[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 8]
[House]
[Pages 10571-10572]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              IMPROVING FEDERAL GRANT SOLICITATION PROCESS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Puerto Rico (Mr. Pierluisi) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PIERLUISI. Mr. Speaker, each year, 26 Federal agencies award over 
half a trillion dollars in grant funding. Earlier this year, Congress 
significantly changed the manner in which the Federal Government 
allocates funding. In the past, State and local governments and 
nonprofit organizations spent a great deal of time trying to persuade 
individuals Members of Congress to earmark funds to support local 
projects.
  While debate will no doubt continue on the value of congressionally 
directed spending, the reality is that, at least for the time being, 
the days of earmarks are over. With a ban on earmarks, a greater 
emphasis will now be placed on competitive grants, whereby applicants 
from across the Nation compete for funding made available for different 
purposes.
  In theory, a larger role for competitive grants in the Federal 
appropriations process holds promise. Under a well-administered grant 
competition, an application is judged on its merits. In practice, 
however, an increased emphasis on competitive grants will only improve 
the overall process if the Federal Government announces and publicizes 
grant opportunities in a clear and organized manner. Grant seeking will 
not be a true meritocracy if the process of identifying, applying for, 
and obtaining Federal grants is clouded in mystery and confusion and 
understood only by paid experts.
  In 1999, Congress created a Web site, grants.gov, which allows 
applicants to search and apply for grants online. But much more needs 
to be done to make the grant solicitation process as transparent and 
user friendly as possible.
  Many of my constituents have expressed frustration with the manner in 
which the Federal Government makes grant opportunities known. Often, a 
potential grantee will seek to apply for needed funding only to learn 
that the deadline for the most relevant grant passed days or weeks 
earlier. In other instances, prospective applicants will search 
grants.gov, but become frustrated upon finding that they need to scroll 
through pages and pages of grant listings, some of which are outdated 
or have not been funded by Congress.
  To address these problems, I recently introduced H.R. 2393. This 
bipartisan legislation would make two important changes to the Federal 
grant solicitation process. First, my bill would require each Federal 
agency, within 2 months of the start of any fiscal year, to submit a 
forecast of all grants solicitations that the agency expects to issue 
for that year. Such a forecast would allow prospective applicants to 
determine in advance which grant opportunities they wish to apply for.
  The second improvement my bill would make is to require each grant 
solicitation forecast or listing to be organized by detailed subject 
area.

[[Page 10572]]

Grants.gov currently organizes grant opportunities by agency and by 
very broad areas such as energy or housing. As a result, when an 
applicant seeks to search for health-related grants, for example, he or 
she must scroll through 30 pages of grant listings. My bill would 
require grants.gov, as well as all other Federal agencies, to organize 
grant opportunities by specific subject areas so that the applicants 
can more easily identify those grants that are most likely to address 
their needs.
  Now, let me turn to Puerto Rico, which I represent in this Congress. 
And it pains me that some statements were made earlier on this floor 
regarding my beautiful island and its government. Puerto Rico shines 
because of its democracy. Every 4 years we have free elections, and our 
voters go out and express their will at the rate of 80 percent, which 
is something that we are very proud of.
  We do have a police department in Puerto Rico, actually the second-
largest in the Nation, and there is an ongoing civil rights 
investigation by the Department of Justice. But I am sure, and I can 
vouch, that the police department of Puerto Rico is doing everything it 
can so that any civil rights violations are corrected and are not 
repeated.
  Again, I wish when we talk about Puerto Rico in this Congress, we 
talk about all of the positive things that are happening in that 
island, including our people's love of their American citizenship and 
their rights under the U.S. Constitution.

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