House to vote on bill preventing GSA-like conferences

Source: Washington Post

The House plans to vote Wednesday on legislation to address the unfolding spending scandal at the General Services Administration.

The measure, which has been in the works for more than a year but has been tweaked in recent days, establishes new government-wide financial reporting standards by requiring federal agencies to report all spending information to a centralized Web site. It also would require all government contractors, subcontractors and grant recipients to report how they spend federal dollars.

But the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act (DATA) also includes provisions that slash spending by federal agencies on conferences by 20 percent from levels set in 2010, which supporters say could save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars annually.

The bipartisan bill also would cap spending on individual conferences at $500,000, but an agency could seek additional funding for the meeting from outside sources. Agencies also would be barred from sending more than 50 personnel to international meetings, unless the secretary of state determines that a higher number is needed.

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