Congress gets 30 days' notice before President removes watchdogs.
H.R. 4465 — To amend chapters 4, 10, and 131 of title 5, United States Code, as necessary to keep those chapters current and to correct related technical errors. · Filed by Derek Schmidt (R-KS) · Introduced Jul 16, 2025 · Passed chamber
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What it does
The bill updates rules about Inspectors General. They check if government groups follow the law. The President must tell Congress in writing 30 days before removing or moving an Inspector General. The President must explain why. Inspectors General must report to Congress about whistleblower retaliation. They must report about harm to their work. Companies and groups named in audit reports get 30 days to respond.
Who it affects
Congress gains more power to stop removals of Inspectors General. Government groups and their Inspectors General must follow new rules. Companies and groups named in audits get time to respond.
One thing to notice
The 30-day notice gives Congress time to object before an Inspector General is removed. Inspectors General must now report on efforts to harm their work.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
- Jul 16, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jul 16, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on the Judiciary and Senate Committee on the Judiciary · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary”
- Sep 10, 2025 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
- Sep 10, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported by Voice Vote”
- Aug 31, 2026 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote”
- Aug 31, 2026 — Floor vote scheduled · Congress.gov: “Mr. Schmidt moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- Inspector General — A government official who checks if a group follows the law.
- whistleblower — A person who reports wrongdoing by their boss or government group.
- audit — A careful check of how a group spends money and follows rules.
- retaliation — Punishment or harm done to someone for reporting a problem.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (50,094 characters) on Jul 25, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,206 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-17.
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