IB 
Union Calendar No. 479 
112TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4631 
[Report No. 112–664] 
To require quarterly reports on agency conferences and meetings, and for 
other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 25, 2012 
Mr. WALSH of Illinois (for himself, Mr. LONG, Mr. MICHAUD, and Mr. PAUL) 
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
Oversight and Government Reform 
SEPTEMBER 11, 2012 
Additional sponsors: Mr. LOEBSACK, Mr. BURGESS, Mr. LANDRY, Mr. 
LUETKEMEYER, and Mr. KELLY 
SEPTEMBER 11, 2012 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
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A BILL 
To require quarterly reports on agency conferences and 
meetings, and for other purposes. 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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. AGENCY REPORTS ON CONFERENCES AND MEET-
INGS. 
(a) QUARTERLY REPORTS REQUIRED.—Not less fre-
quently than quarterly, the head of each agency shall sub-
mit a detailed, itemized report to the relevant committee 
of Congress on any conference or meeting that occurs at 
a location for which the agency must pay a fee or at a 
location not owned, leased, or otherwise controlled by the 
Federal Government and— 
(1) that is attended by 50 or more employees; 
or 
(2) for which the total cost is $100,000 or 
more. 
(b) EXCLUSIONS.—Subsection (a) shall not apply 
with respect to any conference or meeting that the head 
of an agency determines— 
(1) that reporting on such conference or meet-
ing would not be in the interest of national security; 
or 
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(2) is necessary because of an imminent threat 
to health or safety or other emergency. 
(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1)
AGENCY.—The
term
‘‘agency’’
has
the 
meaning given that term in section 551 of title 5, 
United States Code. 
(2) EMPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘employee’’ has the 
meaning given that term in section 2105 of title 5, 
United States Code. 
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 TRAVEL AND CON-
FERENCE SPENDING. 
(a) AMENDMENT.—Chapter 57 of title 5, United States 
Code, is amended by inserting after section 5711 the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘§ 5712. Limits and transparency for travel and con-
ference spending 
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) CONFERENCE.—The term ‘conference’ means 
a meeting, retreat, seminar, symposium, or event to 
which an employee travels 25 miles or more to attend, 
that— 
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‘‘(A) is held for consultation, education, dis-
cussion, or training; and 
‘‘(B) is not held entirely at a Government 
facility. 
‘‘(2) INTERNATIONAL
CONFERENCE.—The term 
‘international conference’ means a conference occur-
ring outside the United States attended by representa-
tives of— 
‘‘(A) the Government of the United States; 
and 
‘‘(B) any foreign government, international 
organization, or foreign nongovernmental orga-
nization. 
‘‘(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 Secretary of State 
determines that attendance for such employees is in the na-
tional interest. 
‘‘(c) REPORT ON TRAVEL EXPENSES REQUIRED.—At 
the beginning of each quarter of each fiscal year, each agen-
cy 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— 
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‘‘(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) in the case of a conference for which that 
agency was the primary sponsor, a statement that— 
‘‘(A) describes the cost to the agency of se-
lecting the specific conference venue; 
‘‘(B) describes why the location was selected, 
including a justification for such selection; 
‘‘(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 cer-
tification that there is no conflict of interest re-
sulting from such support or assistance; 
‘‘(5) the date of the conference; 
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‘‘(6) a brief explanation of how the participation 
of employees from such agency at the conference ad-
vanced the mission of the agency; 
‘‘(7) the title of any employee, or any individual 
who is not a Federal employee, whose travel expenses 
or other conference expenses were paid by the agency; 
and 
‘‘(8) the total number of individuals whose travel 
expenses or other conference expenses were paid by the 
agency. 
‘‘(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.’’. 
(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 relating to 
section 5711 the following: 
‘‘5712. Limits and transparency for travel and conference spending.’’. 
(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 5701 of title 5, United States Code) 
may not make, or obligate to make, expenditures for 
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travel expenses, in an aggregate amount greater than 
70 percent of the aggregate amount of such expenses 
for fiscal year 2010. 
(2) IDENTIFICATION OF TRAVEL EXPENSES.— 
(A) RESPONSIBILITIES.—Not later than De-
cember 31, 2012, and after consultation with the 
Administrator of General Services and the Direc-
tor of the Administrative Office of the United 
States Courts, the Director of the Office of Man-
agement and Budget shall establish guidelines for 
the determination of what expenses 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 deter-
mining what expenses constitute travel expenses. 
Military travel expenses shall include travel ex-
penses involving military combat, the training 
or deployment of uniformed military personnel, 
and such other travel expenses as determined by 
the Director of the Office of Management and 
Budget, in consultation with the Administrator 
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of General Services and the Director of the Ad-
ministrative Office of the United States Courts. 
(d) CONFERENCE TRANSPARENCY AND SPENDING LIM-
ITS.— 
(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 
(A) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the 
meaning given that term under section 5701 of 
title 5, United States Code. 
(B) CONFERENCE.—The term ‘‘conference’’ 
has the meaning given that term under section 
5712(a) of that title 5, United States Code (as 
added by subsection (a)). 
(2) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF CONFERENCE MA-
TERIALS.—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 agen-
cy excludes such information for reasons of national 
security) including— 
(A) the prepared text of any verbal presen-
tation made; and 
(B) any visual, digital, video, or audio ma-
terials presented, including photographs, slides, 
and audio-visual recordings. 
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(3) LIMITS ON AMOUNT EXPENDED ON A CON-
FERENCE.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—An agency may not ex-
pend more than $500,000 to support a single 
conference. 
(B) 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. 
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Union Calendar No. 479 
112TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4631 
[Report No. 112–664] 
A BILL 
To require quarterly reports on agency conferences 
and meetings, and for other purposes. 
SEPTEMBER 11, 2012 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Com-
mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 
and ordered to be printed 
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