I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3329
To prevent abuse of Government credit cards. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 16, 2003
Mr. WILSON
of South Carolina (for himself, Mr. HENSARLING, Mrs. 
BLACKBURN, Mr. GOODE, Mrs. MYRICK, Mr. KINGSTON, Mr. CHOCOLA, 
Mr. BARRETT
of South Carolina, Mr. PAUL, Mr. PLATTS, Mrs. 
MUSGRAVE, Mrs. NORTHUP, Mr. GREEN of Wisconsin, and Mr. PUTNAM) 
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
Government Reform, and in addition to the Committee on Armed Serv-
ices, 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 prevent abuse of Government credit cards.
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 ‘‘Credit Card Abuse 
Prevention Act of 2003’’. 
SEC. 2. MANAGEMENT OF PURCHASE CARDS. 
(a) REQUIRED SAFEGUARDS AND INTERNAL CON-
TROLS.—The head of each executive agency that issues
and uses purchase cards and convenience checks shall es-
tablish and maintain safeguards and internal controls to 
ensure the following: 
(1) That there is a record in each executive 
agency of each holder of a purchase card issued by 
the agency for official use, annotated with the limi-
tations on single transaction and total credit 
amounts that are applicable to the use of each such 
card by that purchase cardholder. 
(2) That the holder of a purchase card and 
each official with authority to authorize expenditures 
charged to the purchase card are responsible for rec-
onciling the charges appearing on each statement of 
account for that purchase card with receipts and 
other supporting documentation and forwarding 
such reconciliation to the designated official who cer-
tifies the bill for payment in a timely manner. 
(3) That any disputed purchase card charge, 
and any discrepancy between a receipt and other 
supporting documentation and the purchase card 
statement of account, is resolved in the manner pre-
scribed in the applicable Governmentwide purchase 
card contract entered into by the Administrator of 
General Services.
(4) That payments on purchase card accounts 
are made promptly within prescribed deadlines to 
avoid interest penalties. 
(5) That rebates and refunds based on prompt 
payment on purchase card accounts are monitored 
for accuracy and properly recorded as a receipt to 
the agency that pays the monthly bill. 
(6) That records of each purchase card trans-
action (including records on associated contracts, re-
ports, accounts, and invoices) are retained in accord-
ance with standard Government policies on the dis-
position of records. 
(7) That periodic reviews are performed to de-
termine whether each purchase cardholder has a 
need for the purchase card. 
(8) That appropriate training is provided to 
each purchase cardholder and each official with re-
sponsibility for overseeing the use of purchase cards 
issued by an executive agency. 
(9) That each executive agency has specific 
policies regarding the number of purchase cards 
issued by various organizations and categories of or-
ganizations, the credit limits authorized for various 
categories of cardholders, and categories of employ-
ees eligible to be issued purchase cards, and that
those policies are designed to minimize the financial 
risk to the Federal Government of the issuance of 
the purchase cards and to ensure the integrity of 
purchase cardholders. 
(10) That the head of each executive agency 
evaluate the creditworthiness of an individual before 
issuing the individual a purchase card, and that no 
individual be issued a purchase card if the individual 
is found not creditworthy as a result of the evalua-
tion. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 
such evaluation shall include an assessment of an in-
dividual’s consumer report from a consumer report-
ing agency as those terms are defined in section 603 
of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The obtaining of 
a consumer report under this subsection is deemed 
to be a circumstance or purpose authorized or listed 
under section 604 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. 
(11) That each executive agency invalidate the 
purchase card of each employee who—
(A) ceases to be employed by the agency 
immediately upon termination of the employ-
ment of the employee; or 
(B) transfers to another unit of the agency 
immediately upon the transfer of the employee.
(b) MANAGEMENT OF PURCHASE CARDS.—The head 
of each executive agency shall prescribe regulations imple-
menting the safeguards and internal controls in subsection 
(a). Those regulations shall be consistent with regulations 
that apply Governmentwide regarding the use of purchase 
cards by Government personnel for official purposes. 
(c) PENALTIES FOR VIOLATIONS.—The regulations 
prescribed under subsection (a) shall provide for appro-
priate adverse personnel actions or other punishment to 
be imposed in cases in which employees of an executive 
agency violate such regulations or are negligent or engage 
in misuse, abuse, or fraud with respect to a purchase card, 
including removal in appropriate cases. 
(d) The Inspector General of each executive agency 
shall—
(1) periodically conduct risk assessments of the 
agency purchase card program and associated inter-
nal controls and analyze identified weaknesses and 
the frequency of improper activity in order to de-
velop a plan for using such risk assessments to de-
termine the scope, frequency, and number of peri-
odic audits of purchase cardholders; 
(2) perform periodic audits of purchase card-
holders designed to identify—
(A) potentially fraudulent, improper, and 
abusive uses of purchase cards; 
(B) any patterns of improper cardholder 
transactions, such as purchases of prohibited 
items; and 
(C) categories of purchases that should be 
made by means other than purchase cards in 
order to better aggregate purchases and obtain 
lower prices; 
(3) report to the head of the executive agency 
concerned on the results of such audits; and 
(4) report to the Director of the Office of Man-
agement and Budget and the Comptroller General 
on the implementation of recommendations made to 
the head of the executive agency to address findings 
during audits of purchase cardholders. 
(e) DEFINITION OF EXECUTIVE AGENCY.—For the 
purpose of this section the term ‘‘executive agency’’ has 
the meaning provided in section 4(1) of the Office of Fed-
eral Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 403(1)). 
(f) RELATIONSHIP TO DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 
PURCHASE CARD REGULATIONS.—
(1) The requirements under this section shall 
not apply to the Department of Defense.
(2) Section 2784(b) of title 10, United States 
Code, is amended—
(A) in paragraph (8), by striking ‘‘periodic 
audits’’ and inserting ‘‘risk assessments of the 
agency purchase card program and associated 
internal controls and analyze identified weak-
nesses and the frequency of improper activity in 
order to develop a plan for using such risk as-
sessments to determine the scope, frequency, 
and number of periodic audits of purchase card-
holders.’’; and 
(B) by adding at the end the following new 
paragraphs: 
‘‘(11) That the Secretary of Defense shall 
evaluate the creditworthiness of an individual before 
issuing the individual a purchase card, and that no 
individual be issued a purchase card if the individual 
is not found creditworthy as a result of the evalua-
tion. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 
such evaluation shall include an assessment of an in-
dividual’s consumer report from a consumer report-
ing agency as those terms are defined in section 603 
of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The obtaining of 
a consumer report under this subsection is deemed
to be a circumstance or purpose authorized or listed 
under section 604 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. 
‘‘(12) That the Secretary of Defense invalidate 
the purchase card of each employee who ceases to be 
employed by the department immediately upon ter-
mination of the employment of the employee or 
transfers to another agency or subunit within the 
department immediately upon transfer.’’. 
SEC. 3. MANAGEMENT OF TRAVEL CARDS. 
Section 2 of the Travel and Transportation Reform 
Act of 1998 (Public Law 105–264; 5 U.S.C. 5701 note) 
is amended by adding at the end the following new sub-
section: 
‘‘(h) MANAGEMENT OF TRAVEL CHARGE CARDS.—
‘‘(1) REQUIRED
SAFEGUARDS
AND
INTERNAL 
CONTROLS.—The head of each executive agency that 
has employees that use travel charge cards shall es-
tablish and maintain safeguards and internal con-
trols over travel charge cards to ensure the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(A) That there is a record in each execu-
tive agency of each holder of a travel charge 
card issued by the agency for official use, anno-
tated with the limitations on amounts that are
applicable to the use of each such card by that 
travel charge cardholder. 
‘‘(B) That rebates and refunds based on 
prompt payment on travel charge card accounts 
are properly recorded as a receipt of the agency 
that employs the cardholder. 
‘‘(C) That periodic reviews are performed 
to determine whether each travel charge card-
holder has a need for the travel charge card. 
‘‘(D) That appropriate training is provided 
to each travel charge cardholder and each offi-
cial with responsibility for overseeing the use of 
travel charge cards issued by an executive agen-
cy. 
‘‘(E) That each executive agency has spe-
cific policies regarding the number of travel 
charge cards issued by various organizations 
and categories of organizations, the credit limits 
authorized for various categories of cardholders, 
and categories of employees eligible to be issued 
travel charge cards, and that those policies are 
designed to minimize the financial risk to the 
Federal Government of the issuance of the trav-
el charge cards and to ensure the integrity of 
travel charge cardholders.
‘‘(F) That the head of each executive agen-
cy evaluates the creditworthiness of an indi-
vidual before issuing the individual a travel 
charge card, and that no individual be issued a 
travel charge card if the individual is found not 
creditworthy as a result of the evaluation (ex-
cept that this paragraph shall not preclude 
issuance of a restricted use travel charge card 
when the individual lacks a credit history). Not-
withstanding any other provision of law, such 
evaluation shall include an assessment of an in-
dividual’s consumer report from a consumer re-
porting agency as those terms are defined in 
section 603 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. 
The obtaining of a consumer report under this 
subsection is deemed to be a circumstance or 
purpose authorized or listed under section 604 
of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. 
‘‘(G) That each executive agency ensures 
that the travel charge card of each employee 
who ceases to be employed by the agency is in-
validated immediately upon termination of the 
employment of the employee. 
‘‘(2) REGULATIONS.—The Administrator of 
General Services shall prescribe regulations gov-
erning the implementation of the safeguards and in-
ternal controls in paragraph (1) by executive agen-
cies. 
‘‘(3) PENALTIES FOR VIOLATIONS.—The regu-
lations prescribed under paragraph (2) shall provide 
for appropriate adverse personnel actions or other 
punishment to be imposed in cases in which employ-
ees of an executive agency violate such regulations 
or are negligent or engage in misuse, abuse, or fraud 
with respect to a travel charge card, including re-
moval in appropriate cases. 
‘‘(4) The Inspector General of each executive 
agency shall—
‘‘(A) periodically conduct risk assessments 
of the agency travel card program and associ-
ated internal controls and analyze identified 
weaknesses and the frequency of improper ac-
tivity in order to develop a plan for using such 
risk assessments to determine the scope, fre-
quency, and number of periodic audits of pur-
chase cardholders; 
‘‘(B) perform periodic audits of travel 
cardholders designed to identify potentially 
fraudulent, improper, and abusive uses of travel 
cards;
‘‘(C) report to the head of the executive 
agency concerned on the results of such audits; 
and 
‘‘(D) report to the Director of the Office of 
Management and Budget and the Comptroller 
General on the implementation of recommenda-
tions made to the head of the executive agency 
to address findings during audits of travel card-
holders. 
‘‘(5) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this sub-
section: 
‘‘(A) The term ‘executive agency’ means an 
agency as that term is defined in section 5701 
of title 5, United States Code, except that it is 
in the executive branch. 
‘‘(B) The term ‘travel charge card’ means 
the Federal contractor-issued travel charge card 
that is individually billed to each cardholder.’’. 
SEC. 4. REGULATIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act—
(1) the head of each executive agency shall pro-
mulgate regulations to implement the requirements 
of section 2; and
(2) the Administrator of General Services shall 
promulgate regulations required pursuant to the 
amendments made by section 3. 
(b) BEST
PRACTICES.—Regulations promulgated 
under this section shall reflect best practices for con-
ducting purchase and travel card programs.
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