[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 145 (Wednesday, November 14, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H6351-H6352]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CONSOLIDATION OF CERTAIN CBO REPORTING REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO ARRA
AND TARP
Mr. GARRETT. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 6570) to amend the American Recovery Reinvestment Act of
2009 and the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 to
consolidate certain CBO reporting requirements.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 6570
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. CONSOLIDATION OF CERTAIN CBO REPORTING
REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO ARRA AND TARP.
(a) ARRA-Related Reports.--
(1) In general.--Section 1512(e) of the American Recovery
and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5; 123 Stat.
288) is amended by amending the second sentence to read as
follows: ``Such comments on all reports for calendar quarters
in a year shall be due 45 days after the report for the last
calendar quarter of the year is submitted.''.
(2) Effective date.--The amendment made by paragraph (1)
shall apply to comments on reports submitted on or after
October 1, 2012.
(3) Repealer.--Effective on January 1, 2016, section
1512(e) of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
is repealed.
(b) TARP-Related Reports.--
(1) In general.--Section 202 of the Emergency Economic
Stabilization Act of 2008 (12 U.S.C. 5252) is amended--
(A) in subsection (a), by striking ``semiannually'' and
inserting ``annually''; and
(B) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
``(e) Sunset.--Notwithstanding the previous provisions of
this section, the reporting and comment requirements under
this
[[Page H6352]]
section shall terminate with the annual period on the last
day of which all troubled assets acquired by the Secretary
under section 101 have been sold or transferred out of the
ownership or control of the Federal Government.''.
(2) Effective date.--The amendments made by this subsection
shall take effect the first day after the date of enactment
of this Act.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New
Jersey (Mr. Garrett) and the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Maloney)
each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New Jersey.
General Leave
Mr. GARRETT. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks
and add extraneous material.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from New Jersey?
There was no objection.
Mr. GARRETT. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, under the current law, the Congressional Budget Office,
the CBO, is statutorily required to submit semiannual and quarterly
reports to Congress pursuant to TARP and stimulus requirements.
Unfortunately, these reports have become mainly duplicative and
repetitive in nature. They say the same thing over and over again, and
do not provide a lot of new information to Congress. In addition, these
reports consume a great deal of limited CBO staff resources. So to
remedy this, we have H.R. 6570 before us. What this will do is reduce
the frequency of the reports required each year by the CBO as well as
required by the GAO.
First, H.R. 6570 would change the quarterly stimulus reporting
requirements for the CBO and GAO to annual report requirements due at
the end of each calendar year. This legislation would also sunset the
ARRA reporting requirements for CBO and GAO on January 1, 2016. H.R.
6570 would not impact the current reporting requirements for recipients
of ARRA funds or the reports required by the executive branch agencies,
I would like to point out.
Secondly, H.R. 6570 would change the TARP reporting requirements for
CBO and the OMB to an annual basis from a semiannual basis. So this
legislation would also sunset the reporting requirements for the CBO
and OMB to when the last TARP asset has been sold or last transferred
out of the ownership control of the Federal Government.
So, Mr. Speaker, I think this is a commonsense bill to reduce
government duplication and ensure that congressional support agencies
such as CBO and the GAO are using their limited resources most
effectively. With that, I urge support of this legislation.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I rise in support of H.R. 6570, which will amend the reporting
requirements in two laws: the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of
2009, also known as the stimulus package, and the Emergency Economic
Stabilization Act of 2008, which created TARP. I commend my colleague
from the great State of New Jersey for bringing this bill to the floor.
In both laws, the Congressional Budget Office, the Government
Accountability Office, and the Office of Management and Budget have
certain reporting and comment requirements. The goal of the bill before
us today is to streamline those requirements and make them workable for
all of the agencies and for the American public while preserving access
to the information. It will make these agencies more efficient in their
oversight of both the stimulus and of the TARP programs.
First, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 requires
recipients of grants made under the law to produce detailed quarterly
reports on their use of the funds. These reports include the amount
that was spent, the number of jobs that were created, and certain
information about the subcontractors. The reports are publicly
available, and the bill before us does not touch the reports themselves
or the requirements that they are required to produce. However, CBO and
GAO are also required under the law to comment each quarter on the
content of the reports. This bill before us today simply says that they
can provide those comments on an annual basis rather than quarterly.
This will ease the burden on the CBO and GAO while maintaining their
oversight responsibilities.
Second, in the law that created the TARP fund, OMB was required to
report on a semiannual basis the estimated cost of TARP, the
assumptions behind that estimate, and estimate how the costs have
changed. The bill before us today would amend the law to allow OMB to
submit these reports annually rather than semiannually. This again
lessens the burden on OMB, especially 4 years after TARP was enacted
and when a large majority of those funds have been paid back.
{time} 1240
Semiannual reports are simply no longer needed.
Finally, the bill before us includes a commonsense provision to
sunset OMB's reporting requirement once all remaining troubled assets
acquired under the TARP program are no longer owned or controlled by
the Federal Government.
So I support this bill. I support this effort to lessen the burden on
agencies that are stretched extremely thin and are already stretching
every single dollar while ensuring that the public continues to have
the valuable information the reports would provide and information that
these agencies are providing.
I support the bill. I have no further requests for time, and I
reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. GARRETT. I also have no further requests for time. So I will just
conclude by saying to the gentlelady, thank you very much for working
with us on this bill. Thank you for the support for the legislation.
And with that, I will yield back the balance of my time.
Mrs. MALONEY. I join my colleague and commend his work on relieving
unnecessary burdens and requirements on important agencies. I support
this bill.
And I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Garrett) that the House suspend the
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 6570.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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