IB 
Union Calendar No. 131 
113TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 313 
[Report No. 113–183] 
To amend title 5, United States Code, to institute spending limits and 
transparency requirements for Federal conference and travel expendi-
tures, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 18, 2013 
Mrs. EMERSON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 
JULY 30, 2013 
Additional sponsors: Mr. FITZPATRICK and Mr. LANKFORD 
JULY 30, 2013 
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] 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on January 18, 2013] 
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A BILL 
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. 
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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 2013’’ or the ‘‘GSA Act of 2013’’. 
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 fol-
lowing: 
‘‘§ 5712. Limits and transparency for conference and 
travel spending 
‘‘(a) CONFERENCE TRANSPARENCY
AND SPENDING 
LIMITS.— 
‘‘(1) 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 
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‘‘(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.— 
‘‘(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 compelling 
purpose. The head of an agency shall submit to 
the appropriate congressional committees a re-
port on any waiver granted under this subpara-
graph, including the justification for such waiv-
er. 
‘‘(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. 
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‘‘(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, or the head of the agency determines that 
attendance for such employees is critical to the agency’s 
mission. The Secretary of State and the head of an agency 
shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a 
report on any waiver granted under this subsection, includ-
ing the justification for such waiver. 
‘‘(c) REPORTING ON TRAVEL AND CONFERENCE EX-
PENSES 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 that costs more 
than $10,000 for which the agency paid travel expenses dur-
ing the preceding 3 months that includes— 
‘‘(1) the itemized expenses paid by the agency, 
including travel, lodging, and meal expenses, and any 
other agency expenditures to otherwise support the 
conference; 
‘‘(2) the primary sponsor of the conference; 
‘‘(3) the location of the conference; 
‘‘(4) the date of the conference; 
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‘‘(5) a brief explanation of how the participation 
of employees from such agency at the conference ad-
vanced the mission of the agency; 
‘‘(6) 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; 
‘‘(7) the total number of individuals whose travel 
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— 
‘‘(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-
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tification that there is no conflict of interest re-
sulting from such support or assistance. 
‘‘(d) FORMAT AND PUBLICATION OF REPORTS.—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: 
‘‘(1) AGENCY.—The term ‘agency’ has the mean-
ing 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 
that— 
‘‘(A) is held for consultation, education, dis-
cussion, 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 representa-
tives of— 
‘‘(A) the Government of the United States; 
and 
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‘‘(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 relating to 
section 5711 the following: 
‘‘5712. Limits and transparency for conference and travel spending.’’. 
(c) ANNUAL TRAVEL EXPENSE LIMITS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of each of fiscal 
years 2014 through 2018, an agency (as defined 
under section 5712(e) of title 5, United States Code, 
as added by subsection (a)) may not make, or obligate 
to make, expenditures for travel expenses, in an ag-
gregate amount greater than 70 percent of the aggre-
gate amount of such expenses for fiscal year 2010. 
(2) IDENTIFICATION OF TRAVEL EXPENSES.— 
(A) RESPONSIBILITIES.—Not later than 
September 30, 2013, 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 guide-
lines for the determination of what expenses con-
stitute travel expenses for purposes of this sub-
section. The guidelines shall identify specific ex-
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penses, 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 
of General Services and the Director of the Ad-
ministrative Office of the United States Courts. 
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