On and after June 8, 1942, in case of the death, resignation, separation from office, or disability of the Chief Administrative Officer of the House of Representatives, the accounts of the Chief Administrative Officer may be continued and payments made in his name by the disbursing clerk of the House of Representatives for a period extending not beyond the quarterly period during which a new Chief Administrative Officer shall have been appointed. Such accounts and payments shall be allowed and settled in the General Accounting Office, and the checks signed in the name of the former Chief Administrative Officer shall be honored by the Treasurer of the United States, in the same manner as if the former Chief Administrative Officer had continued in office. The former Chief Administrative Officer or his estate shall not be subject to any legal liability or penalty for the official acts and defaults of such disbursing clerk acting in the name or in the place of the former Chief Administrative Officer under this section, but such disbursing clerk shall be responsible therefor. The accounts and payments referred to in the second sentence shall be audited by the Inspector General of the House of Representatives