{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.lee.senate.gov/2024/2/lee-durbin-introduce-bipartisan-inspector-general-access-act", "LEE, DURBIN INTRODUCE BIPARTISAN INSPECTOR GENERAL ACCESS ACT", "2024-02-27", "2024", "2024-02", "Republican", "Senate", "UT", "Mike Lee", "L000577", "www.lee.senate.gov", "mikelee", "https://www.lee.senate.gov/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) introduced bipartisan legislation to expand the jurisdiction of the Department of Justice\u2019s (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General to include alleged DOJ attorney misconduct. Currently, the DOJ Inspector General (IG) has no authority to investigate professional misconduct by DOJ lawyers. DOJ is the only agency whose IG has such a jurisdictional carve-out. TheInspector General Access Act would simply strike this loophole, which leads to an unfair double standard where every DOJ employee\u2014including FBI and DEA agents, U.S. Marshals, and federal prison guards\u2014can be investigated by the DOJ IG except DOJ lawyers.\n\n\u201cThe current IG oversight exemption for DOJ attorneys is nonsensical and undermines accountability in our justice system,\" said Sen. Lee. \"Our simple bill changes that, ensuring DOJ attorneys are no longer off-limits for IG investigations. I'm proud to partner with Senator Durbin on this common-sense bipartisan effort.\u201d\n\n\u201cThis is a simple, bipartisan bill that would close a glaring loophole in the law,\u201d said Sen. Durbin. \u201cThis is not a partisan issue. We should all agree that whoever the Attorney General is, he or she should be subject to independent oversight. I\u2019m thankful to Senator Lee for his leadership and partnership on this important bill.\u201d\n\nThe Inspector General Access Act solves the problem that has long prevented independent oversight of DOJ prosecutors by simply striking the jurisdictional carve out in Section 413 of Title 5, United States Code. As a result, DOJ\u2019s Inspector General would be fully empowered to investigate allegations of misconduct against Department lawyers. In addition to enhancing oversight and public accountability at DOJ, this simple, common sense reform will bring DOJ in line with the practices in other federal agencies where allegations of attorney professional misconduct are already subject to investigation by Inspectors General.\n\nAlong with Durbin and Lee, the bill is cosponsored by Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Chris Coons (D-DE), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Peter Welch (D-VT), and Laphonza Butler (D-CA).\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T20:21:00Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.lee.senate.gov/2024/2/lee-durbin-introduce-bipartisan-inspector-general-access-act"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7828830275684595, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}