[Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 105th Congress]
[105th Congress]
[House Document 104-272]
[Rules of the House of Representatives]
[Pages 353-355]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office, www.gpo.gov]


 

                                Rule VI.


                      office of inspector general.



Sec. 654. Inspector General.

  1.  There is established an 
Office of Inspector General.


  2. The Inspector General shall be appointed for a Congress by the 
Speaker, the Majority Leader, and the Minority Leader, acting jointly.

  3. Subject to the policy direction and oversight of the Committee on 
House Oversight, the Inspector General shall be responsible only for--

          (a) conducting periodic audits of the financial and 
administrative functions of the House and joint entities;


[[Page 354]]

sults of that audit and suggesting 
appropriate curative actions;
          (b) informing the Officers or other officials who are the 
subject of an audit of the re-

          (c) simultaneously notifying the Speaker, the Majority Leader, 
the Minority Leader, and the chairman and ranking minority party member 
of the Committee on House Oversight in the case of any financial 
irregularity discovered in the course of carrying out responsibilities 
under this rule;

          (d) simultaneously submitting to the Speaker, the Majority 
Leader, the Minority Leader, and the chairman and ranking minority party 
member of the Committee on House Oversight a report of each audit 
conducted under this rule; and


          (e) reporting to the Committee on Standards of Official 
Conduct information involving possible violations by any Member, 
officer, or employee of the House of any rule of the House or of any law 
applicable to the performance of official duties or the discharge of 
official responsibilities which may require referral to the appropriate 
Federal or State authorities pursuant to clause 4(e)(1)(C) of rule X.

  This form of rule VI was adopted at the beginning of the 104th 
Congress (sec. 201(c), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----). Later in the 
104th Congress it was amended to effect a technical correction (H. Res. 
254, Nov. 30, 1995, p. ----). Its predecessor form was composed in the 
103d Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 5, 1993, p. ----) by combining two rules 
adopted in the House Administrative Reform Resolution of 1992 (H. Res. 
423, 102d Cong., Apr. 9, 1992, p. ----). For the history of rule VI 
before 1992, see Sec. 654a, infra.


[[Page 355]]

Sec. Sec. 651a-e, supra), and clause 2 corresponded to an erstwhile rule 
LIII of the 102d Congress (relating to the Inspector General). In 
converting clause 2 of the former rule VI into the present rule VI, the 
104th Congress: broadened the auditing responsibilities beyond the 
offices of the elected officers (paragraph (a), formerly clause 
2(c)(1)); added requirements for simultaneous reporting (paragraphs (c) 
and (d), formerly clauses 2(c)(3) and (4)); deleted a provision relating 
to classification of employees (formerly clause 2(d)); and added the 
responsibility to report certain information to the Committee on 
Standards of Official Conduct (paragraph (e)) (sec. 201, H. Res. 6, 
104th Congress, p. ----). The 104th Congress also mandated that the 
Inspector General, in consultation with the Speaker and the Committee on 
House Oversight, procure an independent and comprehensive audit of House 
financial records and administrative operations and report the results 
thereof in accord with this rule (sec. 107, H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. 
----).
  In the form of the rule adopted in the 103d Congress, clause 1 
corresponded to an erstwhile rule LII of the 102d Congress (relating to 
the Director of Non-legislative and Financial Services, who in the 104th 
Congress was supplanted by the Chief Administrative Officer; see rule V, 


  Pursuant to clause 2(b) of the form of the rule adopted in the 103d 
Congress, the Speaker, the Majority Leader, and the Minority Leader 
jointly appointed the first Inspector General of the House of 
Representatives (Nov. 10, 1993, p. ----).






Sec. 654a. Former Office of the Postmaster.

  Until  the 102d 
Congress, rule VI provided for an Office of the Postmaster, who 
superintended the post offices of the House and the delivery of its 
mail. The earlier form of the rule was adopted in 1838 and amended in 
1880 (I, 270), 1911 (VI, 34), 1971 (H. Res. 5, 92d Cong., p. 144), and 
1972 (H. Res. 1153, 92d Cong., pp. 36013-15). The Office of the 
Postmaster was abolished during the 102d Congress by sections 2 and 5 of 
the House Administrative Reform Resolution of 1992 (H. Res. 423, Apr. 9, 
1992, p. ----).