Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB698 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 698
5	5	To require the Director of the Bureau of Prisons to be appointed by and
6	6	with the advice and consent of the Senate.
7	7	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
8	8	FEBRUARY24, 2025
9	9	Mr. M
10	10	CCONNELL(for himself, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mr. PAUL, Mr. LANKFORD,
11	11	and Mrs. B
12	12	LACKBURN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice
13	13	and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
14	14	A BILL
15	15	To require the Director of the Bureau of Prisons to be
16	16	appointed by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.
17	17	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
18	18	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
19	19	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
20	20	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Prisons Ac-4
21	21	countability Act of 2025’’. 5
22	22	SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
23	23	Congress finds the following: 7
24	24	(1) The Director of the Bureau of Prisons leads 8
25	25	a law enforcement component of the Department of 9
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28	28	•S 698 IS
29	29	Justice with a budget that exceeded $8,390,000,000 1
30	30	for fiscal year 2024. 2
31	31	(2) With the exception of the Federal Bureau 3
32	32	of Investigation, the Bureau of Prisons had the larg-4
33	33	est operating budget of any unit within the Depart-5
34	34	ment of Justice for fiscal year 2024. 6
35	35	(3) As of 2025, the Director of the Bureau of 7
36	36	Prisons oversaw 122 facilities and was responsible 8
37	37	for the welfare of more than 155,000 Federal in-9
38	38	mates. 10
39	39	(4) As of 2025, the Director of the Bureau of 11
40	40	Prisons supervised more than 35,000 employees, 12
41	41	many of whom operate in hazardous environments 13
42	42	that involve regular interaction with violent offend-14
43	43	ers. 15
44	44	(5) Within the Department of Justice, in addi-16
45	45	tion to those officials who oversee litigating compo-17
46	46	nents, the Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, To-18
47	47	bacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Director of the 19
48	48	Community Relations Service, the Director of the 20
49	49	Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Director of the 21
50	50	Office on Violence Against Women, the Adminis-22
51	51	trator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, the 23
52	52	Deputy Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Ad-24
53	53	ministration, the Director of the United States Mar-25
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56	56	•S 698 IS
57	57	shals Service, 94 United States Marshals, the In-1
58	58	spector General of the Department of Justice, and 2
59	59	the Special Counsel for Immigration Related Unfair 3
60	60	Employment Practices, are all appointed by the 4
61	61	President by and with the advice and consent of the 5
62	62	Senate. 6
63	63	(6) Despite the significant budget of the Bu-7
64	64	reau of Prisons and the vast number of people under 8
65	65	the responsibility of the Director of the Bureau of 9
66	66	Prisons, the Director is not appointed by and with 10
67	67	the advice and consent of the Senate. 11
68	68	SEC. 3. DIRECTOR OF THE BUREAU OF PRISONS. 12
69	69	(a) I
70	70	NGENERAL.—Section 4041 of title 18, United 13
71	71	States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘appointed by and 14
72	72	serving directly under the Attorney General.’’ and insert-15
73	73	ing the following: ‘‘who shall be appointed by the Presi-16
74	74	dent, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. 17
75	75	The Director shall serve directly under the Attorney Gen-18
76	76	eral.’’. 19
77	77	(b) I
78	78	NCUMBENT.—Notwithstanding the amendment 20
79	79	made by subsection (a), the individual serving as the Di-21
80	80	rector of the Bureau of Prisons on the date of enactment 22
81	81	of this Act may serve as the Director of the Bureau of 23
82	82	Prisons until the date that is 3 months after the date of 24
83	83	enactment of this Act. 25
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86	86	•S 698 IS
87	87	(c) RULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act 1
88	88	shall be construed to limit the ability of the President to 2
89	89	appoint the individual serving as the Director of the Bu-3
90	90	reau of Prisons on the date of enactment of this Act to 4
91	91	the position of Director of the Bureau of Prisons in ac-5
92	92	cordance with section 4041 of title 18, United States 6
93	93	Code, as amended by subsection (a). 7
94	94	(d) T
95	95	ERM.— 8
96	96	(1) I
97	97	N GENERAL.—Section 4041 of title 18, 9
98	98	United States Code, as amended by subsection (a), 10
99	99	is amended by inserting after ‘‘consent of the Sen-11
100	100	ate.’’ the following: ‘‘The Director shall be appointed 12
101	101	for a term of 10 years, except that an individual ap-13
102	102	pointed to the position of Director may continue to 14
103	103	serve in that position until another individual is ap-15
104	104	pointed to that position, by and with the advice and 16
105	105	consent of the Senate. An individual may not serve 17
106	106	more than 1 term as Director.’’. 18
107	107	(2) A
108	108	PPLICABILITY.—The amendment made by 19
109	109	paragraph (1) shall apply to appointments made on 20
110	110	or after the date of enactment of this Act. 21
111	111	Æ
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