[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 159 (Wednesday, September 26, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H9074-H9076]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





   GRANT REPORTING EFFICIENCY AND AGREEMENTS TRANSPARENCY ACT OF 2018

  Mr. RUSSELL. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 4887) to modernize Federal grant reporting, and for other 
purposes, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 4887

       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 ``Grant Reporting Efficiency 
     and Agreements Transparency Act of 2018'' or the ``GREAT 
     Act''.

     SEC. 2. PURPOSES.

       The purposes of this Act are to--
       (1) modernize reporting by recipients of Federal grants and 
     cooperative agreements by creating and imposing data 
     standards for the information that grants and cooperative 
     agreement recipients must report to the Federal Government;
       (2) implement the recommendation by the Director of the 
     Office of Management and Budget, under section 5(b)(6) of the 
     Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 
     (31 U.S.C. 6101 note), which includes the development of a 
     ``comprehensive taxonomy of standard definitions for core 
     data elements required for managing Federal financial 
     assistance awards'';
       (3) reduce burden and compliance costs of recipients of 
     Federal grants and cooperative agreements by enabling 
     technology solutions, existing or yet to be developed, by 
     both the public and private sectors, to better manage data 
     recipients already provide to the Federal Government; and
       (4) to strengthen oversight and management of Federal 
     grants and cooperative agreements by agencies through 
     consolidated collection and display of and access to open 
     data that has been standardized, and where appropriate, 
     transparency to the public.

     SEC. 3. DATA STANDARDS FOR GRANT REPORTING.

       (a) Amendment.--Subtitle V of title 31, United States Code, 
     is amended by inserting after chapter 63 the following new 
     chapter:

            ``CHAPTER 64--DATA STANDARDS FOR GRANT REPORTING

``Sec.
``6401. Definitions.
``6402. Data standards for grant reporting.
``6403. Guidance applying data standards for grant reporting.
``6404. Agency requirements.

     ``Sec. 6401. Definitions

       ``In this chapter:
       ``(1) Agency.--The term `agency' has the meaning given that 
     term in section 552(f) of title 5.
       ``(2) Core data elements.--The term `core data elements' 
     means data elements that are not program-specific in nature 
     and are required by agencies for all or the vast majority of 
     Federal grant and cooperative assistance recipients for 
     purposes of reporting.
       ``(3) Director.--The term `Director' means the Director of 
     the Office of Management and Budget.
       ``(4) Federal award.--The term `Federal award'--
       ``(A) means the transfer of anything of value for a public 
     purpose of support or stimulation authorized by a law of the 
     United States, including financial assistance and Government 
     facilities, services, and property;
       ``(B) includes grants, subgrants, awards, and cooperative 
     agreements; and
       ``(C) does not include--
       ``(i) conventional public information services or 
     procurement of property or services for the direct benefit or 
     use of the Government; or
       ``(ii) an agreement that provides only--

       ``(I) direct Government cash assistance to an individual;
       ``(II) a subsidy;
       ``(III) a loan;
       ``(IV) a loan guarantee; or
       ``(V) insurance.

       ``(5) Secretary.--The term `Secretary' means the head of 
     the standard-setting agency.
       ``(6) Standard-setting agency.--The term `standard-setting 
     agency' means the Executive department designated under 
     section 6402(a)(1).
       ``(7) State.--The term `State' means each State of the 
     United States, the District of Columbia, each commonwealth, 
     territory or possession of the United States, and each 
     federally recognized Indian Tribe.

     ``Sec. 6402. Data standards for grant reporting

       ``(a) In General.--
       ``(1) Designation of standard-setting agency.--The Director 
     shall designate the Executive department (as defined in 
     section 101 of title 5) that issues the most Federal awards 
     in a calendar year as the standard-setting agency.
       ``(2) Establishment of standards.--Not later than 1 year 
     after the date of the enactment of this chapter, the 
     Secretary and the Director shall establish Governmentwide 
     data standards for information reported by recipients of 
     Federal awards.
       ``(3) Data elements.--The data standards established under 
     paragraph (2) shall include, at a minimum--
       ``(A) standard definitions for data elements required for 
     managing Federal awards; and
       ``(B) unique identifiers for Federal awards and entities 
     receiving Federal awards that can be consistently applied 
     Governmentwide.
       ``(b) Scope.--The data standards established under 
     subsection (a) shall include core data elements and may cover 
     any information required to be reported to any agency by 
     recipients of Federal awards, including audit-related 
     information reported under chapter 75 of this title.
       ``(c) Requirements.--The data standards required to be 
     established under subsection (a) shall, to the extent 
     reasonable and practicable--
       ``(1) render information reported by recipients of Federal 
     grant and cooperative agreement awards fully searchable and 
     machine-readable;
       ``(2) be nonproprietary;
       ``(3) incorporate standards developed and maintained by 
     voluntary consensus standards bodies;
       ``(4) be consistent with and implement applicable 
     accounting and reporting principles; and
       ``(5) incorporate the data standards established under the 
     Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 
     (31 U.S.C. 6101 note).
       ``(d) Consultation.--In establishing the data standards 
     under subsection (a), the Secretary and the Director shall 
     consult with, as appropriate--
       ``(1) the Secretary of the Treasury, to ensure that the 
     data standards incorporate the data standards created under 
     the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 
     2006 (31 U.S.C. 6101 note);
       ``(2) the head of each agency that issues Federal awards;
       ``(3) recipients of Federal awards and organizations 
     representing recipients of Federal awards;
       ``(4) private sector experts;
       ``(5) members of the public, including privacy experts, 
     privacy advocates, and industry stakeholders; and
       ``(6) State and local governments.

     ``Sec. 6403. Guidance applying data standards for grant 
       reporting

       ``(a) In General.--Not later than 2 years after the date of 
     the enactment of this chapter--
       ``(1) the Secretary and the Director shall issue guidance 
     to all agencies directing the agencies to apply the data 
     standards established under section 6402 to all applicable 
     reporting by recipients of Federal grant and cooperative 
     agreement awards; and
       ``(2) the Director shall prescribe guidance applying the 
     data standards to audit-related information reported under 
     chapter 75.
       ``(b) Guidance.--The guidance issued under this section 
     shall--
       ``(1) to the extent reasonable and practicable--
       ``(A) minimize the disruption to existing reporting 
     practices for agencies and for recipients of Federal grant 
     and cooperative agreement awards; and
       ``(B) explore opportunities to implement modern 
     technologies within Federal award reporting;
       ``(2) allow the Director to permit exceptions for 
     categories of grants if the Director publishes a list of such 
     exceptions, including exceptions for Indian Tribes and Tribal 
     organizations consistent with the Indian Self-Determination 
     and Education Assistance Act; and
       ``(3) take into consideration the consultation required 
     under section 6402(d).

     ``Sec. 6404. Agency requirements

       ``Not later than 3 years after the date of the enactment of 
     this chapter, the head of each agency shall ensure that all 
     of the agency's grants and cooperative agreements use data 
     standards for all future information collection requests and 
     amend existing information collection requests covered by 
     chapter 35 of title 44 (commonly referred to as the Paperwork 
     Reduction Act) to comply with the data standards established 
     under section 6402, consistent with the guidance issued by 
     the Secretary and the Director under section 6403.''.
       (b) Technical and Conforming Amendment.--The table of 
     chapters for subtitle V of title 31, United States Code, is 
     amended by inserting after the item relating to chapter 63 
     the following new item:

``64. Data Standards for Grant Reporting....................6401''.....

     SEC. 4. SINGLE AUDIT ACT.

       (a) Amendments.--
       (1) Section 7502(h) of title 31, United States Code, is 
     amended by inserting before ``to a Federal clearinghouse'' 
     the following ``in an electronic form consistent with the 
     data standards established under chapter 64,''.
       (2) Section 7505 of title 31, United States Code, is 
     amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
       ``(d) Such guidance shall require audit-related information 
     reported under this chapter to be reported in an electronic 
     form consistent with the data standards established under 
     chapter 64.''.
       (b) Guidance.--Not later than 2 years after the date of the 
     enactment of this Act, the Director shall issue guidance 
     requiring audit-related information reported under chapter 75 
     of title 31, United States Code, to be reported in an 
     electronic form consistent with the data standards 
     established under chapter 64 of title 31, United States Code, 
     as added by section 3.

[[Page H9075]]

  


     SEC. 5. CONSOLIDATION OF ASSISTANCE-RELATED INFORMATION; 
                   PUBLICATION OF PUBLIC INFORMATION AS OPEN DATA.

       (a) Collection of Information.--Not later than 4 years 
     after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 
     and the Director shall enable the collection, public display, 
     and maintenance of Federal award information as a 
     Governmentwide data set, using the data standards established 
     under chapter 64 of title 31, United States Code, as added by 
     section 3, subject to reasonable restrictions established by 
     the Director to ensure protection of personally identifiable 
     and otherwise sensitive information.
       (b) Publication of Information.--The Secretary and the 
     Director shall require the publication of recipient-reported 
     data collected from all agencies on a single public portal. 
     Information may be published on an existing Governmentwide 
     website as determined appropriate by the Director.
       (c) Foia.--Nothing in this section shall require the 
     disclosure to the public of information that would be exempt 
     from disclosure under section 552 of title 5, United States 
     Code (commonly known as the ``Freedom of Information Act'').

     SEC. 6. EVALUATION OF NONPROPRIETARY IDENTIFIERS.

       (a) Determination Required.--The Director and the Secretary 
     shall determine whether to use nonproprietary identifiers 
     under section 6402(a)(3)(B) of title 31, United States Code, 
     as added by section 3(a).
       (b) Factors to Be Considered.--In making the determination 
     required pursuant to subsection (a), the Director and the 
     Secretary shall consider factors such as accessibility and 
     cost to recipients of Federal awards, agencies that issue 
     Federal awards, private-sector experts, and members of the 
     public, including privacy experts and privacy advocates.
       (c) Publication and Report on Determination.--Not later 
     than the earlier of 1 year after the date of the enactment of 
     this Act or the date on which the Secretary and Director 
     establish data standards pursuant to section 6402(a)(2) of 
     title 31, United States Code, as added by section 3(a), the 
     Secretary and the Director shall publish and submit to the 
     Committees on Oversight and Government Reform of the House of 
     Representatives and Homeland Security and Governmental 
     Affairs of the Senate a report explaining the reasoning for 
     the determination made pursuant to subsection (a).

     SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.

       In this Act, the terms ``agency'', ``Director'', ``Federal 
     award'', and ``Secretary'' have the meaning given those terms 
     in section 6401 of title 31, United States Code, as added by 
     section 3(a).

     SEC. 8. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.

       Nothing in this Act, or the amendments made by this Act, 
     shall be construed to require the collection of data that is 
     not otherwise required pursuant to any Federal law, rule, or 
     regulation.

     SEC. 9. NO ADDITIONAL FUNDS AUTHORIZED.

       No additional funds are authorized to carry out the 
     requirements of this Act and the amendments made by this Act. 
     Such requirements shall be carried out using amounts 
     otherwise authorized.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Oklahoma (Mr. Russell) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Gomez) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Oklahoma.


                             General Leave

  Mr. RUSSELL. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks 
and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Oklahoma?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. RUSSELL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge support of H.R. 4887, the GREAT Act, introduced 
by Congresswoman Foxx of North Carolina.
  The GREAT Act would amend previously enacted legislation to improve 
reporting on Federal grants.
  In 2014, Congress enacted the Digital Accountability and Transparency 
Act, or DATA Act. The DATA Act required the Office of Management and 
Budget and the Department of Health and Human Services to conduct a 
pilot program to alleviate reporting burdens for grant recipients.
  Through the pilot, it became clear that grant recipients often have 
to enter the same data multiple times, and there is no single location 
where all the data can be analyzed. This redundancy is burdensome for 
both the grant recipient and for those conducting oversight of Federal 
awards.
  In fiscal year 2017, the Federal Government awarded over $660 billion 
in grants. Congress has a fiscal responsibility to review this 
spending, but without standardized data, it is difficult to do.
  The GREAT Act fixes both of these problems by tasking the Office of 
Management and Budget and an executive branch agency with creating 
standardized reporting elements for Federal awards. The data elements 
must be machine readable, nonproprietary, and comply with standards in 
the DATA Act.
  The GREAT Act requires the data collected to be made publicly 
available within 4 years of enactment. The bill exempts personally 
identifying information, sensitive data, and data otherwise exempt from 
public disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.
  The GREAT Act increases transparency for public and private 
oversight, helping to ensure taxpayers get the best possible return on 
their $660 billion investment in Federal grants.
  Improved reporting processes will also ease the burden on grant 
recipients, so these individuals and organizations can focus on doing 
the work, rather than filling out duplicative information.
  The GREAT Act is supported by the DATA Coalition, the National Grants 
Management Association, and the Association of Government Accountants.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Foxx and Representative Gomez for 
their work on this important issue.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the bill, and I reserve 
the balance of my time.
  Mr. GOMEZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by thanking Representative Foxx 
for her leadership on this important piece of legislation and working 
closely with me. I also want to thank the staff, who spent countless 
hours over the past months negotiating and drafting this legislation.
  I know it might come as a surprise to see a working class progressive 
Member of Congress from Los Angeles working with a conservative Member 
from North Carolina. But with some common sense on both sides of the 
aisle, we can come together to solve problems facing working families 
across the country. So I hope that Congress can come together, as we 
have, to make progress.
  The GREAT Act is a straightforward bill that seeks to modernize the 
grant reporting process by standardizing the information reported by 
grant recipients.

                              {time}  1915

  By simplifying the grant reporting process, the GREAT Act will create 
a more open and transparent grant process for all recipients. In Los 
Angeles, that means greater opportunities for organizations working to 
make government work better for my constituents.
  When signed into law, this bill will help universities, city 
departments, and other organizations automate their recording costs, 
reduce compliance costs, and focus their energy where it belongs--on 
maximizing millions in Federal grants to Los Angeles to make it a more 
prosperous city.
  By making grant reports machine readable and fully searchable, the 
GREAT Act will also improve the performance of the grants process and 
break down barriers to grants. Nonprofits and local groups will have 
better access to Federal grants so they can leverage funds to maximize 
their impact.
  This bipartisan effort represents a major step toward ensuring 
government works as efficiently as possible for all Americans.
  Mr. Speaker, I look forward to working with Representative Foxx and 
others to continue our bipartisan efforts to help government work 
better, and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. RUSSELL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from 
North Carolina (Ms. Foxx), who is a sponsor of this bill.
  Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Russell for yielding time.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to start by thanking Representative  Jimmy 
Gomez for his comments tonight and for helping all through this piece 
of legislation, the Grant Reporting Efficiency and Agreements 
Transparency Act, or GREAT Act. Representative Gomez has been an 
outstanding partner on this bipartisan bill to create more 
transparency, efficiency, and accountability in the Federal grant 
reporting process, and I thank him very much for his hard work.

[[Page H9076]]

  The GREAT Act represents bipartisan legislation to modernize the 
Federal grant reporting process. It would do so by mandating a 
standardized data structure for information that recipients report to 
Federal agencies.
  Unless the reporting requirements for Federal grants are searchable, 
the auditing process will continue to yield waste and inefficiency at 
best, allowing fraud and abuse at worst.
  Mr. Speaker, in 2017, the Federal Government awarded $662.7 billion 
in grants funding to State agencies, local and Tribal governments, 
agencies, nonprofits, universities, and other organizations. Roughly 
translated, this equates to the gross domestic product of Switzerland 
or more than the GDP of every country outside the G20.
  Within our Federal Government, there are 26 agencies awarding Federal 
grants, and all of them continue to rely on outdated, burdensome, 
document-based forms to collect and track grant dollars. Society has 
moved into a new age of information and technology, and it is time that 
our government follow suit.
  Adopting a governmentwide open data structure for all the information 
grantees will report will alleviate compliance burdens; provide instant 
insights for grantor agencies and Congress; and enable easy access to 
data for oversight, analytics, and program evaluation.
  Digitizing and, therefore, automating the reporting process would 
have a twofold effect. First, it would allow greater scrutiny of how 
the money is being spent. Second, it allows grantees to maximize every 
dollar they receive from the government to ensure it goes back into 
communities supporting local businesses, organizations, and education.
  In order to fix the way Federal grants are reported, we must move 
from a document-centric reporting system to a data superhighway. I urge 
my colleagues in the House and the Senate to support the GREAT Act and 
bring grant reporting into the 21st century.
  Again, Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank Representative Gomez for 
his hard work on this bipartisan bill. I would also like the thank 
Representative Darrell Issa for his authorship of the DATA Act of 2014. 
It laid the foundation for the GREAT Act by applying data 
standardization to a pilot universe of Federal grants. And I thank him 
for his original cosponsorship of this bill.
  I would also like to thank OMB Director Mulvaney for his office's 
advice on this legislation and leadership in advancing open data in the 
grant reporting process this year through the President's management 
agenda.
  Lastly, I would like to thank Leader McCarthy for bringing this bill 
to the floor and for his broader leadership in pursuing an innovative 
agenda this Congress.
  Mr. GOMEZ. Mr. Speaker, I urge passage of the GREAT Act, and I yield 
back the balance of my time.
  Mr. RUSSELL. Mr. Speaker, I urge passage of the 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 Oklahoma (Mr. Russell) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 4887, 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.

                          ____________________