Working to Stop Abuse of Government Charge Cards

There’s good news about my effort to crack down on the abuse of government charge cards by government workers.  The reform bill I’ve sponsored to establish safeguards, controls and penalties is on its way to the full Senate, after winning unanimous approval from the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

This bill is about accountability.  The public trust has been violated by abusive use of government charge cards.  The federal bureaucracy needs to improve the way it manages the use of these cards.

My effort to make abuses illegal responds to outrageous accounts of purchases made with government charge cards, as well as independent analysis which found inadequate and inconsistent controls within government agencies.  At issue are purchase cards, which are used by authorized federal employees for the small-scale items needed for official business, such as office supplies, as well as travel cards, which are issued to federal employees to pay for official travel expenses.

I’ve put the spotlight on problematic use of these cards for the last decade, first at the Department of Defense and then also at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the U.S. Forest Service, the Federal Aviation Administration, and elsewhere.

Over the years, the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office has documented fraudulent, questionable and overly expensive purchases made by federal workers with government purchase and travel cards, including kitchen appliances, jewelry, gambling, cruises, and even the tab at gentlemen’s clubs and legalized brothels.

Here’s a link to more information about the Government Charge Card Abuse Prevention Act, S.300.  The Senate passed the reform in 2009, but the House of Representatives never took it up.  I hope that will change under the new leadership of the House.