We are broke. Our national credit card bill has now topped $15 Trillion. Our debt has now eclipsed our entire GDP. Each year our government operates on a $1.5 Trillion dollar deficit, a deficit that is larger than our entire federal budget used to be when I first came to Congress. In 12 years, the Medicare Trust Fund will be bankrupt, in 20 years the Social Security Trust Fund will be bankrupt. Our military is facing cuts so drastic we will see the US reduced to the smallest Navy since WWI and the smallest Air Force since its inception. We are broke.
Recently, in between the news stories of continued record unemployment, skyrocketing gas prices and European nations like Greece going up in flames due to their crippling national debt and forced austerity measures (a course we are quickly following), we learned of a lavish conference held in Las Vegas by the GSA.
This conference, complete with all the Vegas luxuries of flashy shows, flowing alcohol, exquisite food and all the other 5 star amenities Sin City affords, rung up to a grand total of $820,000 plus. This nearly million dollar price tag included spending for frills such as a clown, a mind reader and a comedian for conference attendees’ entertainment. There is absolutely nothing funny about this circus.
In the wake of this debacle, the government spending free-for-all that plagues Washington has taken center stage, and an utter lack of government accountability has been exposed. The fact that government agencies were able to put on lavish conferences filled with luxury amenities at all, let alone during one of the worst financial crises our country has ever experienced, is beyond comprehension. Hard working Americans are struggling to put food on the table while watching more of each paycheck go to the government, while federal employees sip champagne on the taxpayer’s dime: it’s unacceptable and has to change.
Center to the problem is the lack of accountability recipients of federal monies have to Congress and the taxpayers. Federal dollars are dispersed and that is where the accounting trail ends. Federal spending data, as currently available publicly, is not accurate, consistent or complete. Nobody can follow the money without hours of investigation and analysis. Unless you’re a forensic accountant, it’s impossible to track where tax dollars are going after they leave the government coffers.
Congress acted with H.R. 2146, the Digital Accountability Transparency Act (“DATA”), legislation aimed at reforming the way federal tax dollars are tracked and spent. This bill establishes strong, universal data and reporting standards for government spending. Currently, all the recipients of federal funds are subject to complex, inconsistent and duplicative local, state and federal reporting requirements. This act will consolidate reporting requirements and combine spending information from recipients of federal funds on a single electronic platform, and will make all the spending and accounting information available online.
Additionally, federal civilian travel spending has nearly doubled in the past decade, despite advances in telecommunications and technology. The recent uncovering of frivolous spending by the GSA, is quite possibly just one example of gross government agency irresponsibility. DATA will cap non-military travel spending at 20% below FY10 levels, abolishing lavish conferences and saving hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars per year. DATA caps the number of conferences agencies can have, and the amount of money that can be spent on them.
DATA is based on implementing across the board, a high-tech and affordable forensic accounting system that has been utilized in tracking federal funds given out through the Stimulus, known as the Recovery Operation Center (“ROC”). As of August 31, 2011, ROC had: recovered and prevented $29 million in improper Stimulus payments, helped inspector generals recommend nearly $900 million in savings out of $200 billion in spending, secured 219 indictments and 1643 investigations into potential fraud.
This bill allows for taxpayers to track how their money is spent, supplies Congress with the information needed to legitimately examine federal spending and identify specific examples of waste and/or fraud, and caps travel spending, eliminating expensive conferences and trips. DATA will provide the American people with access to the information they deserve as taxpayers, and will require all recipients of federal dollars act as trustworthy stewards of tax dollars.
Rightfully, the American people have demanded real accountability and transparency in how their hard earned tax dollars are spent, and Congress has acted. We have a government for the people, by the people, and it is time it started acting accordingly.