I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2181
To amend chapter 4 of title 5, United States Code, to establish a for-
cause removal standard for Inspectors General, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH18, 2025
Mr. C
ONNOLLY (for himself, Ms. NORTON, Mr. LYNCH, Mr.
K
RISHNAMOORTHI, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. MFUME, Ms. BROWN, Ms.
S
TANSBURY, Mr. GARCIAof California, Mr. FROST, Ms. LEEof Pennsyl-
vania, Mr. C
ASAR, Ms. CROCKETT, Ms. RANDALL, Mr. SUBRAMANYAM,
Ms. A
NSARI, Mr. BELL, Ms. SIMON, Mr. MIN, Ms. PRESSLEY, and Ms.
T
LAIB) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on Oversight and Government Reform A BILL
To amend chapter 4 of title 5, United States Code, to estab-
lish a for-cause removal standard for Inspectors General,
and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protect Our Watch-4
dogs Act of 2025’’. 5
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SEC. 2. FOR CAUSE REMOVAL STANDARD FOR INSPECTORS 1
GENERAL. 2
Chapter 4 of title 5, United States Code, is amend-3
ed— 4
(1) in section 403(b)— 5
(A) by striking ‘‘(b) R
EMOVAL ORTRANS-6
FER.—’’ and inserting: 7
‘‘(b) R
EMOVAL ORTRANSFER.— 8
‘‘(1)(A) An’’; 9
(B) in subparagraph (A), as so designated, 10
by inserting after ‘‘by the President’’ the fol-11
lowing: ‘‘in accordance with paragraph (3)’’; 12
and 13
(C) by inserting at the end the following: 14
‘‘(3) The President may remove an Inspector 15
General only for any of the following grounds (and 16
the documentation of any such ground shall be in-17
cluded in the communication required pursuant to 18
paragraph (1)): 19
‘‘(A) Documented permanent incapacity. 20
‘‘(B) Documented neglect of duty. 21
‘‘(C) Documented malfeasance. 22
‘‘(D) Documented conviction of a felony or 23
conduct involving moral turpitude. 24
‘‘(E) Documented knowing violation of a 25
law or regulation. 26
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‘‘(F) Documented gross mismanagement. 1
‘‘(G) Documented gross waste of funds. 2
‘‘(H) Documented abuse of authority. 3
‘‘(I) Documented inefficiency.’’; and 4
(2) in section 415(e)(2)— 5
(A) by striking ‘‘T
RANSFERRED.—If’’ and 6
inserting the following: ‘‘T
RANSFERRED.— 7
‘‘(A) If’’; and 8
(B) in subparagraph (A), as so designated, 9
by adding at the end the following: ‘‘An Inspec-10
tor General may be removed only for any of the 11
following grounds (and the documentation of 12
any such ground shall be included in the com-13
munication required pursuant to this para-14
graph): 15
‘‘(i) Documented permanent inca-16
pacity. 17
‘‘(ii) Documented neglect of duty. 18
‘‘(iii) Documented malfeasance. 19
‘‘(iv) Documented conviction of a fel-20
ony or conduct involving moral turpitude. 21
‘‘(v) Documented knowing violation of 22
a law or regulation. 23
‘‘(vi) Documented gross mismanage-24
ment. 25
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‘‘(vii) Documented gross waste of 1
funds. 2
‘‘(viii) Documented abuse of author-3
ity. 4
‘‘(ix) Documented inefficiency.’’. 5
Æ
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