After GSA Scandal, Congress Moves to Reduce Wasteful Spending
The Digital Accountability and Transparency Act will strengthen and standardize the government’s reporting standards, and puts all the information online for the American public to see.
When it was revealed that the General Services Administration (GSA) spent $823,000 on a conference in Las Vegas in October 2010, Americans were appalled at the blatant disregard for taxpayer dollars.
I take very seriously my role as trustee of taxpayer funds, and the GSA’s conference was an egregious display of wasteful government spending. GSA employees not only spent a lavish amount on the government dime, but also made videos poking fun at the cost and extravagance.
The responsibility lies with head of the GSA, as well as the president. The White House should be setting a tone of fiscal responsibility throughout all federal agencies that discourages squandering taxpayer dollars. In the meantime, Congress is acting.
The House passed, with my support, the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act (DATA) last week. This bill will strengthen and standardize the government’s reporting standards, and puts all the information online for the American public to see.
Part of the problem is that currently, federal spending data is not available in a consistent and complete form. As a result, Inspectors General and auditors, those government actors charged with checking the federal government’s spending, are left in an almost impossible situation. There is too much data, reported differently and inconsistently, to be able to review and analyze how the federal government is spending money.
Additionally, recipients such as states and universities who receive federal funding are forced to spend precious resources — also at the taxpayers’ expense — complying with inconsistent and duplicative reporting requirements.
The DATA Act will also improve the ability of federal auditors and members of Congress to better see where we can cut wasteful spending and save taxpayer dollars. Citizen watchdog groups called this “landmark legislation” that will make government more transparent and accountable.
The DATA Act also streamlines reporting requirements for grant and contract recipients so they can report all federal spending in one place.
It’s the taxpayers who are footing the bill for every dollar in the federal budget, and the American people should know how their money is being spent. With the DATA Act, we can track federal spending and better root out waste, fraud, and abuse.
Albert
5:05 pm on Sunday, April 29, 2012
Go get them Jim! Someone needs to reign in Barack Hussein!
MSo32
9:35 pm on Sunday, April 29, 2012
You ignorant Millionairies must retire and go to the prairie
Craig
9:40 pm on Sunday, April 29, 2012
MSo32:
So you must think it is okay to piss away tax dollars?
I guess it is for those of you on the dole but the rest of us are tired of it.
Keith Best
6:48 am on Monday, April 30, 2012
The federal government must reign in spending. Even some Democrats acknowledge the current system is unsustainable. Jim Sensenbrenner, Paul Ryan and US Senator Ron Johnson need more help in Washington D.C. Big spending liberal Tammy Baldwin must be defeated.
St. Swithin
8:58 am on Monday, April 30, 2012
I am not fooled for a minute that Rep S has suddenly become responsible with spending taxpayers' money, but I can support him on this bill. I can't find details of it on the web. However, I bet it exempts the Defense Dept. and Homeland Security. These departments waste far more than the GSA.
Keith Best
9:09 am on Monday, April 30, 2012
Sounds like St. Swithin missed the videos of the GSA flagrantly partying in Vegas, using taxpayer dollars. Go look for those details, they are not hard to find.
St. Swithin
11:02 am on Monday, April 30, 2012
Sounds like Keith Best has a reading disorder (again). Let me point out to you the part where I said "I support him on this bill".
Of course, GSA partying is pretty weak tea compared to other government scandals. The Secret Service had hookers. The Minerals Management Service had cocaine and orgies. The GSA had a clown and a fortune teller. Oh, the horror.
If you have ever organized a large convention you know that $900k is not an exorbitant expense for such an event. The Republicans are just looking for ways to make the Obama administration look bad. With that said, I always support transparency in government. My cynical side, though, says this bill will not help us get details of the next big defense contractors convention.
Craig
9:59 pm on Monday, April 30, 2012
St. Swithin: At least we as the taxpayers didn't get stuck with the bill for the hookers. This came out of the Secret Servicemen's own wallet- at least it would have had they paid for the services they asked for.
The wasted funds by the GSA IS important.
Are you suggesting the Defense Department and Homeland Security funding should be cut?
I think we can do without the GSA a whole lot easier than our freedom.
Dave Koven
9:54 am on Monday, April 30, 2012
Good old government! "A day late and a dollar short."
ShellyBernal
11:59 am on Monday, April 30, 2012
I commend you on your support of the DATA bill. However, throughout the four separate Congressional inquiries, the consistent belief is that the GSA has an ingrained culture of wasteful spending. In this agency alone we have witnessed over half a century of scandals and "solutions" without any change. As a member of Congress, I ask you to reflect upon the role of "how business is done" in politics in fostering this culture of waste of the taxpayer’s dollar. I contend that if the federal government didn't direct the GSA to waste taxpayers money to pay back campaign contributors then the culture of the GSA wouldn't be one of wasteful spending. Clean up Congress by removing the influence of money in "how business is done" and your problems in the GSA will disappear.
Thomas Longbotham
4:28 pm on Thursday, May 3, 2012
Petition the Obama administration to require federal agencies use public facilities for agency conferences.
In light of the recent GSA Las Vegas scandal, federal agencies should be required to use public facilities (federal, state, or local government buildings/sites) for agency conferences.
Across the United States there are some 629 public 4-year institutions and 1,047 public community colleges. These institutions of higher education are located in every state and many times in major cities. Some even have adequate dorm or hotel accommodations as well as catering services.
Or consider military academies, other military installations, or law enforcement campuses. "The FBI is not called the “West Point of Law Enforcement” for nothing." The FBI has more than two dozen classrooms, eight conference rooms, twin seven-story dormitories, a 1,000-seat auditorium, a dining hall, a full-sized gym, and swimming pool on a 385-acre campus.
https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions#!/petition/require-federal-agencies-use-public-facilities-agency-conferences/XtRQ81Pf
tom sheramn
7:51 pm on Tuesday, August 7, 2012
sensen wastes plenty especially in dod. there is hardly a war or weapon he has not supported including star wars a system that does not work as everyone knew it wouldn't for a $150 billion disaster and b1 & b2 bombers worth their weight in gold but with no purpose as we had thousands of missles each with warheads 10-100 times bigger than hiroshima many in hardened sites or in subs which according to dod had a 90 % probability of hitting their target.
when i asked him how he justified sdi he said verbally "during the iceland talks it became a bargaining chip that helped win the cold war". so he knew that would happen 30 years ago when he voted for it.? when i emailed him to put that in writing he would not. but then he never answers 90% of my em's off his site anyway.
what does sensen think urban spawl costs the public? all i ever heard from him and other republicans in the 50's was that planning is communism. sensen is responsible for the huge costs we have to pay for roads, sewers and etc, the costs of delivering private products etc.