Amending The Ethics In Government Act Of 1978 To Reauthorize Funding For The Office Of Government Ethics PDF Download

Excerpt from Reauthorization of the Office of Government Ethics-S. 1413: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Oversight of Governmental Affairs United States Senate One Hundred Third Congress Second on S. 143 to Amend the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, as Amended, to Extent the Authorization of Appropriations for the Office O The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:08 p.m., in room SD-342, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Senator Carl Levin, Chairman of the Subcommittee, presiding. Present: Senators Levin and Cohen. Staff Present: Linda J. Gustitus, Staff Director and Chief Counsel; Barbara L. Strack, Counsel; Frankie de Vergie, Chief Clerk; Paul Brubaker, Minority Staff Director; and Paulina McC. Collins, Minority Professional Staff Member. OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR LEVIN Senator Levin. Good afternoon, everybody. We are here this afternoon to consider S. 1413, a bill to reauthorize the Office of Government Ethics, which Senator Cohen and I introduced. The current authorization expires on September 30th of this year. It was last reauthorized in 1988 for 6 years. OGE was created in 1978 as part of the Office of Personnel Management. Over the years, Congress has given OGE more authority and autonomy, making it a separate agency as of October 1st, 1989. That is one of the biggest changes since the last reauthorization. In addition, through Executive order, President Bush and President Clinton have given OGE new responsibilities for guiding and implementing an effective ethics program throughout the executive branch. The Subcommittee is well-acquainted with OGE and its staff and its operations. Since the last reauthorization, a new director of OGE has been confirmed, and several agency witnesses have testified before the Subcommittee on a variety of topics. The Subcommittee held an oversight hearing to look at OGE's review of agency ethics programs in 1990. The hearing disclosed some significant flaws which the new director has addressed. OGE has been helpful to the Subcommittee in presenting its views on changes to the gift rules and on proposed changes to the so-called "revolving door" rules, among other matters. Our experience with OGE indicates that it is knowledgeable and professional. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.