IIB 
112TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4631 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
SEPTEMBER 12, 2012 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and 
Governmental Affairs 
AN ACT 
To amend title 5, United States Code, to institute spending 
limits and transparency requirements for Federal con-
ference and travel expenditures, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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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 na-
tional security) including— 
‘‘(A) the prepared text of any verbal pres-
entation 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 CON-
FERENCE.— 
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‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 
subparagraph (B), an agency may not expend 
more than $500,000 to support a single con-
ference. 
‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.—The head of an agency 
may waive the limitation in subparagraph (A) 
for a specific conference after making a deter-
mination that the expenditure is justified as the 
most cost-effective option to achieve a compel-
ling purpose. The head of an agency shall sub-
mit to the appropriate congressional committees 
a report on any waiver granted under this sub-
paragraph, 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 Sec-
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retary of State determines that attendance for such em-
ployees 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 expendi-
tures 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 participa-
tion of employees from such agency at the con-
ference advanced the mission of the agency; 
‘‘(6) the title of any employee, or any individual 
who is not a Federal employee, whose travel ex-
penses or other conference expenses were paid by the 
agency; 
‘‘(7) the total number of individuals whose trav-
el 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— 
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‘‘(A) describes the cost to the agency of se-
lecting the specific conference venue; 
‘‘(B) describes why the location was se-
lected, including a justification for such selec-
tion; 
‘‘(C) demonstrates the cost efficiency of 
the location; 
‘‘(D) provides a cost benefit analysis of 
holding a conference rather than conducting a 
teleconference; and 
‘‘(E) describes any financial support or 
other assistance from a private entity used to 
pay or defray the costs of the conference, and 
for each case where such support or assistance 
was used, the head of the agency shall include 
a certification that there is no conflict of inter-
est resulting from such support or assistance. 
‘‘(d) FORMAT AND PUBLICATION OF REPORT.—Each 
report posted on the public website under subsection (c) 
shall— 
‘‘(1) be in a searchable electronic format; and 
‘‘(2) remain on that website for at least 5 years 
after the date of posting. 
‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
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‘‘(1) AGENCY.—The term ‘agency’ has the 
meaning given that term under section 5701, but 
does not include the government of the District of 
Columbia. 
‘‘(2) CONFERENCE.—The term ‘conference’ 
means a meeting, retreat, seminar, symposium, or 
event to which an employee travels 25 miles or more 
to attend, that— 
‘‘(A) is held for consultation, education, 
discussion, or training; and 
‘‘(B) is not held entirely at a Government 
facility. 
‘‘(3) INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE.—The term 
‘international conference’ means a conference occur-
ring outside the United States attended by rep-
resentatives of— 
‘‘(A) the Government of the United States; 
and 
‘‘(B) any foreign government, international 
organization, or foreign nongovernmental orga-
nization.’’. 
(b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 
The table of sections for chapter 57 of title 5, United 
States Code, is amended by inserting after the item relat-
ing to section 5711 the following: 
‘‘5712. Limits and transparency for conference and travel spending.’’. 
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(c) ANNUAL TRAVEL EXPENSE LIMITS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of each of fiscal 
years 2013 through 2017, an agency (as defined 
under section 5712(e) of title 5, United States Code, 
as added by subsection (a)) may not make, or obli-
gate to make, expenditures for travel expenses, in an 
aggregate amount greater than 70 percent of the ag-
gregate amount of such expenses for fiscal year 
2010. 
(2) IDENTIFICATION OF TRAVEL EXPENSES.— 
(A) RESPONSIBILITIES.—Not later than 
December 31, 2012, and after consultation with 
the Administrator of General Services and the 
Director of the Administrative Office of the 
United States Courts, the Director of the Office 
of Management and Budget shall establish 
guidelines for the determination of what ex-
penses constitute travel expenses for purposes 
of this subsection. The guidelines shall identify 
specific expenses, and classes of expenses, that 
are to be treated as travel expenses. 
(B) EXEMPTION FOR MILITARY TRAVEL.— 
The guidelines required under subparagraph 
(A) shall exclude military travel expenses in de-
termining what expenses constitute travel ex-
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penses. Military travel expenses shall include 
travel expenses involving military combat, the 
training or deployment of uniformed military 
personnel, and such other travel expenses as de-
termined by the Director of the Office of Man-
agement and Budget, in consultation with the 
Administrator of General Services and the Di-
rector of the Administrative Office of the 
United States Courts. 
Passed the House of Representatives September 11, 
2012. 
Attest: 
KAREN L. HAAS, 
Clerk. 
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