I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 313 

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 

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. 

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’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. LIMITS AND TRANSPARENCY FOR CONFERENCE 

2 AND TRAVEL SPENDING. 

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

4 States Code, is amended by inserting after section 5711 

5 the following: 

6 ‘‘§ 5712. Limits and transparency for conference and 

7 travel spending 

8 ‘‘(a) CONFERENCE TRANSPARENCY AND SPENDING

9 LIMITS.— 

10 ‘‘(1) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF CONFERENCE

11 MATERIALS.—Each agency shall post on the public 

12 website of that agency detailed information on any 

13 presentation made by any employee of that agency 

14 at a conference (except to the extent the head of an 

15 agency excludes such information for reasons of na16 tional security) including— 

17 ‘‘(A) the prepared text of any verbal pres18 entation made; and 

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

20 materials presented, including photographs, 

21 slides, and audio-visual recordings. 

22 ‘‘(2) LIMITS ON AMOUNT EXPENDED ON A CON23 FERENCE.— 

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

25 subparagraph (B), an agency may not expend 


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1 more than $500,000 to support a single con2 ference. 

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

4 may waive the limitation in subparagraph (A) 

5 for a specific conference after making a deter6 mination that the expenditure is justified as the 

7 most cost-effective option to achieve a compel8 ling purpose. The head of an agency shall sub9 mit to the appropriate congressional committees 

10 a report on any waiver granted under this sub11 paragraph, including the justification for such 

12 waiver. 

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

14 in this paragraph shall be construed to preclude 

15 an agency from receiving financial support or 

16 other assistance from a private entity to pay or 

17 defray the costs of a conference the total cost 

18 of which exceeds $500,000. 

19 ‘‘(b) INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE RULE.—An 

20 agency may not pay the travel expenses for more than 50 

21 employees of that agency who are stationed in the United 

22 States, for any international conference, unless the Sec23 retary of State determines that attendance for such em24 ployees is in the national interest. 


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1 ‘‘(c) REPORT ON TRAVEL EXPENSES REQUIRED.— 

2 At the beginning of each quarter of each fiscal year, each 

3 agency shall post on the public website of that agency a 

4 report on each conference for which the agency paid travel 

5 expenses during the preceding 3 months that includes— 

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

7 including travel expenses, and any agency expendi8 tures to otherwise support the conference; 

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

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

11 ‘‘(4) the date of the conference; 

12 ‘‘(5) a brief explanation of how the participa13 tion of employees from such agency at the con14 ference advanced the mission of the agency; 

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

16 who is not a Federal employee, whose travel ex17 penses or other conference expenses were paid by the 

18 agency; 

19 ‘‘(7) the total number of individuals whose trav20 el expenses or other conference expenses were paid 

21 by the agency; and 

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

23 agency was the primary sponsor, a statement that— 

24 ‘‘(A) describes the cost to the agency of se25 lecting the specific conference venue; 


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1 ‘‘(B) describes why the location was se2 lected, including a justification for such selec3 tion; 

4 ‘‘(C) demonstrates the cost efficiency of 

5 the location; 

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

7 holding a conference rather than conducting a 

8 teleconference; and 

9 ‘‘(E) describes any financial support or 

10 other assistance from a private entity used to 

11 pay or defray the costs of the conference, and 

12 for each case where such support or assistance 

13 was used, the head of the agency shall include 

14 a certification that there is no conflict of inter15 est resulting from such support or assistance. 

16 ‘‘(d) FORMAT AND PUBLICATION OF REPORT.—Each 

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

18 shall— 

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

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

21 after the date of posting. 

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

23 ‘‘(1) AGENCY.—The term ‘agency’ has the 

24 meaning given that term under section 5701, but 


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1 does not include the government of the District of 

2 Columbia. 

3 ‘‘(2) CONFERENCE.—The term ‘conference’ 

4 means a meeting, retreat, seminar, symposium, or 

5 event to which an employee travels 25 miles or more 

6 to attend, that— 

7 ‘‘(A) is held for consultation, education, 

8 discussion, or training; and 

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

10 facility. 

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

12 ‘international conference’ means a conference occur13 ring outside the United States attended by rep14 resentatives of— 

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

16 and 

17 ‘‘(B) any foreign government, international 

18 organization, or foreign nongovernmental orga19 nization.’’. 

20 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

21 The table of sections for chapter 57 of title 5, United 

22 States Code, is amended by inserting after the item relat23 ing to section 5711 the following: 

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

24 (c) ANNUAL TRAVEL EXPENSE LIMITS.— 


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

2 years 2014 through 2018, an agency (as defined 

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

4 as added by subsection (a)) may not make, or obli5 gate to make, expenditures for travel expenses, in an 

6 aggregate amount greater than 70 percent of the ag7 gregate amount of such expenses for fiscal year 

8 2010. 

9 (2) IDENTIFICATION OF TRAVEL EXPENSES.— 

10 (A) RESPONSIBILITIES.—Not later than 

11 September 30, 2013, and after consultation 

12 with the Administrator of General Services and 

13 the Director of the Administrative Office of the 

14 United States Courts, the Director of the Office 

15 of Management and Budget shall establish 

16 guidelines for the determination of what ex17 penses constitute travel expenses for purposes 

18 of this subsection. The guidelines shall identify 

19 specific expenses, and classes of expenses, that 

20 are to be treated as travel expenses. 

21 (B) EXEMPTION FOR MILITARY TRAVEL.— 

22 The guidelines required under subparagraph 

23 (A) shall exclude military travel expenses in de24 termining what expenses constitute travel ex25 penses. Military travel expenses shall include 


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1 travel expenses involving military combat, the 

2 training or deployment of uniformed military 

3 personnel, and such other travel expenses as de4 termined by the Director of the Office of Man5 agement and Budget, in consultation with the 

6 Administrator of General Services and the Di7 rector of the Administrative Office of the 

8 United States Courts. 

Æ 


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