[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 14910-14911]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                GRANTS OVERSIGHT AND NEW EFFICIENCY ACT

  Mr. WALBERG. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 3089) to close out expired grants, and for other purposes, 
as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 3089

       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 ``Grants Oversight and New 
     Efficiency Act'' or the ``GONE Act''.

     SEC. 2. IDENTIFYING AND CLOSING OUT EXPIRED GRANTS.

       (a) Expired Grant Report.--
       (1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
     the enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office of 
     Management and Budget shall instruct the head of each agency, 
     in coordination with the Secretary, to submit to Congress and 
     the Secretary a report, not later than December 31 of the 
     first calendar year beginning after the date of the enactment 
     of this Act, that--
       (A) lists each covered grant held by such agency;
       (B) provides the total number of covered grants, including 
     the number of grants--
       (i) by time period of expiration;
       (ii) with zero dollar balances; and
       (iii) with undisbursed balances;
       (C) for an agency with covered grants, describes the 
     challenges leading to delays in grant closeout; and
       (D) for the 30 oldest covered grants of an agency, explains 
     why each covered grant has not been closed out.
       (2) Use of data systems.--An agency may use existing 
     multiagency data systems in order to submit the report 
     required under paragraph (1).
       (3) Explanation of missing information.--If the head of an 
     agency is unable to submit all of the information required to 
     be included in the report under paragraph (1), the report 
     shall include an explanation of why the information was not 
     available, including any shortcomings with and plans to 
     improve existing grant systems, including data systems.
       (b) Notice From Agencies.--
       (1) In general.--Not later than one year after the date on 
     which the head of an agency submits the report required under 
     subsection (a), the head of the agency shall provide notice 
     to the Secretary specifying whether the head of the agency 
     has closed out grant awards associated with all of the 
     covered grants in the report and which covered grants in the 
     report have not been closed out.
       (2) Notice to congress.--Not later than 90 days after the 
     date on which all of the notices required pursuant to 
     paragraph (1) have been provided or March 31 of the calendar 
     year following the calendar year described in subsection 
     (a)(1), whichever is sooner, the Secretary shall compile the 
     notices submitted pursuant to paragraph (1) and submit to 
     Congress a report on such notices.
       (c) Inspector General Review.--Not later than one year 
     after the date on which the head of an agency provides notice 
     to Congress under subsection (b)(2), the Inspector General of 
     such agency with more than $500,000,000 in grant funding 
     shall conduct a risk assessment to determine if an audit or 
     review of the agency's grant closeout process is warranted.
       (d) Report on Accountability and Oversight.--Not later than 
     6 months after the date on which the second report is 
     submitted pursuant to subsection (b)(2), the Director of 
     Office of Management and Budget, in consultation with the 
     Secretary of Health and Human Services, shall submit to 
     Congress a report on recommendations for legislation to 
     improve accountability and oversight in grants management, 
     including the timely closeout of a covered grant.
       (e) Definitions.--In this section:
       (1) Agency.--The term ``agency'' has the meaning given that 
     term in section 551 of title 5, United States Code.
       (2) Closeout.--The term ``closeout'' means a closeout of a 
     grant account conducted in accordance with part 200 of title 
     2, Code of Federal Regulations, including sections 200.16 and 
     200.343 of such title, or any successor thereto.
       (3) Covered grant.--The term ``covered grant'' means a 
     grant in an agency cash payment management system held by the 
     United States Government for which--
       (A) the grant award period of performance, including any 
     extensions, has been expired for not less than 2 years; and
       (B) closeout has not yet occurred in accordance with 
     section 200.343 of title 2, Code of Federal Regulations, or 
     any successor thereto.
       (4) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
     of Health and Human Services.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Michigan (Mr. Walberg) and the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Lynch) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Michigan.


                             General Leave

  Mr. WALBERG. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks 
and to include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Michigan?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. WALBERG. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I introduced H.R. 3089, the Grants Oversight and New Efficiency, or 
GONE, Act, to bring much-needed accountability to the Federal grant-
making process.
  This bipartisan bill requires each agency to report to Congress on 
the amount of expired and empty grant accounts that remain open on the 
government's books.
  Under the bill, the agencies must examine the 30 grants that have 
been expired for the longest period of time and explain why these 
grants have not been closed.
  One year after this initial report, these agencies will update 
Congress, reporting on which accounts previously identified have been 
closed and which remain open. These reports will help Congress better 
understand why expired grant accounts remain open at taxpayer expense.
  Mr. Speaker, in fiscal year 2014, Federal grant expenditures exceeded 
$529 billion, and that is real money. This enormous amount of money 
demands strong financial management to protect taxpayer dollars from 
waste.
  In 2012, GAO released a report on the timeliness of grant closeouts 
by Federal agencies. The report found nearly $1 billion remaining in 
undisbursed funds within expired grant accounts.
  Within one of the grant management systems GAO examined, there were 
almost 1,000 accounts that had been expired for 5 years or more and 
still had not been closed out.

                              {time}  1545

  GAO found out that this same management system contained 28,000 
expired grant accounts with no funds in them. Mr. Speaker, expired 
grant accounts create multiple levels of waste.

[[Page 14911]]

  First, the undisbursed funds remaining in expired accounts could be 
better used for their appropriated purpose or returned to the Treasury 
to help bring down the deficit and mounting debt.
  Second, agencies pay a monthly fee for each account that remains open 
within the Federal payment management system. As a result, agencies 
could be spending roughly $2 million per year to maintain these 28,000 
accounts with no funds in them, assuming they have not been closed. 
Surely we can find a better use for these taxpayer dollars rather than 
wasting funds maintaining expired accounts.
  Finally, grants that are not properly closed out slow the grant-
making agency from conducting the necessary oversight to ensure that 
funds were properly spent and that taxpayer money is not being wasted. 
The GONE Act is a response to these issues.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3089 utilizes the Department of Health and Human 
Services to coordinate with agencies to provide these reports to 
Congress. HHS was chosen for this role because of some of its 
successful closeout efforts implemented in 2011. HHS's commendable work 
on grant closeout is exactly why we added a provision to this bill 
requiring HHS to coordinate with the Office of Management and Budget in 
reporting to Congress on legislative changes needed to improve the 
process of grants administration.
  H.R. 3089 strengthens oversight by asking the inspectors general of 
the largest grant-making agencies to conduct a risk assessment of their 
agency's grant closeout processes.
  I thank Senators Fischer and Manchin for their work on the Senate 
companion bill, S. 1115, including their work on the bill before the 
House today.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to bring some commonsense steps to 
the Federal grant-making process by supporting this bill.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LYNCH. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, the legislation under consideration, H.R. 3089, the 
Grant Oversight and New Efficiency Act, was introduced by my friend Mr. 
Walberg of Michigan in July of this year; and it was reported out of 
the House Oversight Committee with the support of Mrs. Brenda Lawrence, 
also of Michigan, this month. This bill would require one-time reports 
from Federal agencies on expired grants.
  As noted earlier by Mr. Walberg, in a report by the Government 
Accountability Office, Federal agencies do not always close out expired 
grants properly. In fact, GAO has found that in 2011, nearly $800 
million in undisbursed balances remained in expired grant accounts. 
That money could be returned to the Treasury and spent on any number of 
pressing priorities here in the House and Senate.
  In particular, Mr. Walberg's bill, H.R. 3089, would require agencies 
to report to the Secretary of Health and Human Services and Congress on 
grants that have expired and whether they have undisbursed balances. 
The bill would also require agencies to make recommendations on which 
grants should be closed out immediately as well as explain why certain 
grants were not properly closed out to begin with.
  I commend the Representatives from Michigan, both Mr. Walberg, our 
lead sponsor on this bill, and Mrs. Lawrence, for their work on this 
bipartisan bill. This is a commonsense, good government measure that 
every Member should support.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. WALBERG. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his support and 
leadership on the floor. I thank the chairman and ranking member of our 
committee. Most importantly, I thank my good friend and colleague from 
Michigan, Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence, for her support and helpful 
additions to this legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of this commonsense bill.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Walberg) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 3089, 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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