[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 61 (Wednesday, April 28, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H2942-H2947]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
IMPROPER PAYMENTS ELIMINATION AND RECOVERY ACT OF 2009
Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill
(H.R. 3393) to amend the Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 (31
U.S.C. 3321 note) in order to prevent the loss of billions in taxpayer
dollars, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 3393
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Improper Payments
Elimination and Recovery Act of 2010''.
SEC. 2. IMPROPER PAYMENTS ELIMINATION AND RECOVERY.
(a) Susceptible Programs and Activities.--Section 2 of the
Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 (31 U.S.C. 3321
note) is amended by striking subsection (a) and inserting the
following:
``(a) Identification of Susceptible Programs and
Activities.--
``(1) In general.--The head of each agency shall, in
accordance with guidance prescribed by the Director of the
Office of Management and Budget, periodically review all
programs and activities that the relevant agency head
administers and identify all programs and activities that may
be susceptible to significant improper payments.
``(2) Frequency.--Reviews under paragraph (1) shall be
performed for each program and activity that the relevant
agency head administers during the year after which the
Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act of 2010 is
enacted and at least once every 3 fiscal years thereafter.
For those agencies already performing a risk assessment every
3 years, agencies may apply to the Director of the Office of
Management and Budget for a waiver from the requirement of
the preceding sentence and continue their 3-year risk
assessment cycle.
``(3) Risk assessments.--
``(A) Definition.--In this subsection the term
`significant' means--
``(i) except as provided under clause (ii), that improper
payments in the program or activity in the preceding fiscal
year may have exceeded--
``(I) $10,000,000 of all program or activity payments made
during that fiscal year reported and 2.5 percent of program
outlays; or
``(II) $100,000,000; and
``(ii) with respect to fiscal years following September
30th of a fiscal year beginning before fiscal year 2013 as
determined by the Office of Management and Budget, that
improper payments in the program or activity in the preceding
fiscal year may have exceeded--
``(I) $10,000,000 of all program or activity payments made
during that fiscal year reported and 1.5 percent of program
outlays; or
``(II) $100,000,000.
``(B) Scope.--In conducting the reviews under paragraph
(1), the head of each agency shall take into account those
risk factors that are likely to contribute to a
susceptibility to significant improper payments, such as--
``(i) whether the program or activity reviewed is new to
the agency;
``(ii) the complexity of the program or activity reviewed;
``(iii) the volume of payments made through the program or
activity reviewed;
``(iv) whether payments or payment eligibility decisions
are made outside of the agency, such as by a State or local
government;
``(v) recent major changes in program funding, authorities,
practices, or procedures;
``(vi) the level, experience, and quality of training for
personnel responsible for making program eligibility
determinations or certifying that payments are accurate; and
``(vii) significant deficiencies in the audit report of the
agency or other relevant management findings that might
hinder accurate payment certification.''.
(b) Estimation of Improper Payments.--Section 2 of the
Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 (31 U.S.C. 3321
note) is amended by striking subsection (b) and inserting the
following:
``(b) Estimation of Improper Payments.--With respect to
each program and activity identified under subsection (a),
the head of the relevant agency shall--
``(1) produce a statistically valid estimate, or an
estimate that is otherwise appropriate using a methodology
approved by the Director of the Office of Management and
Budget, of the improper payments made by each program and
activity; and
``(2) include those estimates in the accompanying materials
to the annual financial statement of the agency required
under section 3515 of title 31, United States Code, or
similar provision of law and applicable guidance of the
Office of Management and Budget.''.
(c) Reports on Actions To Reduce Improper Payments.--
Section 2 of the Improper Payments Information Act of 2002
(31 U.S.C. 3321 note) is amended by striking subsection (c)
and inserting the following:
``(c) Reports on Actions To Reduce Improper Payments.--With
respect to any program or activity of an agency with
estimated improper payments under subsection (b), the head of
the agency shall provide with the estimate under subsection
(b) a report on what actions the agency is taking to reduce
improper payments, including--
``(1) a description of the causes of the improper payments,
actions planned or taken to correct those causes, and the
planned or actual completion date of the actions taken to
address those causes;
``(2) in order to reduce improper payments to a level below
which further expenditures to reduce improper payments would
cost more than the amount such expenditures would save in
prevented or recovered improper payments, a statement of
whether the agency has what is needed with respect to--
``(A) internal controls;
``(B) human capital; and
``(C) information systems and other infrastructure;
``(3) if the agency does not have sufficient resources to
establish and maintain effective internal controls under
paragraph (2)(A), a description of the resources the agency
has requested in its budget submission to establish and
maintain such internal controls;
``(4) program-specific and activity-specific improper
payments reduction targets that have been approved by the
Director of the Office of Management and Budget; and
``(5) a description of the steps the agency has taken to
ensure that agency managers, programs, and, where
appropriate, States and localities are held accountable
through annual performance appraisal criteria for--
``(A) meeting applicable improper payments reduction
targets; and
``(B) establishing and maintaining sufficient internal
controls, including an appropriate control environment, that
effectively--
[[Page H2943]]
``(i) prevent improper payments from being made; and
``(ii) promptly detect and recover improper payments that
are made.''.
(d) Reports on Actions To Recover Improper Payments.--
Section 2 of the Improper Payments Information Act of 2002
(31 U.S.C. 3321 note) is amended--
(1) by striking subsection (e);
(2) by redesignating subsections (d) and (f) as subsections
(f) and (g), respectively; and
(3) by inserting after subsection (c) the following:
``(d) Reports on Actions To Recover Improper Payments.--
With respect to any improper payments identified in recovery
audits conducted under section 2(h) of the Improper Payments
Elimination and Recovery Act of 2010 (31 U.S.C. 3321 note),
the head of the agency shall provide with the estimate under
subsection (b) a report on all actions the agency is taking
to recover improper payments, including--
``(1) a discussion of the methods used by the agency to
recover overpayments;
``(2) the amounts recovered, outstanding, and determined to
not be collectable, including the percent such amounts
represent of the total overpayments of the agency;
``(3) if a determination has been made that certain
overpayments are not collectable, a justification of that
determination;
``(4) an aging schedule of the amounts outstanding;
``(5) a summary of how recovered amounts have been disposed
of;
``(6) a discussion of any conditions giving rise to
improper payments and how those conditions are being
resolved; and
``(7) if the agency has determined under section 2(h) of
the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act of 2010
(31 U.S.C. 3321 note) that performing recovery audits for any
applicable program or activity is not cost effective, a
justification for that determination.
``(e) Governmentwide Reporting of Improper Payments and
Actions To Recover Improper Payments.--
``(1) Report.--Each fiscal year the Director of the Office
of Management and Budget shall submit a report with respect
to the preceding fiscal year on actions agencies have taken
to report information regarding improper payments and actions
to recover improper overpayments to--
``(A) the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs of the Senate; and
``(B) the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of
the House of Representatives.
``(2) Contents.--Each report under this subsection shall
include--
``(A) a summary of the reports of each agency on improper
payments and recovery actions submitted under this section;
``(B) an identification of the compliance status of each
agency to which this Act applies;
``(C) governmentwide improper payment reduction targets;
and
``(D) a discussion of progress made towards meeting
governmentwide improper payment reduction targets.''.
(e) Definitions.--Section 2 of the Improper Payments
Information Act of 2002 (31 U.S.C. 3321 note) is amended by
striking subsections (f) (as redesignated by this section)
and inserting the following:
``(f) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) Agency.--The term `agency' means an executive agency,
as that term is defined in section 102 of title 31, United
States Code.
``(2) Improper payment.--The term `improper payment'--
``(A) means any payment that should not have been made or
that was made in an incorrect amount (including overpayments
and underpayments) under statutory, contractual,
administrative, or other legally applicable requirements; and
``(B) includes any payment to an ineligible recipient, any
payment for an ineligible good or service, any duplicate
payment, any payment for a good or service not received
(except for such payments where authorized by law), and any
payment that does not account for credit for applicable
discounts.
``(3) Payment.--The term `payment' means any transfer or
commitment for future transfer of Federal funds such as cash,
securities, loans, loan guarantees, and insurance subsidies
to any non-Federal person or entity, that is made by a
Federal agency, a Federal contractor, a Federal grantee, or a
governmental or other organization administering a Federal
program or activity.
``(4) Payment for an ineligible good or service.--The term
`payment for an ineligible good or service' shall include a
payment for any good or service that is rejected under any
provision of any contract, grant, lease, cooperative
agreement, or any other funding mechanism.''.
(f) Guidance by the Office of Management and Budget.--
Section 2 of the Improper Payments Information Act of 2002
(31 U.S.C. 3321 note) is amended by striking subsection (g)
(as redesignated by this section) and inserting the
following:
``(g) Guidance by the Office of Management and Budget.--
``(1) In general.--Not later than 6 months after the date
of enactment of the Improper Payments Elimination and
Recovery Act of 2010, the Director of the Office of
Management and Budget shall prescribe guidance for agencies
to implement the requirements of this section. The guidance
shall not include any exemptions to such requirements not
specifically authorized by this section.
``(2) Contents.--The guidance under paragraph (1) shall
prescribe--
``(A) the form of the reports on actions to reduce improper
payments, recovery actions, and governmentwide reporting; and
``(B) strategies for addressing risks and establishing
appropriate prepayment and postpayment internal controls.''.
(g) Determinations of Agency Readiness for Opinion on
Internal Control.--Not later than 1 year after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office of
Management and Budget shall develop--
(1) specific criteria as to when an agency should initially
be required to obtain an opinion on internal control over
financial reporting; and
(2) criteria for an agency that has demonstrated a
stabilized, effective system of internal control over
financial reporting, whereby the agency would qualify for a
multiyear cycle for obtaining an audit opinion on internal
control over financial reporting, rather than an annual
cycle.
(h) Recovery Audits.--
(1) Definition.--In this subsection, the term ``agency''
has the meaning given under section 2(f) of the Improper
Payments Information Act of 2002 (31 U.S.C. 3321 note) as
redesignated by this Act.
(2) In general.--
(A) Conduct of audits.--Except as provided under paragraph
(4) and if not prohibited under any other provision of law,
the head of each agency shall conduct recovery audits with
respect to each program and activity of the agency that
expends $1,000,000 or more annually if conducting such audits
would be cost-effective.
(B) Procedures.--In conducting recovery audits under this
subsection, the head of an agency--
(i) shall give priority to the most recent payments and to
payments made in any program or programs identified as
susceptible to significant improper payments under section
2(a) of the Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 (31
U.S.C. 3321 note);
(ii) shall implement this subsection in a manner designed
to ensure the greatest financial benefit to the Government;
and
(iii) may conduct recovery audits directly, by using other
departments and agencies of the United States, or by
procuring performance of recovery audits by private sector
sources by contract (subject to the availability of
appropriations), or by any combination thereof.
(C) Recovery audit contracts.--With respect to recovery
audits procured by an agency by contract--
(i) subject to subparagraph (B)(iii), and except to the
extent such actions are outside the agency's authority, as
defined by section 605(a) of the Contract Disputes Act of
1978 (41 U.S.C. 605(a)), the head of the agency may authorize
the contractor to notify entities (including persons) of
potential overpayments made to such entities, respond to
questions concerning potential overpayments, and take other
administrative actions with respect to overpayment claims
made or to be made by the agency; and
(ii) such contractor shall have no authority to make final
determinations relating to whether any overpayment occurred
and whether to compromise, settle, or terminate overpayment
claims.
(D) Contract terms and conditions.--The agency shall
include in each contract for procurement of performance of a
recovery audit a requirement that the contractor shall--
(i) provide to the agency periodic reports on conditions
giving rise to overpayments identified by the contractor and
any recommendations on how to mitigate such conditions; and
(ii) notify the agency of any overpayments identified by
the contractor pertaining to the agency or to any other
agency or agencies that are beyond the scope of the contract.
(E) Agency action following notification.--An agency shall
take prompt and appropriate action in response to a report or
notification by a contractor under subparagraph (D)(ii), to
collect overpayments and shall forward to other agencies any
information that applies to such agencies.
(3) Disposition of amounts recovered.--
(A) In general.--Amounts collected by agencies each fiscal
year through recovery audits conducted under this subsection
shall be treated in accordance with this paragraph. The
agency head shall determine the distribution of collected
amounts, less amounts needed to fulfill the purposes of
section 3562(a) of title 31, United States Code, in
accordance with subparagraphs (B), (C), and (D).
(B) Use for financial management improvement program.--Not
more than 25 percent of the amounts collected by an agency
through recovery audits--
(i) shall be available to the head of the agency to carry
out the financial management improvement program of the
agency under paragraph (4);
(ii) may be credited, if applicable, for that purpose by
the head of an agency to any agency appropriations and funds
that are available for obligation at the time of collection;
and
(iii) shall be used to supplement and not supplant any
other amounts available for that purpose and shall remain
available until expended.
(C) Use for original purpose.--Not more than 25 percent of
the amounts collected by an agency--
(i) shall be credited to the appropriation or fund, if any,
available for obligation at the
[[Page H2944]]
time of collection for the same general purposes as the
appropriation or fund from which the overpayment was made;
(ii) shall remain available for the same period and
purposes as the appropriation or fund to which credited; and
(iii) if the appropriation from which the overpayment was
made has expired, shall be newly available for the same time
period as the funds were originally available for obligation,
except that any amounts that are recovered more than five
fiscal years from the last fiscal year in which the funds
were available for obligation shall be deposited in the
Treasury as miscellaneous receipts, except that in the case
of recoveries of overpayments that are made from trust or
special fund accounts, such amounts shall revert to those
accounts.
(D) Use for inspector general activities.--Not more than 5
percent of the amounts collected by an agency shall be
available to the Inspector General of that agency--
(i) for--
(I) the Inspector General to carry out this Act; or
(II) any other activities of the Inspector General relating
to investigating improper payments or auditing internal
controls associated with payments; and
(ii) shall remain available for the same period and
purposes as the appropriation or fund to which credited.
(E) Remainder.--Amounts collected that are not applied in
accordance with subparagraphs (A), (B), (C), or (D) shall be
deposited in the Treasury as miscellaneous receipts, except
that in the case of recoveries of overpayments that are made
from trust or special fund accounts, such amounts shall
revert to those accounts.
(F) Discretionary amounts.--This paragraph shall apply only
to recoveries of overpayments that are made from
discretionary appropriations (as that term is defined by
paragraph 7 of section 250 of the Balanced Budget and
Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985) and shall not apply to
recoveries of overpayments that are made from discretionary
amounts that were appropriated prior to enactment of this
Act.
(G) Application.--This paragraph shall not apply to
recoveries of overpayments if the appropriation from which
the overpayment was made has not expired.
(4) Financial management improvement program.--
(A) Requirement.--The head of each agency shall conduct a
financial management improvement program, consistent with
rules prescribed by the Director of the Office of Management
and Budget.
(B) Program features.--In conducting the program, the head
of the agency--
(i) shall, as the first priority of the program, address
problems that contribute directly to agency improper
payments; and
(ii) may seek to reduce errors and waste in other agency
programs and operations.
(5) Privacy protections.--Any nongovernmental entity that,
in the course of recovery auditing or recovery activity under
this subsection, obtains information that identifies an
individual or with respect to which there is a reasonable
basis to believe that the information can be used to identify
an individual, may not disclose the information for any
purpose other than such recovery auditing or recovery
activity and governmental oversight of such activity, unless
disclosure for that other purpose is authorized by the
individual to the executive agency that contracted for the
performance of the recovery auditing or recovery activity.
(6) Other recovery audit requirements.--
(A) In general.--(i) Except as provided in clause (ii),
subchapter VI of chapter 35 of title 31, United States Code,
is repealed,
(ii) Section 3562(a) of title 31, United States Code, shall
continue in effect, except that references in such section
3562(a) to programs carried out under section 3561 of such
title, shall be interpreted to mean programs carried out
under section 2(h) of this Act.
(B) Technical and conforming amendments.--
(i) Table of sections.--The table of sections for chapter
35 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by striking
the matter relating to subchapter VI.
(ii) Definition.--Section 3501 of title 31, United States
Code, is amended by striking ``and subchapter VI of this
title''.
(iii) Homeland security grants.--Section 2022(a)(6) of the
Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 612(a)(6)) is amended
by striking ``(as that term is defined by the Director of the
Office of Management and Budget under section 3561 of title
31, United States Code)'' and inserting ``under section 2(h)
of the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act of 2010
(31 U.S.C. 3321 note)''.
(7) Rule of construction.--Except as provided under
paragraph (5), nothing in this section shall be construed as
terminating or in any way limiting authorities that are
otherwise available to agencies under existing provisions of
law to recover improper payments and use recovered amounts.
(i) Report on Recovery Auditing.--Not later than 2 years
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Chief
Financial Officers Council established under section 302 of
the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990 (31 U.S.C. 901
note), in consultation with the Council of Inspectors General
on Integrity and Efficiency established under section 7 of
the Inspector General Reform Act of 2009 (Public Law 110-409)
and recovery audit experts, shall conduct a study of--
(1) the implementation of subsection (h);
(2) the costs and benefits of agency recovery audit
activities, including those under subsection (h), and
including the effectiveness of using the services of--
(A) private contractors;
(B) agency employees;
(C) cross-servicing from other agencies; or
(D) any combination of the provision of services described
under subparagraphs (A) through (C); and
(3) submit a report on the results of the study to--
(A) the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs of the Senate;
(B) the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the
House of Representatives; and
(C) the Comptroller General.
SEC. 3. COMPLIANCE.
(a) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Agency.--The term ``agency'' has the meaning given
under section 2(f) of the Improper Payments Information Act
of 2002 (31 U.S.C. 3321 note) as redesignated by this Act.
(2) Annual financial statement.--The term ``annual
financial statement'' means the annual financial statement
required under section 3515 of title 31, United States Code,
or similar provision of law.
(3) Compliance.--The term ``compliance'' means that the
agency--
(A) has published an annual financial statement for the
most recent fiscal year and posted that report and any
accompanying materials required under guidance of the Office
of Management and Budget on the agency website;
(B) if required, has conducted a program specific risk
assessment for each program or activity that conforms with
section 2(a) the Improper Payments Information Act of 2002
(31 U.S.C. 3321 note); and
(C) if required, publishes improper payments estimates for
all programs and activities identified under section 2(b) of
the Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 (31 U.S.C. 3321
note) in the accompanying materials to the annual financial
statement;
(D) publishes programmatic corrective action plans prepared
under section 2(c) of the Improper Payments Information Act
of 2002 (31 U.S.C. 3321 note) that the agency may have in the
accompanying materials to the annual financial statement;
(E) publishes improper payments reduction targets
established under section 2(c) of the Improper Payments
Information Act of 2002 (31 U.S.C. 3321 note) that the agency
may have in the accompanying materials to the annual
financial statement for each program assessed to be at risk,
and is meeting such targets; and
(F) has reported an improper payment rate of less than 10
percent for each program and activity for which an estimate
was published under section 2(b) of the Improper Payments
Information Act of 2002 (31 U.S.C. 3321 note).
(b) Annual Compliance Report by Inspectors General of
Agencies.--Each fiscal year, the Inspector General of each
agency shall determine whether the agency is in compliance
and submit a report on that determination to--
(1) the head of the agency;
(2) the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs of the Senate;
(3) the Committee on Oversight and Governmental Reform of
the House of Representatives; and
(4) the Comptroller General.
(c) Remediation.--
(1) Noncompliance.--
(A) In general.--If an agency is determined by the
Inspector General of that agency not to be in compliance
under subsection (b) in a fiscal year, the head of the agency
shall submit a plan to Congress describing the actions that
the agency will take to come into compliance.
(B) Plan.--The plan described under subparagraph (A) shall
include--
(i) measurable milestones to be accomplished in order to
achieve compliance for each program or activity;
(ii) the designation of a senior agency official who shall
be accountable for the progress of the agency in coming into
compliance for each program or activity; and
(iii) the establishment of an accountability mechanism,
such as a performance agreement, with appropriate incentives
and consequences tied to the success of the official
designated under clause (ii) in leading the efforts of the
agency to come into compliance for each program and activity.
(2) Noncompliance for 2 fiscal years.--
(A) In general.--If an agency is determined by the
Inspector General of that agency not to be in compliance
under subsection (b) for 2 consecutive fiscal years for the
same program or activity, and the Director of the Office of
Management and Budget determines that additional funding
would help the agency come into compliance, the head of the
agency shall obligate additional funding, in an amount
determined by the Director, to intensified compliance
efforts.
(B) Funding.--In providing additional funding described
under subparagraph (A), the head of an agency shall use any
reprogramming or transfer authority available to the agency.
If after exercising that reprogramming or transfer authority
additional funding is necessary to obligate the full level of
funding determined by the Director of the Office of
Management and Budget under subparagraph (A), the agency
shall submit a request to Congress for additional
reprogramming or transfer authority.
[[Page H2945]]
(3) Reauthorization and statutory proposals.--If an agency
is determined by the Inspector General of that agency not to
be in compliance under subsection (b) for more than 3
consecutive fiscal years for the same program or activity,
the head of the agency shall, not later than 30 days after
such determination, submit to Congress--
(A) reauthorization proposals for each program or activity
that has not been in compliance for 3 or more consecutive
fiscal years; or
(B) proposed statutory changes necessary to bring the
program or activity into compliance.
(d) Compliance Enforcement Pilot Programs.--
(1) In general.--The Director of the Office of Management
and Budget may establish 1 or more pilot programs which shall
test potential accountability mechanisms with appropriate
incentives and consequences tied to success in ensuring
compliance with this Act and eliminating improper payments.
(2) Report.--Not later than 5 years after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office of
Management and Budget shall submit a report to Congress on
the findings associated with any pilot programs conducted
under paragraph (1). The report shall include any legislative
or other recommendations that the Director determines
necessary.
(e) Report on Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990.--Not
later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this
Act, the Chief Financial Officers Council established under
section 302 of the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990 (31
U.S.C. 901 note) and the Council of Inspectors General on
Integrity and Efficiency established under section 7 of the
Inspector General Reform Act of 2009 (Public Law 110-409), in
consultation with a broad cross-section of experts and
stakeholders in Government accounting and financial
management shall--
(1) jointly examine the lessons learned during the first 20
years of implementing the Chief Financial Officers Act of
1990 (31 U.S.C. 901) and identify reforms or improvements, if
any, to the legislative and regulatory compliance framework
for Federal financial management that will optimize Federal
agency efforts to--
(A) publish relevant, timely, and reliable reports on
Government finances; and
(B) implement internal controls that mitigate the risk for
fraud, waste, and error in Government programs; and
(2) jointly submit a report on the results of the
examination to--
(A) the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs of the Senate;
(B) the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the
House of Representatives; and
(C) the Comptroller General.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New
York (Mr. Towns) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Issa) each will
control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New York.
General Leave
Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have
5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from New York?
There was no objection.
Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
The Office of Management and Budget recently reported the Federal
Government made $98 billion in improper and overpayments last year.
This is a staggering amount and completely unacceptable. No family or
business in this great country would tolerate being charged twice or
even overbilled for anything and neither should the government. We need
to do everything we can to ensure that the government spends every tax
dollar in the most responsible way possible. In fact, we have an
obligation to the taxpayers to fight waste, fraud, and abuse and to
ensure that if the government overpays for something, it has the means
to recover those precious tax dollars.
The bill we are now considering, H.R. 3393, the Improper Payments
Elimination and Recovery Act of 2009, will provide the government with
the means to fulfill this obligation to the taxpayers.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, this is an important and bipartisan bill being brought
to the floor today. It has been well thought out and well crafted, and
I want to thank Mr. Murphy and Mr. Bilbray for their diligent work on
this subject, also Mr. Todd Platts, who has worked in this area for a
number of years and has brought to light this failure of government.
Mr. Speaker, when there are $2 trillion worth of payments being made
and $100 billion worth of improper payments being noted, one would say
we must be doing a good job of finding improper payments that would
allow us to get to the bottom of this large amount of money. But, Mr.
Speaker, without this corrective action, it is clear that what we are
seeing is the tip of a very large iceberg.
Under the current law, since you must have the greater of both $10
million and 2.5 percent in order to trigger reporting, this only really
triggers $10 million events with very small agencies. As we look at the
Department of Defense and other large agencies, realistically the 2.5
percent becomes the trigger. If I were able to, with a stroke of a pen,
change things from day one, I would look and say the American people
consider not only $10 million a lot of money, but $2 million and $1
million, $100,000.
We cannot quickly make those kinds of changes in reporting, I am
told. However, today we are taking a fairly significant step. By
automatically having anytime when $100 million is at stake be reported
and by reducing from 2.5 to 1.5 percent the program outlays, we are
catching an unknown amount of greater waste, fraud, and abuse in
government. These improper payments will undoubtedly rise, perhaps
double, perhaps triple in reporting as a result of this new law, but it
is not enough. As this reporting becomes more widespread and we're able
to investigate extremely large but smaller than today programs, I hope
that we will see that we must find all, all, improper payments in
government and set them right. The American people expect no less.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the sponsor of the bill,
Mr. Patrick Murphy, who is really responsible for our being here today.
He has worked so hard on this legislation, and, of course, as I have
said to many staffers along the way, this makes a whole lot of sense,
and I want to thank him, and, of course, Mr. Platts and people that
have worked on this and kept it going.
Mr. PATRICK J. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. I thank the chairman for
yielding.
I would like to start off by thanking my colleague from across the
aisle, Congressman Brian Bilbray from California, for partnering with
me on this bipartisan bill for the past 2 years. Today is a great day
for our country, and I want to also highlight his partnership and his
commitment to fiscal responsibility. It's been an honor to work with
you, sir.
I also want to thank Senator Tom Carper for his tireless efforts in
advancing this legislation in the Senate.
Mr. Speaker, most of us would be outraged if we realized that our
phone company charged twice for last month's bill or that we paid for
car repairs that were never made to our car. We would figure out the
problem, we would get our money back, and we would make sure that that
never happened again.
But every day the Federal Government either overpays or pays twice
the amount for products or services it was supposed to. But until now,
there was too little action and even less outrage.
{time} 1030
According to the Office of Management and Budget, in fiscal year
2009, Federal agencies made nearly $98 billion in improper payments.
Let me repeat that: In 2009, Federal agencies made nearly $98 billion
in improper payments in just 1 fiscal year.
Mr. Speaker, numbers get thrown around in this Chamber all the time.
So let me put this number in context. This is more than double the
budget for the Department of Homeland Security and triple the budget of
the National Institutes of Health. These improper payments occur as a
result of fraud or from poor fiscal management systems that do not
detect or prevent mistakes before Federal dollars are already out the
door. This bill--our bill--the Improper Payments Elimination and
Recovery Act, will help better identify, reduce, and eliminate these
improper payments. It will cut down on fraud and waste by requiring
agencies to develop and implement action plans to avoid improper
payments.
Mr. Speaker, no business owner would allow an employee to get away
[[Page H2946]]
with these mistakes. American taxpayers should not have to foot the
bill when the government mismanages their hard-earned dollars. That is
why this legislation has strong measures to hold those accountable for
failing to protect taxpayer dollars. Perhaps most importantly, Mr.
Speaker, this legislation would force the Federal Government to reclaim
more money that was improperly sent.
It's pretty simple. If a family in Bristol, Bucks County, found out
that they were getting double billed for their car payments or paying
for groceries they never got, they'd fix the problem, get their money
back, and would not allow it to happen again. My bill ensures that the
Federal Government holds itself to the same standard of fiscal
responsibility that will save taxpayers billions of dollars.
Mr. Speaker, there is no question that we must do more to tackle our
national debt. While the debate grows increasingly partisan, the
solutions seem sometimes out of political reach. But this proposal is
not. This commonsense measure is something that Democrats and
Republicans have come together to support. Cutting wasteful spending
and growing our economy will lead us out of this recession and help put
us on a path toward fiscal responsibility. I urge all of my colleagues
to vote ``yes'' and pass this legislation on behalf of the American
taxpayer.
Mr. ISSA. At this time I would yield 3 minutes to the coauthor of the
bill, the gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray).
Mr. BILBRAY. I would like to thank the coauthor of the bill, Mr.
Murphy, and especially Chairman Towns and Ranking Member Issa for
bringing this item up today. I appreciate the ability to address it.
Mr. Speaker, all across America, Americans are speaking out loudly.
In fact, there's a degree of dismay for those of us in Washington when
we go home to see the outrage that is coming out from the average
taxpayer in this country. I think we are just now really realizing that
there is a justification for the outrage and the strong feelings.
Basically, as we tell the American people that they must give more and
that we are going to take more, they are saying, No way. You have not
earned the right to be trusted with our tax money.
Mr. Murphy and I have been able to identify one of those items that
the American people have been calling for for a long time. How do we
explain to our constituents that we are giving away inappropriately
twice as much money as we spend to defend their neighborhoods from
terrorism when it comes to homeland security? How do we have the gall
to ask them to trust us with more money when we have this kind of
mismanagement of public funds--not just recently, but historically. And
I think this is one place we can, in a bipartisan effort, admit that
Washington needs to be more responsible, needs to do more and, frankly,
demand more from Washington and the bureaucracy and less from the
American people when it comes to accountability.
We're talking about the fact that we need now to lower the thresholds
of reporting so the problem can be more transparent. We need to make
sure that we hold those who are trusted in the Departments with the
American taxpayers' money to do more, report more, and be more
accountable for the mismanagement of those funds. Frankly, we need to
demand more recovery of the money when we detect these funds are being
misappropriated.
Frankly, right now, I think the outrage across this country is
something that is healthy for all of us--Democrats, Republicans,
Independents. We should not be asking, Why are the American people so
outraged? We're saying, Why didn't we realize this earlier and sooner
so that that outrage did not just show up in screaming town hall
meetings and protests around this country?
I want to thank Mr. Murphy for joining with me at showing the
American people there are some of us that hear it loud and clear. We do
not blame the American people for being outraged. We blame ourselves
and the Washington establishment for not addressing this issue before
and not moving forward.
So I, again, thank the chairman and the ranking member. I thank my
coauthor on this. And I think, Mr. Speaker, this is more than just
money. We're talking about we have taken hard-earned resources from
hardworking Americans and we have been trusted in the past; and we have
violated that trust.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentleman 30 additional seconds.
Mr. BILBRAY. This bill will start on a pattern towards earning the
trust back from the American people. But we do not have a right to ask
them to trust us with more money until we prove to them that we can
correct this problem and take care of the money that we have already
been endowed with. So I ask that this body pass this bill and address
it. It's a small step in the direction that America has asked us to go
to for far too long.
Mr. TOWNS. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
The Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act, H.R. 3393,
provides the Federal Government with the tools needed to prevent
mistakes and overpayments in the first place and recover funds that are
paid in error. That's the reason why I'd like to salute Congressman
Issa of California, Congressman Bilbray, and of course Congressman
Platts and Congressman Murphy for the outstanding job that they have
done on this legislation.
The bill we are considering today takes the next step and makes
Federal agencies more accountable for properly managing taxpayers'
funds. The bill requires agencies to develop and report corrective
action plans based on measured error rates and creates incentives for
meeting their goals and penalties for failure to meet their goals.
Importantly, the bill also gives the agencies the means to go after the
funds that they have overpaid, which will make the taxpayers, agencies,
programs, and activities which relied on those appropriations whole.
We are living in a time, Mr. Speaker, when our government is under
extreme fiscal demands, and we need to do everything possible to ensure
that every tax dollar goes to where it is needed. To ensure this takes
place, we need to provide our Federal agencies with the tools to
properly manage their spending. We also need to give the agencies the
ability to follow through with their oversight and provide them with
the ability to recover erroneous payments.
However, we cannot stop there. We must do everything that we can to
ensure that Federal agencies who make improper payments fix the problem
that allows the improper payments to take place. At the end of the day,
this bill amends current law to require more accountability through
reports, plans, definitions, clarification of responsibility,
allocation of funds, and oversight.
Again, I would like to thank my colleagues, Representatives Murphy,
Bilbray, Issa, and others, for working together in a truly, truly
bipartisan manner to get this piece of important legislation to the
House floor. H.R. 3393 is a commonsense, good government bill, and I
encourage my colleagues to join me in supporting it.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, in closing, I'd like to share with you something that
happened this morning. I was on C-SPAN and a woman named Betty called
in and was very concerned that we were not working on a bipartisan
basis; that there was no consensus or compromise; that we were
paralyzed. It's sometimes hard to answer somebody on the other end of a
telephone line, but I would like to today take note that this is an
example of the dozens of times every week that we come together, the
chairman and myself, members of the committee, and we find things we
can agree on that are good for America, the common good, and they will
not usually be noted.
So today I would hope that we all note that--and for Betty who called
in this morning--that in fact this is an example where we can find
compromise. We can find a win-win for the American people. I would hope
that we would do more of it. Chairman Towns has been good at looking
for those examples, and I pledge to be better at looking for
opportunities like this. I'd like to, lastly, thank Leader Hoyer and
Leader Boehner for the help they gave us in expediting this to the
floor.
[[Page H2947]]
With that, Mr. Speaker, I urge support and passage of the bill and
yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, let me just make this statement, and I will
yield back as well.
Let me again say how glad I am that we are taking the time to fight
waste, fraud, and abuse of our precious tax dollars. With this measure,
I want to thank the gentleman from California for his comments and the
fact that we are working together to get rid of waste, fraud, and abuse
here. This is a classic example. I want to thank him for working with
me and the relationship that we have had over the years in terms of
doing these kinds of things.
I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from New York (Mr. Towns) that the House suspend the rules
and pass the bill, H.R. 3393, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
____________________