I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2032 

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 

APRIL 27, 2015 

Mr. FARENTHOLD (for himself, Mrs. BLACK, Mr. BLUM, and Mr. RUSSELL) 

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 2015’’ or the ‘‘GSA Act of 2015’’. 

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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 or information described under sec17 tion 552(b)) including— 

18 ‘‘(A) the prepared text of any verbal pres19 entation made; and 

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

21 materials presented, including photographs, 

22 slides, and audio-visual recordings. 

23 ‘‘(2) LIMITS ON AMOUNT EXPENDED ON A CON24 FERENCE.— 

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

26 under subparagraph (B), an agency may not 

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1 expend more than $500,000 to support a single 

2 conference. 

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

4 may waive the limitation under subparagraph 

5 (A) for a specific conference after making a de6 termination that the expenditure is justified as 

7 the most cost-effective option to achieve a com8 pelling purpose. The head of an agency shall 

9 submit to the appropriate congressional com10 mittees a report on any waiver granted under 

11 this subparagraph, including the justification 

12 for such 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, or the head of the agen25 cy determines that attendance for such employees is critmstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

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1 ical to the agency’s mission. The Secretary of State and 

2 the head of an agency shall submit to the appropriate con3 gressional committees a report on any waiver granted 

4 under this subsection, including the justification for such 

5 waiver. 

6 ‘‘(c) REPORTING ON TRAVEL AND CONFERENCE EX7 PENSES REQUIRED.—At the beginning of each quarter of 

8 each fiscal year, each agency shall post on the public 

9 website of that agency a report on each conference that 

10 costs more than $10,000 for which the agency paid travel 

11 expenses during the preceding 3 months that includes— 

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

13 including travel, lodging, and meal expenses, and 

14 any other agency expenditures to otherwise support 

15 the conference; 

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

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

18 ‘‘(4) the date of the conference; 

19 ‘‘(5) a brief explanation of how the participa20 tion of employees from such agency at the con21 ference advanced the mission of the agency; 

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

23 who is not a Federal employee, whose travel ex24 penses or other conference expenses were paid by the 

25 agency; 

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1 ‘‘(7) the total number of individuals whose trav2 el expenses or other conference expenses were paid 

3 by the agency; and 

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

5 agency was the primary sponsor, a statement that— 

6 ‘‘(A) describes the cost to the agency of se7 lecting the specific conference venue; 

8 ‘‘(B) describes why the location was se9 lected, including a justification for such selec10 tion; 

11 ‘‘(C) demonstrates the cost efficiency of 

12 the location; 

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

14 holding a conference rather than conducting a 

15 teleconference; and 

16 ‘‘(E) describes any financial support or 

17 other assistance from a private entity used to 

18 pay or defray the costs of the conference, and 

19 for each case where such support or assistance 

20 was used, the head of the agency shall include 

21 a certification that there is no conflict of inter22 est resulting from such support or assistance. 

23 ‘‘(d) FORMAT AND PUBLICATION OF REPORTS.— 

24 Each report posted on the public website under subsection 

25 (c) shall— 

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

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

3 after the date of posting. 

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

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

6 meaning given that term under section 5701, but 

7 does not include the government of the District of 

8 Columbia. 

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

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

11 event that— 

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

13 discussion, or training; and 

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

15 facility. 

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

17 ‘international conference’ means a conference occur18 ring outside the United States attended by rep19 resentatives of— 

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

21 and 

22 ‘‘(B) any foreign government, international 

23 organization, or foreign nongovernmental orga24 nization.’’. 

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1 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

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

3 States Code, is amended by inserting after the item relat4 ing to section 5711 the following: 

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

5 (c) ANNUAL TRAVEL EXPENSE LIMITS.— 

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

7 years 2016 through 2020, an agency (as defined 

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

9 as added by subsection (a)) may not make, or obli10 gate to make, expenditures for travel expenses, in an 

11 aggregate amount greater than 70 percent of the ag12 gregate amount of such expenses for fiscal year 

13 2010. 

14 (2) EXEMPTIONS.—The agency may exclude 

15 certain travel expenses from the limitation under 

16 paragraph (1) only if the agency head determines 

17 that inclusion of such expenses would undermine na18 tional security, international diplomacy, health and 

19 safety inspections, law enforcement, or site visits re20 quired for oversight or investigatory purposes. 

21 (3) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—In each of fiscal 

22 years 2016 through 2020, the head of each agency 

23 shall submit to the Committee on Oversight and 

24 Government Reform of the House of Representatives 

25 and the Committee on Homeland Security and Govmstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

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1 ernmental Affairs of the Senate a report con2 taining— 

3 (A) the justification for any expenses ex4 cluded (under paragraph (2)) from the limita5 tion under paragraph (1); and 

6 (B) the positive or negative impacts, if 

7 any, of the limitation under paragraph (1) on 

8 the agency’s mission, cost-effectiveness, effi9 ciency, and ability to perform core functions. 

10 (4) IDENTIFICATION OF TRAVEL EXPENSES.— 

11 (A) RESPONSIBILITIES.—Not later than 

12 September 30, 2015, and after consultation 

13 with the Administrator of General Services and 

14 the Director of the Administrative Office of the 

15 United States Courts, the Director of the Office 

16 of Management and Budget shall establish 

17 guidelines for the determination of what ex18 penses constitute travel expenses for purposes 

19 of this subsection. The guidelines shall identify 

20 specific expenses, and classes of expenses, that 

21 are to be treated as travel expenses. 

22 (B) EXEMPTION FOR MILITARY TRAVEL.— 

23 The guidelines required under subparagraph 

24 (A) shall exclude military travel expenses in de25 termining what expenses constitute travel exmstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

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1 penses. Military travel expenses shall include 

2 travel expenses involving military combat, the 

3 training or deployment of uniformed military 

4 personnel, and such other travel expenses as de5 termined by the Director of the Office of Man6 agement and Budget, in consultation with the 

7 Administrator of General Services and the Di8 rector of the Administrative Office of the 

9 United States Courts. 

Æ 

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