[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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