of security and protection of sensitive information as the Secure Internet Protocol Router Network used to manage access to sensitive information for personnel of the Department of Defense for the purpose of enabling Members of Congress and staff with the appropriate security clearance to securely gain access to such sensitive information. (f) Definitions In this section, the following definitions apply: (1) Member of Congress The term Member of Congress includes a Delegate or Resident Commissioner to the Congress. (2) Appropriate ethics committee The term appropriate ethics committee means— (A) in the case of an application for a security clearance described in subsection (a) submitted by a Member of the Senate, the Select Committee on Ethics of the Senate; and (B) in the case of an application for a security clearance described in subsection (a) submitted by a Member of the House of Representatives, the Committee on Ethics of the House of Representatives. (g) Effective date This requirements under this section shall take effect 360 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.