WASHINGTON – Sen. Chuck Grassley today introduced comprehensive legislation that would require all federal agencies to establish safeguards and internal controls for government charge card programs as well as establish penalties for violations. The legislation was introduced with Sen. Norm Coleman of Minn. Rep. Joe Wilson of S.C. introduced a companion bill in the House of Representatives.
“These are common sense controls that should be present in every federal agency to prevent improper purchases,” Grassley said. “We’ve seen government employees using their government credit cards on anything from jewelry and furniture to gambling and brothels. I don’t know about other places, but I don’t think Iowans believe this is a good use of their tax dollars.”
Grassley said the legislation would also stipulate that cases of fraud be referred to the U.S. Attorney for prosecution and employees that egregiously misuse or commit fraud with a government charge card be fired. The bill would also increase oversight by providing that each agency Inspector General periodically conduct risk assessments and audits to identify fraud and improper use of credit cards.
Grassley introduced similar legislation in the 108th Congress that was not acted upon. He has worked to expose government credit card abuse since 2001, starting with the Department of Defense. The Government Accountability Office has documented abuses in the Departments of Defense and Housing and Urban Development, the U.S. Forest Service, the Federal Aviation Administration and others.
Following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, Grassley was concerned that a provision raising the limit for emergency "micro-purchases" on government credit cards from $15,000 to $250,000 was ripe for waste, fraud and abuse. At the time, Grassley said that wasting taxpayer money does not help the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Here are the required safeguards and internal controls in the bill.
• performing credit checks for travel card holders and issuing restricted cards for those with poor or no credit to reduce the potential for misuse
• maintaining a record of each cardholder, including single transaction limits and total credit limits so agencies can effectively manage their cardholders
• implementing periodic reviews to determine if cardholders have a need for a card
• properly recording rebates to the government based on prompt payment
• providing training for cardholders and managers
• utilizing available technologies to prevent or catch fraudulent purchases
• establishing specific policies about the number of cards to be issued, the credit limits for certain categories of cardholders, and categories of employees eligible to be issued cards
• invalidating cards when employees leave the agency or transfer
• establishing an approving official other than the purchase card holder so employees cannot approve their own purchases
• reconciling purchase card charges on the bill with receipts and supporting documentation
• submitting disputed purchase card charges to the bank according to the proper procedure
• making purchase card payments promptly to avoid interest penalties
• retaining records of purchase card transactions in accordance with standard government record keeping polices
• utilizing mandatory split disbursements when reimbursing employees for travel card purchases to ensure that travel card bills get paid
• comparing items submitted on travel vouchers with items already paid for with centrally billed accounts to avoid reimbursing employees for items already paid for by the agency
• submitting refund requests for unused airline tickets so the taxpayers don’t pay for tickets that were not used
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