[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 140 (Monday, September 28, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H6271-H6272]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
GRANTS OVERSIGHT AND NEW EFFICIENCY ACT
Mr. WALBERG. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 3089) to close out expired grants, and for other purposes,
as amended.
=========================== NOTE ===========================
September 28, 2015, on page H6271, the following appeared: (S.
3089) to close out expired grants,
The online version should be corrected to read: (H.R. 3089) to
close out expired grants,
========================= END NOTE =========================
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 3089
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 ``Grants Oversight and New
Efficiency Act'' or the ``GONE Act''.
SEC. 2. IDENTIFYING AND CLOSING OUT EXPIRED GRANTS.
(a) Expired Grant Report.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office of
Management and Budget shall instruct the head of each agency,
in coordination with the Secretary, to submit to Congress and
the Secretary a report, not later than December 31 of the
first calendar year beginning after the date of the enactment
of this Act, that--
(A) lists each covered grant held by such agency;
(B) provides the total number of covered grants, including
the number of grants--
(i) by time period of expiration;
(ii) with zero dollar balances; and
(iii) with undisbursed balances;
(C) for an agency with covered grants, describes the
challenges leading to delays in grant closeout; and
(D) for the 30 oldest covered grants of an agency, explains
why each covered grant has not been closed out.
(2) Use of data systems.--An agency may use existing
multiagency data systems in order to submit the report
required under paragraph (1).
(3) Explanation of missing information.--If the head of an
agency is unable to submit all of the information required to
be included in the report under paragraph (1), the report
shall include an explanation of why the information was not
available, including any shortcomings with and plans to
improve existing grant systems, including data systems.
(b) Notice From Agencies.--
(1) In general.--Not later than one year after the date on
which the head of an agency submits the report required under
subsection (a), the head of the agency shall provide notice
to the Secretary specifying whether the head of the agency
has closed out grant awards associated with all of the
covered grants in the report and which covered grants in the
report have not been closed out.
(2) Notice to congress.--Not later than 90 days after the
date on which all of the notices required pursuant to
paragraph (1) have been provided or March 31 of the calendar
year following the calendar year described in subsection
(a)(1), whichever is sooner, the Secretary shall compile the
notices submitted pursuant to paragraph (1) and submit to
Congress a report on such notices.
(c) Inspector General Review.--Not later than one year
after the date on which the head of an agency provides notice
to Congress under subsection (b)(2), the Inspector General of
such agency with more than $500,000,000 in grant funding
shall conduct a risk assessment to determine if an audit or
review of the agency's grant closeout process is warranted.
(d) Report on Accountability and Oversight.--Not later than
6 months after the date on which the second report is
submitted pursuant to subsection (b)(2), the Director of
Office of Management and Budget, in consultation with the
Secretary of Health and Human Services, shall submit to
Congress a report on recommendations for legislation to
improve accountability and oversight in grants management,
including the timely closeout of a covered grant.
(e) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Agency.--The term ``agency'' has the meaning given that
term in section 551 of title 5, United States Code.
(2) Closeout.--The term ``closeout'' means a closeout of a
grant account conducted in accordance with part 200 of title
2, Code of Federal Regulations, including sections 200.16 and
200.343 of such title, or any successor thereto.
(3) Covered grant.--The term ``covered grant'' means a
grant in an agency cash payment management system held by the
United States Government for which--
(A) the grant award period of performance, including any
extensions, has been expired for not less than 2 years; and
(B) closeout has not yet occurred in accordance with
section 200.343 of title 2, Code of Federal Regulations, or
any successor thereto.
(4) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of Health and Human Services.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Michigan (Mr. Walberg) and the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Lynch)
each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Michigan.
General Leave
Mr. WALBERG. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks
and to include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Michigan?
There was no objection.
Mr. WALBERG. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I introduced H.R. 3089, the Grants Oversight and New Efficiency, or
GONE, Act, to bring much-needed accountability to the Federal grant-
making process.
This bipartisan bill requires each agency to report to Congress on
the amount of expired and empty grant accounts that remain open on the
government's books.
Under the bill, the agencies must examine the 30 grants that have
been expired for the longest period of time and explain why these
grants have not been closed.
One year after this initial report, these agencies will update
Congress, reporting on which accounts previously identified have been
closed and which remain open. These reports will help Congress better
understand why expired grant accounts remain open at taxpayer expense.
Mr. Speaker, in fiscal year 2014, Federal grant expenditures exceeded
$529 billion, and that is real money. This enormous amount of money
demands strong financial management to protect taxpayer dollars from
waste.
In 2012, GAO released a report on the timeliness of grant closeouts
by Federal agencies. The report found nearly $1 billion remaining in
undisbursed funds within expired grant accounts.
Within one of the grant management systems GAO examined, there were
almost 1,000 accounts that had been expired for 5 years or more and
still had not been closed out.
{time} 1545
GAO found out that this same management system contained 28,000
expired grant accounts with no funds in them. Mr. Speaker, expired
grant accounts create multiple levels of waste.
First, the undisbursed funds remaining in expired accounts could be
better used for their appropriated purpose or returned to the Treasury
to help bring down the deficit and mounting debt.
Second, agencies pay a monthly fee for each account that remains open
within the Federal payment management system. As a result, agencies
could be spending roughly $2 million per year to maintain these 28,000
accounts with no funds in them, assuming they have not been closed.
Surely we can find a better use for these taxpayer dollars rather than
wasting funds maintaining expired accounts.
Finally, grants that are not properly closed out slow the grant-
making agency from conducting the necessary oversight to ensure that
funds were properly spent and that taxpayer money is not being wasted.
The GONE Act is a response to these issues.
Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3089 utilizes the Department of Health and Human
Services to coordinate with agencies to provide these reports to
Congress. HHS was chosen for this role because of some of its
successful closeout efforts implemented in 2011. HHS's commendable work
on grant closeout is exactly
[[Page H6272]]
why we added a provision to this bill requiring HHS to coordinate with
the Office of Management and Budget in reporting to Congress on
legislative changes needed to improve the process of grants
administration.
H.R. 3089 strengthens oversight by asking the inspectors general of
the largest grant-making agencies to conduct a risk assessment of their
agency's grant closeout processes.
I thank Senators Fischer and Manchin for their work on the Senate
companion bill, S. 1115, including their work on the bill before the
House today.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to bring some commonsense steps to
the Federal grant-making process by supporting this bill.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LYNCH. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, the legislation under consideration, H.R. 3089, the
Grant Oversight and New Efficiency Act, was introduced by my friend Mr.
Walberg of Michigan in July of this year; and it was reported out of
the House Oversight Committee with the support of Mrs. Brenda Lawrence,
also of Michigan, this month. This bill would require one-time reports
from Federal agencies on expired grants.
As noted earlier by Mr. Walberg, in a report by the Government
Accountability Office, Federal agencies do not always close out expired
grants properly. In fact, GAO has found that in 2011, nearly $800
million in undisbursed balances remained in expired grant accounts.
That money could be returned to the Treasury and spent on any number of
pressing priorities here in the House and Senate.
In particular, Mr. Walberg's bill, H.R. 3089, would require agencies
to report to the Secretary of Health and Human Services and Congress on
grants that have expired and whether they have undisbursed balances.
The bill would also require agencies to make recommendations on which
grants should be closed out immediately as well as explain why certain
grants were not properly closed out to begin with.
I commend the Representatives from Michigan, both Mr. Walberg, our
lead sponsor on this bill, and Mrs. Lawrence, for their work on this
bipartisan bill. This is a commonsense, good government measure that
every Member should support.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. WALBERG. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his support and
leadership on the floor. I thank the chairman and ranking member of our
committee. Most importantly, I thank my good friend and colleague from
Michigan, Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence, for her support and helpful
additions to this legislation.
Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of this commonsense bill.
I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Walberg) that the House suspend the rules
and pass the bill, H.R. 3089, 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.
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