Count the Crimes to Cut Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2159) to direct the Attorney General of the United States to submit to the Congress a report on Federal criminal offenses, and for other purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 2159
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Count the Crimes to Cut Act''. SEC. 2. REPORT ON FEDERAL CRIMINAL OFFENSES.
(a) Definitions.--In this section--
(1) the term ``criminal regulatory offense'' means a Federal regulation that is enforceable by a criminal penalty; and
(2) the term ``criminal statutory offense'' means a criminal offense under a Federal statute.
(b) Report on Criminal Statutory Offenses.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall submit to the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate and the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives a report, which shall include--
(1) a list of all criminal statutory offenses, including a list of the elements for each criminal statutory offense; and
(2) for each criminal statutory offense listed under paragraph (1)--
(A) the potential criminal penalty for the criminal statutory offense;
(B) the number of prosecutions for the criminal statutory offense brought by the Department of Justice each year for the 15-year period preceding the date of enactment of this Act; and
(C) the mens rea requirement for the criminal statutory offense.
(c) Report on Criminal Regulatory Offenses.--
(1) Reports.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the head of each Federal agency described in paragraph (2) shall submit to the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate and the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives a report, which shall include--
(A) a list of all criminal regulatory offenses enforceable by the agency; and
(B) for each criminal regulatory offense listed under subparagraph (A)--
(i) the potential criminal penalty for a violation of the criminal regulatory offense;
(ii) the number of violations of the criminal regulatory offense referred to the Department of Justice for prosecution in each of the years during the 15-year period preceding the date of enactment of this Act; and
(iii) the mens rea requirement for the criminal regulatory offense.
(2) Agencies described.--The Federal agencies described in this paragraph are the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Education, the Department of Energy, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of the Interior, the Department of Labor, the Department of Transportation, the Department of the Treasury, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Export-Import Bank of the United States, the Farm Credit Administration, the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Election Commission, the Federal Labor Relations Authority, the Federal Maritime Commission, the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, the National Labor Relations Board, the National Transportation Safety Board, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, the Office of Compliance, the Postal Regulatory Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Securities Investor Protection Corporation, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Small Business Administration, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and the Office of Government Ethics.
(d) Index.--Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act--
(1) the Attorney General shall establish a publically accessible index of each criminal statutory offense listed in the report required under subsection (b) and make the index available and freely accessible on the website of the Department of Justice; and
(2) the head of each agency described in subsection (c)(2) shall establish a publically accessible index of each criminal regulatory offense listed in the report required under subsection (c)(1) and make the index available and freely accessible on the website of the agency.
(e) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section shall be construed to require or authorize appropriations.
Mr. Speaker, first of all, I thank the gentlewoman from Georgia for joining with me in this effort. I thank the minority leader for his past work on this bill, as well, from his position on the Judiciary Committee, like the gentlewoman from Georgia.
We may come at these things from slightly different perspectives on different issues that come before us, but we are bound and joined together here in wanting some commonsense, good government to make sure that we know what we are dealing with, with respect to criminal laws. For decades, the American people, Congress, and corners of the Federal Government have tried to grasp a reliable estimate of how many criminal laws exist either in statute or in regulation.
In the 1980s, the Department of Justice tried to count the number of Federal criminal laws that reside within the code and estimated there are ``about 3,000 criminal offenses.'' The American Bar Association, in the 1990s, said it was much higher than 3,000 but couldn't figure out the number. In 2019, the U.S. Code was estimated to have 5,199 Federal crimes, but again, that was uncertain.
In other words, the Department of Justice, the American Bar Association, and organizations within our government are guessing.
Now, to be clear, there are estimated to be thousands of criminal offenses, many buried in regulatory codes. For context, there are an estimated 300,000 Federal regulations that carry criminal offenses that could put an American citizen in prison.
We can debate the merits, and we would debate the merits no doubt among the Members of this body, of any particular statute that criminalizes a certain act or any particular regulation that comes with criminal penalties associated with an action. It might be something that involves OSHA. It might be something that involves environmental regulations. It might be something else.
There are thousands upon thousands of regulations and statutes, and the American people often have no idea that they might be in violation of something that would come with a penalty that might include jail time or sufficient fines, and so forth, and they potentially could become a felon.
This bill is pretty simple. It just directs the Federal Government and the executive branch to count the crimes, to come up with a list of the crimes that exist, put those in order, and make sure that we know what offenses are attached to those so that we can go through this and make decisions as to whether or not these crimes are duplicative, whether they might be contradictory, and whether maybe they go too far or not far enough.
We feel like the people's House, for sure--Congress in its Article I function--ought to know how many crimes there are and what penalties are associated with those crimes so that the American people can know this.
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Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Georgia for her comments.
Mr. Speaker, I would just add, in agreement with her, that, as I said before, this simply says that the Attorney General should provide to us, the people's House and this Congress, a list of all Federal crimes in statute and regulation, along with pertinent information such as potential criminal penalty, the mens rea requirement for the offense, and the DOJ prosecutorial history of the statute.
I think this is the bare minimum that we should have as a body to ensure that we are protecting due process and the rights of the American people while ensuring that we have an ordered society.
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Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I don't have a whole lot more to add. I associate myself with the remarks of all of my colleagues who have spoken on this matter. I would only add that I think it is important to note that this legislation is supported by the Due Process Institute, R Street, Right on Crime, as well as the National District Attorneys Association and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, which I think tells you what is going on here in that everybody would like to have some clarity and some transparency so we can have a commonsense understanding of our criminal laws, the extent to which they impact--as the gentleman from Maryland, I think, wisely noted--our civil liberties, and the extent to which we are made aware of what actions we take might be criminalized.
Mr. Speaker, I note as James Madison said in Federalist No. 62 on the fundamental principles of representative government and the importance of accessible and understandable laws: ``It will be of little avail to the people, that the laws are made by men of their own choice, if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man who knows what the law is today, can guess what it will be tomorrow.''
That is precisely the situation we find ourselves in, and we should fix it. We may have again, as I said before, some disagreements as to what should be criminalized or not. Previous Congresses have decided to criminalize some action that today we might take a second look at.
I do believe that we need to know and have the debate, and then be able to allow the subcommittee on which my Judiciary Committee colleagues serve, be able to review these, have open debate, and then make some decisions.
Maybe some of these should be sunsetted. Maybe some should be aligned. Maybe there are penalties that are out of whack. Maybe there are things that should be done to have greater notice for the American people.
I come together in good faith with my colleagues across the aisle and hope that my colleagues in the Chamber will support it.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Georgia for her comments. I thank the gentleman from Tennessee for his kind remarks, the gentleman from Maryland, all of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, and my friend from Arizona. I also thank Judiciary Committee Chairman Jordan. I thank the ranking member from Maryland who we have already engaged with, and all of my colleagues who worked on this in the Judiciary Committee.
This is not a long or major piece of legislation. I tend to think that speaks well of it. I think the shorter the bill, the better.
I do believe that this is an important step, but I do want to remind my colleagues it is just a step. I would hope that we would get swift action out of the executive branch in following this legislation if we are to get it through the Senate and get it signed so we can make an understanding of what is happening with respect to our criminal laws and regulations, and then act on it, as a Congress, in a bipartisan fashion. Again, we will have reasoned debate over some of the matters, but let's act on it. Let's do some things.
I agree with the gentleman that we need to revisit Article I. I introduced that during the first Trump administration the first time, and then we had it, obviously, during the Biden administration. I want to revisit that. It is critically important.
I hope that the AUMF repeal for 2002 that was in the NDAA in the Senate will be allowed to stay in the NDAA as it is coming back over to the House. We shouldn't have a 23-year-old authorization for the use of military force continuing to be under use. I hope that we in the House will reclaim those portions of congressional authority.
I think this is an important step. It is critically important for due process. I hope my colleagues in the Chamber will support it, and I urge its swift passage.
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