[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 43 (Thursday, April 6, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3237-S3240]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. COBURN (for himself, Mr. Obama, Mr. Carper, and Mr. 
        McCain):
  S. 2590. A bill to require full disclosure of all entities and 
organizations receiving Federal funds; to the Committee on Homeland 
Security and Governmental Affairs.
  Mr. COBURN. Mr. President, today, along with Senators Barack Obama, 
Thomas Carper, and John McCain, I introduced legislation to create an 
online public database that itemizes Federal funding.
  The bill ensures that the taxpayers will now know how their money is 
being spent. Every citizen in this country, after all, should have the 
right to know what organizations and activities are being funded with 
their hard-earned tax dollars.
  The Federal Government awards roughly $300 billion in grants annually 
to 30,000 different organizations across the United States, according 
to the General Services Administration.
  This bill would require the Office of Management and Budget, OMB, to 
establish and maintain a single public Web site that lists all entities 
receiving Federal funds, including the name of each entity, the amount 
of Federal funds the entity has received annually by program, and the 
location of the entity. All Federal assistance must be posted within 30 
days of such funding being awarded to an organization.
  This would be an important tool to make Federal funding more 
accountable and transparent. It would also help to reduce fraud, abuse, 
and misallocation of Federal funds by requiring greater accounting of 
Federal expenditures. According to OMB, Federal agencies reported $37.3 
billion in improper payments for fiscal year 2005 alone. Better 
tracking of Federal funds would ensure that agencies and taxpayers know 
where resources are being spent and likely reduce the number of 
improper payments by Federal agencies.
  Over the past year, the Senate Federal Financial Management 
Subcommittee, which I chair along with ranking member Carper, has 
uncovered tens of billions of dollars in fraud, abuse and wasteful 
spending, ranging from expensive leasing schemes to corporate welfare 
to bloated bureaucracy. This database would ensure that such spending 
is better tracked and the public can hold policymakers and Government 
agencies accountable for questionable spending decisions.
  The Web site required by this bill would not be difficult to develop. 
In fact, one such site already exists for some Federal funds provided 
by agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services, HHS. 
The CRISP, Computer Retrieval of Information on Scientific Projects, is 
a searchable database of federally funded biomedical research projects 
conducted at universities, hospitals, and other research institutions. 
The database, maintained by the Office of Extramural Research at the 
National Institutes of Health, includes projects funded by the National 
Institutes of Health, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services, 
Health Resources and Services Administration, Food and Drug 
Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, Agency 
for Health Care Research and Quality, and Office of Assistant Secretary 
of Health. The CRISP database contains current and

[[Page S3240]]

historical awards dating from 1972 to the present.
  This type of information should be available for all Federal 
contracts, grants, loans, and assistance provided by all Federal 
agencies and departments.
  It often takes agencies months to verify or to determine an 
organization's funding when requested by Congress. There are numerous 
examples of Federal agencies or entities receiving Federal funds 
actually trying to camouflage how Federal dollars are being spent or 
distributing public funds in violation of Federal laws.
  In October 2005, the House Government Reform Committee's Subcommittee 
on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources questioned the 
U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID, assistant 
administrator to determine if the agency was funding a proprostitution 
nongovernmental organization called Sampada Grameen Mahila Sanstha, 
SANGRAM, in apparent violation of Public Law 108-25. This law prohibits 
funds from being used ``to promote or advocate the legalization or 
practice of prostitution or sex trafficking,'' and organizations 
seeking Federal funding for HIV/AIDS work must have a policy 
``explicitly opposing prostitution and sex trafficking.''
  According to an unclassified State Department memorandum, Restore 
International, an antitrafficking organization working in India, was 
``confronted by a USAID-funded NGO, SANGRAM while the former attempted 
to rescue and provide long-term care for child victims of sex 
trafficking. The confrontation led to the release of 17 minor girls--
victims of trafficking--into the hands of traffickers and trafficking 
accomplices.'' According to this memorandum, SANGRAM ``allowed a 
brothel keeper into a shelter to pressure the girls not to cooperate 
with counselors. The girls are now back in the brothels, being 
subjected to rape for profit.''
  On November 16, 2005, a USAID briefer asserted to subcommittee staff 
that USAID had ``nothing to do with'' the grant to the proprostitution 
SANGRAM and that the subcommittee's inquiries were ``destructive.'' 
Nonetheless, congressional investigators continued to pursue this 
matter and eventually proved that USAID money financed the 
proprostitution SANGRAM through a second organization named Avert, 
which was established with the assistance of four USAID employees as a 
passthrough entity. USAID has held the ex-officio vice chairmanship of 
Avert since inception. According to documents obtained by the 
subcommittee, the USAID board member of Avert voted twice to award 
funding to SANGRAM--July 27, 2002 and again on December 3, 2004--the 
last time being some 18 months after the provisions of Public Law 108-
25 prohibited taxpayer funding of proprostitution groups like SANGRAM.

  Last August, HHS sponsored a conference in Utah entitled the ``First 
National Conference on Methamphetamine, HIV and Hepatitis'' that 
promoted illegal drug abuse and dangerous sexual behavior. Conference 
sessions included: ``We Don't Need a `War' on Methamphetamine''; ``You 
Don't Have to Be Clean & Sober. Or Even Want to Be!''; ``Tweaking Tips 
for Party Boys''; ``Barebacking: A Harm Reduction Approach''; and 
``Without condoms: Harm Reduction, Unprotected Sex, Gay Men and 
Barebacking.'' ``Tweaking'' is a street term for the most dangerous 
stage of meth abuse. A ``tweaker'' is a term for a meth addict who 
probably has not slept in days, or weeks, and is irritable and 
paranoid. Likewise, ``party boy'' is slang for an individual who abuses 
drugs, or ``parties.'' ``Barebacking'' is a slang term for sexual 
intercourse without the use of a condom.
  While HHS initially denied sponsoring the conference, it was later 
learned that thousands of dollars of a CDC grant were used to, in fact, 
sponsor this conference and CDC sent six employees to participate. In a 
letter dated October 28, 2005, CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding 
admitted that ``Although CDC was not listed as a sponsor, a portion of 
CDC's cooperative agreement with Utah, $13,500, was used to support the 
conference. While Utah informed a CDC project officer that Utah and the 
Harm Reduction Coalition were sponsoring the conference and shared a 
draft agenda with the project officer, Utah did not inform the project 
officer about the particular source of the funding for the 
conference.''
  Previously, the CDC was questioned about its financial support for a 
number of dubious HIV prevention workshops, including ``flirting 
classes'' and ``Booty Call,'' orchestrated by the Stop AIDS Foundation 
of San Francisco. While CDC repeatedly denied to both Congress and the 
public that taxpayer funds were used to finance these programs, a Stop 
AIDS Project official eventually admitted in August 2001 to using 
Federal funds for the programs. An HHS Office of Inspector General, 
OIG, investigation also concluded in November 2001 that Federal funds 
were used to finance the programs and that the programs themselves 
contained content that may violate Federal laws and Federal guidelines 
were not followed. The OIG found that the activity under review ``did 
not fully comply with the cooperative agreement and other CDC 
guidance,'' that the CDC requirement for review of materials by a local 
review panel was not followed, and characterized some of the project 
activities as ``inappropriate.'' Finally, the OIG concluded that ``CDC 
funding was used to support all [Stop AIDS] Project activities.'' The 
Stop AIDS Project received approximately $700,000 a year from the CDC 
but no longer receives Federal funding.
  These are just a few recent examples from only a couple agencies 
uncovered due to aggressive congressional oversight. While the public, 
whose taxes finance these groups and programs, watchdog organizations, 
and the media can file Freedom of Information Act, FOIA, requests for 
this same information, such requests can take months to receive answers 
and often go completely ignored.
  If enacted, this legislation will finally ensure true accountability 
and transparency in how the Government spends our money, which will 
hopefully lead to more fiscal responsibility by the Federal Government.
                                 ______