[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 78 (Monday, May 6, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H2852-H2853]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   GSA TECHNOLOGY ACCOUNTABILITY ACT

  Mr. LaTURNER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 7524) to amend title 40, United States Code, to require the 
submission of reports on certain information technology services funds 
to Congress before expenditures may be made, and for other purposes, as 
amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 7524

       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 ``GSA Technology 
     Accountability Act''.

     SEC. 2. TRANSPARENCY OF GSA FUNDED INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 
                   SERVICES.

       (a) Transparency on Use of the Federal Citizen Services 
     Fund.--Section 323 of title 40, United States Code, is 
     amended by adding at the end the following:
       ``(g) Requirement for Annual Report to Congress.--Not later 
     than September 30 of each year, the Administrator shall 
     submit to the Committee on Oversight and Accountability of 
     the House of Representatives and the Committee on Homeland 
     Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate a report that 
     includes, at a minimum, a list of each program funded by 
     expenditures during the previous fiscal year, or that have 
     been funded by expenditures in the previous 5-year period, 
     including the following:
       ``(1) An explanation of the program.
       ``(2) Information about how the program is funded, 
     including the amount of expenditures the program received in 
     the previous fiscal year and total amount.
       ``(3) The amount of reimbursements associated with or 
     anticipated to be associated with the program from another 
     source of funds or another agency, if applicable.
       ``(4) A description of projects or initiatives associated 
     with the program, including--
       ``(A) information about when the projects or initiatives 
     were initiated and completed; and
       ``(B) funding information, to the extent practicable.
       ``(5) Any additional information, data, or analysis used to 
     determine the information estimated within the report, if 
     applicable.
       ``(h) Definitions.--In this section:
       ``(1) Administrator.--The term `Administrator' means the 
     Administrator of General Services.
       ``(2) Expenditure.--The term `expenditure' means any 
     obligation of funds from the Fund.''.
       (b) Transparency on Use of the Acquisition Services Fund.--
     Section 321 of title 40, United States Code, is amended by 
     adding at the end the following:
       ``(h) Requirement for Annual Report to Congress.--Not later 
     than September 30 of each year, the Administrator shall 
     submit to the Committee on Oversight and Accountability of 
     the House of Representatives and the Committee on Homeland 
     Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate a report that 
     includes, at a minimum, a list of each program within the 
     Technology Transformation Services funded by expenditures 
     during the previous fiscal year, or that have been funded by 
     expenditures in the previous 5-year period, including the 
     following:
       ``(1) An explanation of the program.
       ``(2) Information about how the program is funded, 
     including the amount of expenditures the program received in 
     the previous fiscal year and total amount.
       ``(3) The amount of reimbursements associated with or 
     anticipated to be associated with the program from another 
     source of funds or another agency, if applicable.
       ``(4) A description of projects or initiatives associated 
     with the program, including--
       ``(A) information about when the projects or initiatives 
     were initiated and completed; and
       ``(B) funding information, to the extent practicable.
       ``(5) Any additional information, data, or analysis used to 
     determine the information estimated within the report, if 
     applicable.
       ``(i) Definitions.--In this section:
       ``(1) Administrator.--The term `Administrator' means the 
     Administrator of General Services.
       ``(2) Expenditure.--The term `expenditure' means any 
     obligation of funds from the Acquisition Services Fund for 
     programs referenced in subsection (h).''.
       (c) Effective Date.--The amendment made by this Act shall 
     take effect on the commencement of the first fiscal year 
     after the date of the enactment of this Act.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from

[[Page H2853]]

Kansas (Mr. LaTurner) and the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia 
(Ms. Norton) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Kansas.


                             General Leave

  Mr. LaTURNER. 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 this measure.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Kansas?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. LaTURNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 7524, the GSA Technology 
Accountability Act.
  The General Services Administration's Technology and Transformation 
Services, or TTS, manages several Federal technology projects and 
initiatives.
  These projects and initiatives are mostly funded through two funds--
the Citizen Services Fund and the Acquisition Services Fund.
  There is little transparency, however, into how money from these 
funds is allocated and what TTS is doing with its resources.
  This bill requires the administrator of GSA to submit an annual 
report to Congress regarding each program funded by the Citizen 
Services Fund and some programs funded by the Acquisition Services 
Fund.
  This annual report will include information about funded programs, 
projects and initiatives, and reimbursements associated with each 
program.
  This bill provides much-needed transparency into TTS programs and 
technology-related projects.
  I thank Representative Pete Sessions, chairman of the House Oversight 
Committee Subcommittee on Government Operations and the Federal 
Workforce, and Representative Gerry Connolly for their work on this 
legislation.
  I encourage my colleagues to support this commonsense bill to 
increase transparency and provide additional oversight of taxpayer 
dollars, and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the GSA Technology 
Accountability Act.
  I thank my colleagues, Representative Comer and Chairman Sessions and 
their staffs, for their partnership and collaboration on this bill. I 
am pleased to support the updated form of this bill.
  This bill would bring increased transparency to some of the General 
Services Administration's leading programs that are funded by the 
Federal Citizens Services Fund and the Federal Acquisition Fund.
  As GSA continues to make the technological advancements that allow 
the American people to securely access government services, this bill 
will allow Congress to fulfill its vital oversight responsibilities.
  Once again, I thank my colleagues for working with us to address 
GSA's concerns about the original legislation and ensure that this bill 
allows for increased transparency without creating unnecessary 
administrative burdens.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I 
reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LaTURNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Sessions), my friend.
  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentleman and 
friend from Kansas for yielding.
  I also thank my colleague from the District of Columbia, representing 
the minority or the Democratic Party on the Subcommittee on Government 
Operations and the Federal Workforce, for her leadership.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of this bill. It is a bill that 
we tried to make bipartisan and to include ideas from a number of 
people that were on the committee.
  As the chairman of the Subcommittee on Government Operations and the 
Federal Workforce, we worked together not only holding hearings, but 
discussing the need for transparency and better technology for projects 
from the General Services Administration.
  As it stands now, the government's internal technology consultancy is 
mostly opaque in its operation, resulting in the lack of competition 
and a few instances of serious failures from the GSA's products. Those 
are products that were developed in-house.
  Last year, the GSA Inspector General reported that Login.gov, a GSA 
product that was intended to be a single-sign-on solution for the 
Federal Government and government agencies, was intentionally 
misleading Federal agencies about its technical capabilities and 
ability to actually authenticate the users.
  In other words, Mr. Speaker, as people came in to do business with 
the government agency, GSA had a front to it that would assuredly tell 
that agency wherever they were going and with great likelihood exactly 
who that person was.
  This subversion left government websites exposed to fraudulent users 
and removed a critical barrier for criminals to improperly claim 
government benefits. In other words, they said that it contained 
certainty about who that person was that came to them for those 
agencies then did not need to do further investigation to make sure who 
was seeking government benefits.
  While we do not currently know the total amount of fraud that was 
committed because Login.gov did not provide adequate system security as 
it was required and stated that it was prepared to do, we do know that 
the American taxpayer was on the hook for hundreds of billions of 
dollars--up to $400 billion--in fraud from various COVID relief 
programs; each of these agencies counting on the person that they were 
speaking to and in contact with were the correct person.
  The central tactic used in this was identity theft. It was fraud.
  In order to prevent such fraud in the future, Federal systems must 
have identity verification capabilities that work.

  Instead, the GSA marketed, and Federal agencies paid for, an identity 
verification system that was either not present or did not work.
  It left the door wide open for criminals pretending to be someone 
else, to steal benefits, to steal information, and otherwise compromise 
government systems with a false identity.
  Last year, the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight 
Subcommittees, which I chair, held a hearing and it was a bipartisan 
answer that we came up with. It is a problem.
  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my colleagues, including the gentleman from 
Virginia, Mr. Connolly, for his support of this legislation, but 
certainly back in the committee as we brought this bill forward, it was 
a bipartisan answer that no matter whose fault it was, it needed to be 
fixed.
  We looked at it, I think, the same way. I am very proud of this 
committee, and I am very proud of my colleagues, the Democrats, the 
minority party, for working with us just like it was a part of their 
responsibility, which it was. I totally support that.
  With Login.gov, the Technology Transformation Service failed. Now, we 
are going to provide the transparency that is required in this bill. I 
am very proud of this work that was done on a bipartisan basis.
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I urge Members to support this bipartisan 
bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

                              {time}  1715

  Mr. LaTURNER. Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to support this 
commonsense bill to increase transparency and provide additional 
oversight of taxpayer dollars.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Kansas (Mr. LaTurner) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 7524, 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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