[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 83 (Monday, May 21, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H4256-H4257]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          VETERANS AFFAIRS PURCHASE CARD MISUSE MITIGATION ACT

  Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and 
pass the bill (H.R. 5215) to amend title 38, United States Code, to 
direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to prohibit employees found to 
have knowingly misused Department of Veterans Affairs purchase cards 
from serving as purchase card holders or approving officials.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 5215

       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 ``Veterans Affairs Purchase 
     Card Misuse Mitigation Act''.

     SEC. 2. MISUSE OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS PURCHASE 
                   CARDS BY DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEES.

       (a) In General.--Chapter 7 of title 38, United States Code, 
     is amended by adding at the end the following new section:

     ``Sec. 727. Misuse of Department purchase cards

       ``(a) In General.--The Secretary shall prohibit any 
     employee of the Department who the Secretary or the Inspector 
     General of the Department determines has knowingly misused a 
     purchase card from serving as a purchase card holder or 
     approving official. Such a prohibition shall be in addition 
     to any other applicable penalty.
       ``(b) Misuse.--For purposes of this section, the term 
     `misuse' means--
       ``(1) splitting purchases;
       ``(2) exceeding applicable purchase card limits or purchase 
     thresholds;
       ``(3) purchasing any unauthorized item;
       ``(4) using a purchase card without being an authorized 
     purchase card holder; or
       ``(5) violating ethics standards.''.
       (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the 
     beginning of such chapter is amended by inserting after the 
     item relating to section 725 the following new item:

``727. Misuse of Department purchase cards.''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Tennessee (Mr. Roe) and the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Walz) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Tennessee.


                             General Leave

  Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their 
remarks and insert extraneous material into the record on H.R. 5215.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Tennessee?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I 
may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 5215, the Veterans 
Affairs Purchase Card Misuse Mitigation Act.
  This legislation is sponsored by my Veterans' Affairs Committee 
colleagues Jack Bergman, Kathleen Rice,  Mike Bost, Dr. Neal Dunn, and  
Mike Coffman.
  H.R. 5215 would implement an additional safeguard in VA's 
multibillion-dollar government purchase card program, which has too 
often lacked adequate controls and has periodically been abused. The 
legislation directs the Secretary to revoke the purchase card from any 
employee who is found to have intentionally misused it.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 5215, and I reserve 
the balance of my time.
  Mr. WALZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5215, the Veterans Affairs 
Purchase Card Mitigation Act.
  I have often said I am the VA's staunchest supporter, but I will be 
their harshest critic. On this one, I will be their harshest critic.
  Time and again when we hear reports of VA employees misusing purchase 
cards, that cannot stand. Every dollar that is misused, whether it is 
through fraud, waste, or abuse, is one less dollar that is not being 
used towards veterans, and it is the taxpayers' dollars that need to be 
guarded. This misuse erodes Congress' ability to oversee the VA budget 
and the use of the money.
  Employees who misuse purchase cards should be held accountable and 
should be prevented from being a purchase card holder or authorizing 
official, because they can't be trusted to follow the regulations or be 
good stewards of taxpayer dollars.
  This legislation will ensure that taxpayer dollars are protected from 
purchase card misuse. If you are doing it right, you can still use the 
card and it can serve veterans. If you choose to ignore the rules, you 
are not going to be able to do it anymore.
  It is pretty simple. It is a smart piece of legislation. I urge its 
passage.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman 
from Michigan (Mr. Bergman), our Oversight and Investigations 
Subcommittee chair.
  Mr. BERGMAN. Mr. Speaker, government purchase cards are issued to 
Federal employees to make small, simple purchases. Their transaction 
limit was $3,500, but the fiscal year 2018 NDAA increased that limit to 
$10,000. This increase will cause purchase card usage to go up, thereby 
increasing the chance for misuse.
  Purchase card transactions already total roughly $4 billion annually 
in the VA, and the program has been found repeatedly to lack adequate 
controls related to waste, fraud, and abuse.
  As chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, it 
is my job to monitor programs involving taxpayer dollars and veterans. 
That is why I introduced the Veterans Affairs Purchase Card Misuse 
Mitigation Act. It will mitigate the potential for misuse of purchase 
card spending by requiring the VA Secretary to revoke a purchase card 
from any employee found to have knowingly misused their card or 
approval authority.
  Currently, penalties are applied slowly, if at all, and employees are 
very rarely terminated for purchase card misuse or abuse. H.R. 5215 
creates a safeguard to stop purchase card misuse once it begins and 
holds bad actors accountable for all of their actions.
  Mr. Speaker, being a good steward of taxpayers' dollars is my top 
priority, and this bill brings accountability to the necessary but 
problematic purchase card structure.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge support of this bill.
  Mr. WALZ. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire of the gentleman whether he has 
any further speakers.

[[Page H4257]]

  

  Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers.
  Mr. WALZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume, and 
I am prepared to close.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to note, on this, there are other issues at 
hand here. There are certainly some of these cases where people are 
just blatantly misusing them. That is a small percentage. The vast 
majority is of leadership not implementing policies. Especially we were 
talking about the medical-surgical supply formulary, and people are 
taking the shortcut to getting things instead of getting--we had this 
conversation on contracts and the way it should be done.
  The part about this is it isn't somebody going out and buying 
themselves a new phone or something; it is them going out and buying 
things that are actually going to be used, but it is a stupid way to do 
it because we end up paying more money. We don't have certain 
contracts. It is just is not the way to budget.
  So I think this has a lot of really good things that it can do. One 
of them that it should continue to do is force VA leadership to have a 
better plan in place. We see it right here in the D.C. VA, not having 
this supply management piece down right.
  Mr. Speaker, I encourage support of this piece of legislation, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support 
H.R. 5215, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Roe) that the House suspend the rules and 
pass the bill, H.R. 5215.
  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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