H.R. 7894
Truman Scholarship Clean House Act
Sponsor: Elise M. Stefanik
1 cosponsor
Official summary
Written by the Congressional Research Service.
Truman Scholarship Clean House Act
This bill makes changes to the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation, which awards scholarships to students who plan to attend graduate school in pursuit of a career in public service.
Specifically, the bill dissolves the current Board of Trustees (which oversees the foundation) and terminates all members of the board effective 90 days after the bill's enactment. New board members must be appointed as outlined by the bill.
Additionally, the bill (1) prohibits any board member (other than the Secretary of Education or the Secretary's designee) from serving more than two six-year terms, and (2) establishes a quorum as seven board members.
The board must appoint a new executive secretary of the foundation, who must (1) be appointed by an affirmative vote of two-thirds of the board, and (2) serve a four-year term (but may be reappointed).
The bill establishes certain requirements for regional review panels, including that each panel must consist of at least five members appointed annually by an affirmative vote of two-thirds of the board and no more than half of the panel may be affiliated with the same political party.
The bill establishes additional scholarship conditions, including by (1) stopping payments to scholarship recipients who commit certain actions (e.g., served as a leader in a student organization suspended for misconduct), and (2) requiring recipients who have their scholarship payments stopped or who are not employed in public service for a certain time period to repay their scholarship with 6% interest.
Text of the bill
(a) In general. Section 12 of the Harry S Truman Memorial Scholarship Act (20 U.S.C. 2011) is amended—
(1) in subsection (a), by striking who shall be appointed by the Board and inserting who shall be appointed by an affirmative vote of not less than two-thirds of the members of the Board; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
(c) The Executive Secretary shall serve a term of 4 years and may be reappointed to up to two additional terms of four years in accordance with subsection (a).
(b) Appointment. Not later than 90 days after a quorum of the members of the Board of Trustees of the Harry S Truman Scholarship Foundation have been appointed in accordance with section 3(b)(2) of this Act, the Board shall appoint an Executive Secretary of the Foundation in accordance with section 12 of the Harry S Truman Memorial Scholarship Act (20 U.S.C. 2011), as amended by subsection (a).
(c) Service of incumbent. The individual serving as Executive Secretary of the Harry S Truman Scholarship Foundation as of the date of enactment of this Act may only continue serving in such position until the earlier of—
(1) the date on which the Board of Trustees of the Foundation appoints a new Executive Secretary in accordance with subsection (b); or
(2) the expiration of the 90 day period beginning on the date that a quorum of the members of the Board have been appointed in accordance with section 3(b)(2).