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104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 85

To provide for greater disclosure of and accountability for Federal

Government travel.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 4, 1995

Mr. KANJORSKI introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, and in addition to the

Committees on House Oversight and the Judiciary, for a period to be

subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration

of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

A BILL

To provide for greater disclosure of and accountability for

Federal Government travel.

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 ‘‘Federal Travel Disclo5 sure Act of 1995’’.
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1 SEC. 2. APPROPRIATIONS FOR FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

2 TRAVEL.

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi4 sion of law, no Federal funds may be obligated or ex5 pended for Federal Government travel, other than from

6 amounts specifically appropriated by law for such purpose.

7 Except as provided in subsection (b), no Federal depart8 ment, agency, or entity may expend funds for the travel

9 expenses of any individual who is employed by any other

10 Federal department, agency, or entity.

11 (b) REIMBURSABLE TRAVEL.—A Federal depart12 ment, agency, or entity may expend funds for the travel

13 expenses of an individual who is employed by another Fed14 eral department, agency, or entity if it is reimbursed by

15 the individual or the travel account of the individual’s em16 ploying department, agency, or entity.

17 SEC. 3. TRAVEL SUPERVISORS.

18 (a) EXECUTIVE BRANCH AND INDEPENDENT AGEN19 CIES.—Except as provided in subsections (b) and (c), the

20 head of each department, agency, or entity of the Govern21 ment shall designate a travel supervisor for that depart22 ment, agency, or entity.

23 (b) LEGISLATIVE BRANCH.—Travel supervisors in

24 the legislative branch shall be—
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1 (1) Senators, Representatives, Delegates, and

2 Resident Commissioners for their travel and travel

3 by members of their personal staffs;

4 (2) committee chairmen for travel by members

5 of their committees and committee staff;

6 (3) the Speaker of the House of Representa7 tives and the minority leader of the House of Rep8 resentatives, or their designees, for other employees

9 of the House of Representatives or travel authorized

10 by the full House of Representatives;

11 (4) the majority and minority leaders of the

12 United States Senate, or their designees, for other

13 employees of the United States Senate or travel au14 thorized by the full United States Senate; and

15 (5) the head of each agency of the legislative

16 branch, or their designee, in the case of employees

17 of those agencies.

18 (c) JUDICIAL BRANCH.—Travel supervisors in the ju19 dicial branch shall be—

20 (1) the Chief Justice of the United States Su21 preme Court, or his designee, in the case of the Su22 preme Court and its employees;

23 (2) the chief judge of each United States Cir24 cuit Court of Appeals, or their designee, in the case

25 of each Circuit Court of Appeals and its employees;
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1 (3) the chief judge of each United States dis2 trict or territorial court, or their designee, in the

3 case of each District or Territorial Court and its em4 ployees;

5 (4) the chief judges of the United States Claims

6 Court, the United States Court of International

7 Trade, the United States Court of Military Appeals,

8 the United States Tax Court, the United States

9 Court of Veterans Appeals, the District of Columbia

10 Court of Appeals, and the District of Columbia Su11 perior Court, or their designees, in the case of each

12 of these courts and their employees; and

13 (5) the Director of the Administrative Office of

14 the United States Courts, or his designee, in the

15 case of all other employees of the judicial branch.

16 SEC. 4. RESTRICTIONS APPLICABLE TO FEDERAL GOVERN17 MENT TRAVEL.

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsections

19 (b) and (c) all Federal Government travel shall be—

20 (1) approved in advance by the travel super21 visor of the department, agency, or entity involved;

22 (2) accomplished by the most economical means

23 conveniently possible; and

24 (3) accomplished by United States commercial

25 carrier wherever possible, unless, as determined by
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1 the travel supervisor, an alternative means is more

2 economical or necessary to achieve the goal of the

3 mission.

4 (b) ADDITIONAL RESTRICTIONS ON LEGISLATIVE

5 BRANCH FOREIGN TRAVEL.—All legislative branch for6 eign travel shall be—

7 (1) approved in advance by recorded vote of the

8 committee in the case of travel by a committee mem9 ber or committee staff, or approved in advance by

10 the appropriate travel supervisor in all other cases;

11 (2) accomplished by the most economical means

12 conveniently possible; and

13 (3) accomplished by United States commercial

14 carrier wherever possible, unless, as determined by

15 the travel supervisor, an alternative means is more

16 economical or necessary to achieve the goal of the

17 mission.

18 (c) EXEMPTION FROM ADVANCE APPROVAL RE19 QUIREMENT.—Except as otherwise provided by law or reg20 ulation, advance approval shall not be required for travel

21 which either—

22 (1) does not require an individual to spend the

23 night away from their principal residence or place of

24 employment; or
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1 (2) is undertaken under emergency cir2 cumstances as defined in written guidelines estab3 lished by the appropriate travel supervisor.

4 SEC. 5. GUIDELINES AND REPORTING REQUIREMENTS FOR

5 FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TRAVEL.

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each travel supervisor shall, with

7 respect to the department, agency, or entity involved—

8 (1) in order to prevent duplicative and unneces9 sary trips, establish written guidelines for Federal

10 Government travel; and

11 (2) not later than the end of each calendar

12 quarter, file a report with respect to such travel dur13 ing the preceding calendar quarter.

14 (b) REPORT CONTENTS.—Each report filed pursuant

15 to subsection (a) shall, with respect to each trip—

16 (1) specify the purpose and agenda of the trip,

17 including its duration and the places visited;

18 (2) provide the name and position of each em19 ployee and any other person who accompanies the

20 employee at Government expense;

21 (3) in the case of air transportation by other

22 than United States commercial carrier, describe any

23 determination under section 4(a)(3) or 4(b)(3);

24 (4) state the accomplishments of the trip; and
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1 (5) state the amount of each category of ex2 penses incurred for the trip, including separate cat3 egories for travel, food, and lodging, or per diem for

4 food and lodging.

5 (c) FILING.—Each report under this section shall be

6 filed with—

7 (1) the Administrator of General Services in the

8 case of executive branch or independent agency trav9 el;

10 (2) the Clerk of the United States House of

11 Representatives or the Secretary of the United

12 States Senate in the case of legislative branch travel;

13 and

14 (3) the Director of the Administrative Office of

15 the United States Courts in the case of judicial

16 branch travel.

17 SEC. 6. AVAILABILITY OF REPORTS.

18 Not later than fifteen days after a report is filed

19 under this Act, the Administrator of General Services, the

20 Director of the Administrative Office of the United States

21 Courts, the Clerk of the House of Representatives, or the

22 Secretary of the Senate, as applicable, shall—

23 (1) make the report available for public inspec24 tion; and
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1 (2) provide copies of the report to any person,

2 either upon payment of a fee sufficient to cover the

3 expense of reproduction and mailing (other than any

4 salary expense) or at a lesser fee if, determined by

5 the Administrator, Director, Clerk, or Secretary, as

6 applicable, such lesser fee is in the public interest.

7 At the end of the six-year period after the date of

8 filing, each report shall be destroyed unless such re9 port is required in an ongoing investigation.

10 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.

11 As used in this Act—

12 (1) the term ‘‘Federal Government travel’’

13 means travel by any employee (including any elected

14 or appointed officer) of the United States;

15 (2) the term ‘‘legislative branch travel’’ means

16 travel by a Senator or Representative in, or a Dele17 gate or Resident Commissioner to, the Congress or

18 by an employee (including an elected officer) of the

19 Senate or the House of Representatives or any agen20 cy of the legislative branch;

21 (3) the term ‘‘agency of the legislative branch’’

22 means the Office of the Architect of the Capitol, the

23 Botanic Garden, the General Accounting Office, the

24 Government Printing Office, the Library of Con25 gress, the Office of Technology Assessment, the
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1 Congressional Budget Office, and any other entity in

2 the legislative branch;

3 (4) the term ‘‘foreign travel’’ means travel out4 side the United States; and

5 (5) the term ‘‘United States’’, where used in a

6 geographical sense, means the States of the United

7 States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth

8 of Puerto Rico, and the territories and possessions

9 of the United States.

10 SEC. 8. EFFECTIVE DATE.

11 This Act shall take effect one hundred and eighty

12 days after the date of enactment of this Act.

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