IIB
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1442
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
AUGUST 3, 1999
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Governmental Affairs
AN ACT
To reduce waste, fraud, and error in Government programs
by making improvements with respect to Federal man-
agement and debt collection practices, Federal payment
systems, Federal benefit programs, and for other pur-
poses.
HR 1442 RFS
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the
‘‘Government Waste, Fraud, and Error Reduction Act of
1999’’.
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for
this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Purposes.
Sec. 3. Definition.
Sec. 4. Application of Act.
TITLE I—GENERAL MANAGEMENT IMPROVEMENTS
Sec. 101. Improving financial management.
Sec. 102. Improving travel management.
TITLE II—IMPROVING FEDERAL DEBT COLLECTION PRACTICES
Sec. 201. Miscellaneous corrections to subchapter II of chapter 37 of title 31,
United States Code.
Sec. 202. Barring delinquent Federal debtors from obtaining Federal benefits.
Sec. 203. Collection and compromise of nontax debts and claims.
TITLE III—SALE OF NONTAX DEBTS OWED TO UNITED STATES
Sec. 301. Authority to sell nontax debts.
Sec. 302. Requirement to sell certain nontax debts.
TITLE IV—TREATMENT OF HIGH VALUE NONTAX DEBTS
Sec. 401. Annual report on high value nontax debts.
Sec. 402. Review by Inspectors General.
Sec. 403. Requirement to seek seizure and forfeiture of assets securing high
value nontax debt.
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TITLE V—FEDERAL PAYMENTS
Sec. 501. Transfer of responsibility to Secretary of the Treasury with respect
to prompt payment.
Sec. 502. Promoting electronic payments.
Sec. 503. Debt services account.
TITLE VI—FEDERAL PROPERTY
Sec. 601. Amendment to Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of
1949.
SEC. 2. PURPOSES.
The purposes of this Act are the following:
(1) To reduce waste, fraud, and error in Fed-
eral benefit programs.
(2) To focus Federal agency management at-
tention on high-risk programs.
(3) To better collect debts owed to the United
States.
(4) To improve Federal payment systems.
(5) To improve reporting on Government oper-
ations.
SEC. 3. DEFINITION.
As used in this Act, the term ‘‘nontax debt’’ means
any debt (within the meaning of that term as used in
chapter 37 of title 31, United States Code) other than a
debt under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 or the Tar-
iff Act of 1930.
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SEC. 4. APPLICATION OF ACT.
No provision of this Act shall apply to the Depart-
ment of the Treasury or the Internal Revenue Service to
the extent that such provision—
(1) involves the administration of the internal
revenue laws; or
(2) conflicts with the Internal Revenue Service
Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998, the Internal
Revenue Code of 1986, or the Tariff Act of 1930.
TITLE I—GENERAL
MANAGEMENT IMPROVEMENTS
SEC. 101. IMPROVING FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT.
Section 3515 of title 31, United States Code, is
amended—
(1) in subsection (a)—
(A) by striking ‘‘1997’’ and inserting
‘‘2000’’; and
(B) by inserting ‘‘Congress and’’ after
‘‘submit to’’; and
(2) by striking subsections (e), (f), (g), and (h).
SEC. 102. IMPROVING TRAVEL MANAGEMENT.
(a) LIMITED EXCLUSION FROM REQUIREMENT RE-
GARDING OCCUPATION OF QUARTERS.—Section 5911(e)
of title 5, United States Code, is amended by adding at
the end the following new sentence: ‘‘The preceding sen-