Date: 2013-11-18
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I want to begin by thanking Chairman ISSA and Ranking Member CUMMINGS for working with the university community to address a number of their concerns with specific provisions of H.R. 2061. I understand that the universities are still seeking some improvements to the legislation in order to ensure a transparent. fair. and effective process for improving the collection of data on federal funding. including of research grants to universities. I hope that the Chairman and Ranking Member will continue to work with the universities as this bill moves forward. What concerns me most about this legislation is the sudden inclusion of major portions of H.R. 313 in this otherwise unrelated bill. I expressed my concerns about H.R. 313 when it was under consideration earlier this year. and these concerns remain in place today. I think we can all agree that federal agencies need to be wise and judicious in their use of travel funds. and that highly publicized past abuses. while very much the exception. were a wakeup call for us to exercise stricter oversight of taxpayer dollars. The Administration itself. through the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). has also sought to curb these abuses by instituting new travel caps and new reporting requirements on all agency travel and I applaud them for taking this seriously. However. the scientific community. which includes tens of thousands of federal scientists and engineers at agencies such as the Department of Energy and NASA. depend on facetoface interaction through conferences and workshops to foster innovation and launch new scientific directions. The scientific community. therefore. is rightfully concerned about the unintended consequences of travel restrictions stifling innovation and stunting economic growth by preventing federal scientists from participating fully in scientific exchanges with their fellow scientists and engineers from across the country and the world. Once again. I want to thank Chairman ISSA for taking into consideration some of the concerns expressed by the agencies and the scientific community regarding the travel restrictions in H.R. 313 that have now been incorporated into H.R. 2061. However. this legislation still requires significant improvement. While OMB requires all agencies to publicly report on conference expenses in excess of $100.000. H.R. 2061 would require even more detailed reporting for an agency sending even a single employee to a conference for which the conferences total costwhich may or may not be borne by taxpayer dollarsexceeds $10.000. In other words. while the intent may have been otherwise. the language as written would not create any reasonable threshold for agency reporting. Are we really going to pay agency staff to post an explanation of how the participation of an employee advanced the mission of the agency for every $30 roundtrip train ticket to a large meeting or workshop? It seems to me that in any given fiscal year. the cost of the additional bureaucratic resources necessary to meet this requirement will exceed the actual expenses incurred. I also remain concerned about what I see as arbitrary limits on the number of agency employees who may participate in large. international. scientific conferences and on the total amount an agency may spend not just next year. but through fiscal year 2018. I hope that. if this bill should continue to move forward. my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will work with our colleagues in the other body to continue to perfect this bill. As the Ranking Member of the Committee on Science. Space. and Technology. I stand by to assist in whatever way I can to ensure that we do not implement new regulations with unintended negative consequences for the progress of U.S. health. science. and innovation.