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Union Calendar No. 131 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 313 

[Report No. 113–183] 

To amend title 5, United States Code, to institute spending limits and 

transparency requirements for Federal conference and travel expenditures, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 18, 2013 

Mrs. EMERSON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 

JULY 30, 2013 

Additional sponsors: Mr. FITZPATRICK and Mr. LANKFORD

JULY 30, 2013 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on January 18, 2013] 


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A BILL 

To amend title 5, United States Code, to institute spending 

limits and transparency requirements for Federal conference and travel expenditures, and for other purposes. 


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1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Government Spending 

5 Accountability Act of 2013’’ or the ‘‘GSA Act of 2013’’. 

6 SEC. 2. LIMITS AND TRANSPARENCY FOR CONFERENCE 

7 AND TRAVEL SPENDING. 

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

9 Code, is amended by inserting after section 5711 the fol10 lowing: 

11 ‘‘§ 5712. Limits and transparency for conference and 

12 travel spending 

13 ‘‘(a) CONFERENCE TRANSPARENCY AND SPENDING

14 LIMITS.— 

15 ‘‘(1) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF CONFERENCE MA16 TERIALS.—Each agency shall post on the public 

17 website of that agency detailed information on any 

18 presentation made by any employee of that agency at 

19 a conference (except to the extent the head of an agen20 cy excludes such information for reasons of national 

21 security) including— 

22 ‘‘(A) the prepared text of any verbal presen23 tation made; and 


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

2 materials presented, including photographs, 

3 slides, and audio-visual recordings. 

4 ‘‘(2) LIMITS ON AMOUNT EXPENDED ON A CON5 FERENCE.— 

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

7 subparagraph (B), an agency may not expend 

8 more than $500,000 to support a single con9 ference. 

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

11 may waive the limitation in subparagraph (A) 

12 for a specific conference after making a deter13 mination that the expenditure is justified as the 

14 most cost-effective option to achieve a compelling 

15 purpose. The head of an agency shall submit to 

16 the appropriate congressional committees a re17 port on any waiver granted under this subpara18 graph, including the justification for such waiv19 er. 

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

21 this paragraph shall be construed to preclude an 

22 agency from receiving financial support or other 

23 assistance from a private entity to pay or defray 

24 the costs of a conference the total cost of which 

25 exceeds $500,000. 


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1 ‘‘(b) INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE RULE.—An agency 

2 may not pay the travel expenses for more than 50 employees 

3 of that agency who are stationed in the United States, for 

4 any international conference, unless the Secretary of State 

5 determines that attendance for such employees is in the na6 tional interest, or the head of the agency determines that 

7 attendance for such employees is critical to the agency’s 

8 mission. The Secretary of State and the head of an agency 

9 shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a 

10 report on any waiver granted under this subsection, includ11 ing the justification for such waiver. 

12 ‘‘(c) REPORTING ON TRAVEL AND CONFERENCE EX13 PENSES REQUIRED.—At the beginning of each quarter of 

14 each fiscal year, each agency shall post on the public website 

15 of that agency a report on each conference that costs more 

16 than $10,000 for which the agency paid travel expenses dur17 ing the preceding 3 months that includes— 

18 ‘‘(1) the itemized expenses paid by the agency, 

19 including travel, lodging, and meal expenses, and any 

20 other agency expenditures to otherwise support the 

21 conference; 

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

23 ‘‘(3) the location of the conference; 

24 ‘‘(4) the date of the conference; 


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1 ‘‘(5) a brief explanation of how the participation 

2 of employees from such agency at the conference ad3 vanced the mission of the agency; 

4 ‘‘(6) the title of any employee, or any individual 

5 who is not a Federal employee, whose travel expenses 

6 or other conference expenses were paid by the agency; 

7 ‘‘(7) the total number of individuals whose travel 

8 expenses or other conference expenses were paid by the 

9 agency; and 

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

11 agency was the primary sponsor, a statement that— 

12 ‘‘(A) describes the cost to the agency of se13 lecting the specific conference venue; 

14 ‘‘(B) describes why the location was selected, 

15 including a justification for such selection; 

16 ‘‘(C) demonstrates the cost efficiency of the 

17 location; 

18 ‘‘(D) provides a cost benefit analysis of 

19 holding a conference rather than conducting a 

20 teleconference; and 

21 ‘‘(E) describes any financial support or 

22 other assistance from a private entity used to 

23 pay or defray the costs of the conference, and for 

24 each case where such support or assistance was 

25 used, the head of the agency shall include a cerVerDate Mar 15 2010 22:04 Jul 30, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H313.RH H313

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1 tification that there is no conflict of interest re2 sulting from such support or assistance. 

3 ‘‘(d) FORMAT AND PUBLICATION OF REPORTS.—Each 

4 report posted on the public website under subsection (c) 

5 shall— 

6 ‘‘(1) be in a searchable electronic format; and 

7 ‘‘(2) remain on that website for at least 5 years 

8 after the date of posting. 

9 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

10 ‘‘(1) AGENCY.—The term ‘agency’ has the mean11 ing given that term under section 5701, but does not 

12 include the government of the District of Columbia. 

13 ‘‘(2) CONFERENCE.—The term ‘conference’ means 

14 a meeting, retreat, seminar, symposium, or event 

15 that— 

16 ‘‘(A) is held for consultation, education, dis17 cussion, or training; and 

18 ‘‘(B) is not held entirely at a Government 

19 facility. 

20 ‘‘(3) INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE.—The term 

21 ‘international conference’ means a conference occur22 ring outside the United States attended by representa23 tives of— 

24 ‘‘(A) the Government of the United States; 

25 and 


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1 ‘‘(B) any foreign government, international 

2 organization, or foreign nongovernmental orga3 nization.’’. 

4 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The 

5 table of sections for chapter 57 of title 5, United States 

6 Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to 

7 section 5711 the following: 

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

8 (c) ANNUAL TRAVEL EXPENSE LIMITS.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of each of fiscal 

10 years 2014 through 2018, an agency (as defined 

11 under section 5712(e) of title 5, United States Code, 

12 as added by subsection (a)) may not make, or obligate 

13 to make, expenditures for travel expenses, in an ag14 gregate amount greater than 70 percent of the aggre15 gate amount of such expenses for fiscal year 2010. 

16 (2) IDENTIFICATION OF TRAVEL EXPENSES.— 

17 (A) RESPONSIBILITIES.—Not later than 

18 September 30, 2013, and after consultation with 

19 the Administrator of General Services and the 

20 Director of the Administrative Office of the 

21 United States Courts, the Director of the Office 

22 of Management and Budget shall establish guide23 lines for the determination of what expenses con24 stitute travel expenses for purposes of this sub25 section. The guidelines shall identify specific exVerDate Mar 15 2010 22:04 Jul 30, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H313.RH H313

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1 penses, and classes of expenses, that are to be 

2 treated as travel expenses. 

3 (B) EXEMPTION FOR MILITARY TRAVEL.— 

4 The guidelines required under subparagraph (A) 

5 shall exclude military travel expenses in deter6 mining what expenses constitute travel expenses. 

7 Military travel expenses shall include travel ex8 penses involving military combat, the training 

9 or deployment of uniformed military personnel, 

10 and such other travel expenses as determined by 

11 the Director of the Office of Management and 

12 Budget, in consultation with the Administrator 

13 of General Services and the Director of the Ad14 ministrative Office of the United States Courts. 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
Union Calendar No. 131 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 313 

[Report No. 113–183] 

A BILL 

To amend title 5, United States Code, to institute 

and for other purposes. for Federal conference and travel expenditures, spending limits and transparency requirements 

JULY 30, 2013 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS