H5776 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE September 11, 2012 

minute and to revise and extend his remarks.) 

Mr. WELCH. Madam Speaker, America needs a farm bill. The Senate has 

passed a farm bill. The House Agriculture Committee on a bipartisan 

basis has passed a farm bill, and that is 

not being brought to the floor for a 

vote. 

We have a drought. It’s the worst 

that we’ve seen in 50 years. We’ve got 

nutrition programs that need to be 

funded. We have environmental and 

conservation programs that need to be 

revised and passed. We have farmers 

across this land whose goal is to feed 

America, and they need a farm bill. 

Never in the history of the United 

States Congress has a farm bill passed 

by the House Agriculture Committee 

not been brought to the floor for a 

vote. There’s no question that a farm 

bill is contentious. It always is. But 

with FRANK LUCAS and COLLIN PETERSON, Republican leader and Democratic 

leader, and the Agriculture Committee 

working together, we got a bipartisan 

vote. Why is this not being brought to 

the floor? 

That it’s difficult is not a reason not 

to do it. Bring a farm bill and pass it. 

f 

WORLD WAR II VETERAN WILLIAM 

‘‘BILL’’ KLING 

(Mr. DEUTCH asked and was given 

permission to address the House for 1 

minute and to revise and extend his remarks.) 

Mr. DEUTCH. Madam Speaker, the 

south Florida community recently lost 

a hero when World War II veteran William Kling passed away at the age of 

84. 

Bill Kling, a native New Yorker, 

served in the Navy during World War 

II. Throughout his life, he was an active member of the American Legion, 

Veterans of Foreign Wars, Jewish War 

Veterans, and the Disabled American 

Veterans. For me, he was an inspiration and a friend. 

However, Bill is best known for his 

role as the president of the Broward 

County Veterans Council for 27 years. 

Bill’s activism led to building of an 

outpatient VA clinic in Broward County, a veterans nursing home in Pembroke Pines, and the opening of the 

South Florida National Cemetery in 

2007. 

So even as we mourn the loss of an 

incredible advocate, we know that Bill 

Kling’s contributions live on in every 

veteran cared for at the outpatient 

clinic he helped to build, in every family who visits an elderly veteran residing at the nursing home he helped to 

establish, and in every prayer spoken 

at the national cemetery that he 

helped make possible. 

I join with Bill’s family in mourning 

his loss; but on this anniversary of the 

9/11 attacks, I express the gratitude of 

our entire south Florida community 

that will long benefit from Bill Kling’s 

tireless efforts to honor those who so 

bravely served our Nation. 

ACT TOMORROW TO PASS FISA 

AMENDMENTS 

(Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California asked and was given permission 

to address the House for 1 minute and 

to revise and extend his remarks.) 

Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California. Madam Speaker, today, September 11, 2012, is a beautiful day outside. The sun’s in the cloudless sky, 

much like it was 11 years ago. 

We remember those tragic criminal 

terrorist acts. We remember the heroism of those who responded. But 

there’s something we can do more than 

just remember. There’s something we 

can do in addition to the prayers that 

we offer. We can act tomorrow to pass 

the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance 

Act amendments which allow us to respond to the criticism rendered by the 

9/11 Commission, that is, that we did 

not do enough to connect the dots of 

intelligence to warn us about that attack and future attacks. 

The FISA amendments allow us to 

connect the dots so we can analyze 

those dots, so we can bring the intelligence to bear, so that we can protect 

our people with the courage and the 

bravery of those men and women who 

are in uniform, guided by the intelligence that we collect and that we 

apply. It is as strong a statement as we 

can make this week to ensure that we 

do not blind our eyes to that which is 

out there that may threaten us. 

Let us work together in a bipartisan 

basis to pass that, and let us give those 

tools that are necessary to protect us. 

f 

MESSAGES FROM THE PRESIDENT 

Messages in writing from the President of the United States were communicated to the House by Mr. Brian 

Pate, one of his secretaries. 

f 

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE SPEAKER 

PRO TEMPORE 

The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. 

MILLER of Michigan). Pursuant to 

clause 8 of rule XX, the Chair will postpone further proceedings today on motions to suspend the rules on which a 

recorded vote or the yeas and nays are 

ordered, or on which the vote incurs 

objection under clause 6 of rule XX. 

Record votes on postponed questions 

will be taken later. 

f 

GOVERNMENT SPENDING 

ACCOUNTABILITY ACT OF 2012 

Mr. WALSH of Illinois. Madam 

Speaker, I move to suspend the rules 

and pass the bill (H.R. 4631) to amend 

title 5, United States Code, to institute 

spending limits and transparency requirements for Federal conference and 

travel expenditures, and for other purposes, as amended. 

The Clerk read the title of the bill. 

The text of the bill is as follows: 

H.R. 4631 

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 ‘‘Government 

Spending Accountability Act of 2012’’ or the 

‘‘GSA Act of 2012’’. 

SEC. 2. LIMITS AND TRANSPARENCY FOR CONFERENCE AND TRAVEL SPENDING. 

(a) AMENDMENT.—Chapter 57 of title 5, 

United States Code, is amended by inserting 

after section 5711 the following: 

‘‘§ 5712. Limits and transparency for conference and travel spending 

‘‘(a) CONFERENCE TRANSPARENCY AND

SPENDING LIMITS.— 

‘‘(1) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF CONFERENCE

MATERIALS.—Each agency shall post on the 

public website of that agency detailed information on any presentation made by any 

employee of that agency at a conference (except to the extent the head of an agency excludes such information for reasons of national security) including— 

‘‘(A) the prepared text of any verbal presentation made; and 

‘‘(B) any visual, digital, video, or audio 

materials presented, including photographs, 

slides, and audio-visual recordings. 

‘‘(2) LIMITS ON AMOUNT EXPENDED ON A CONFERENCE.— 

‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

subparagraph (B), an agency may not expend 

more than $500,000 to support a single conference. 

‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.—The head of an agency 

may waive the limitation in subparagraph 

(A) for a specific conference after making a 

determination that the expenditure is justified as the most cost-effective option to 

achieve a compelling purpose. The head of an 

agency shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report on any waiver granted under this subparagraph, including the justification for such waiver. 

‘‘(C) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 

this paragraph shall be construed to preclude 

an agency from receiving financial support 

or other assistance from a private entity to 

pay or defray the costs of a conference the 

total cost of which exceeds $500,000. 

‘‘(b) INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE RULE.—An 

agency may not pay the travel expenses for 

more than 50 employees of that agency who 

are stationed in the United States, for any 

international conference, unless the Secretary of State determines that attendance 

for such employees is in the national interest. 

‘‘(c) REPORT ON TRAVEL EXPENSES REQUIRED.—At the beginning of each quarter of 

each fiscal year, each agency shall post on 

the public website of that agency a report on 

each conference for which the agency paid 

travel expenses during the preceding 3 

months that includes— 

‘‘(1) the itemized expenses paid by the 

agency, including travel expenses, and any 

agency expenditures to otherwise support 

the conference; 

‘‘(2) the primary sponsor of the conference; 

‘‘(3) the location of the conference; 

‘‘(4) the date of the conference; 

‘‘(5) a brief explanation of how the participation of employees from such agency at the 

conference advanced the mission of the agency; 

‘‘(6) the title of any employee, or any individual who is not a Federal employee, whose 

travel expenses or other conference expenses 

were paid by the agency; 

‘‘(7) the total number of individuals whose 

travel expenses or other conference expenses 

were paid by the agency; and 

‘‘(8) in the case of a conference for which 

that agency was the primary sponsor, a 

statement that— 

‘‘(A) describes the cost to the agency of selecting the specific conference venue; 


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