Oversight Hearing Marks Federal Spending Transparency Achievements, Progress on DATA Act Implementation

December 3, 2014

Today, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a hearing on implementation of The Digital Accountability and Transparency Act (DATA Act), transformative federal spending transparency legislation that was first introduced by Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Ranking Member Elijah Cummings (D-MD) in 2011 and signed into law this year by President Obama. Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) and Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), who sponsored the DATA Act in the Senate, testified in support of timely and effective implementation of the DATA Act. Panelists included U.S. Comptroller General Gene Dodaro, who testified on achievements and obstacles as federal agencies work to comply with provisions of the legislation to establish government-wide structured data requirements. Once the Chairman and Ranking Member’s opening statements had concluded, Chairman-elect Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) presented Chairman Issa with an honorary gavel.

WATCH: Honorary Gavel Presentation

 

Rep. Chaffetz: Mr. Chairman? May I ask unanimous consent to speak out of order for one minute?

Rep. Issa: Without objection so ordered.

Rep. Chaffetz: I wanted to take an opportunity here, one of our last hearings in this 113th Congress, and on behalf of members on both sides of the aisle, I want to thank you for your service, and your tenacity, your love of, and passion for this committee, and your love and passion for this country. You have tackled some very difficult issues—you have plowed ground where it hasn’t been plowed before, and there are members here, again, on both sides of the aisle—they’re very grateful for your service and your commitment, and your love of what we do. And, it’s contagious. I personally came here as a young, fresh, eager-eyed person, and you opened up the opportunities and gave a lot of leash to a lot of us to do things that we didn’t think we would be allowed to do, and other committees, they aren’t allowed to do. But you have made us proud in every respect. We want to thank you for your leadership in every way, shape, and form. You’ve carried a fairly big gavel here, and we have a token of our appreciation. With a little indulgence here, I’d like to present that on behalf of the members here and the Committee, and thank you again for all that you’ve done.

Rep. Issa (aside): Elijah, I needed this sooner!

Rep. Issa: Senators, you gotta behave.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY): Mr. Chairman, may I be recognized for one minute out of order?

Rep. Issa: With the indulgence of our Senate visitors, so ordered.

Rep. Maloney: Surprise! Let me tell you I have never enjoyed—I enjoy fighting with you more than anyone. And believe me, this is a compliment. You don’t need that big thing, I mean you are not a pushover—you stand up for what you believe in. And very briefly, this bill is incredibly important, it is deep and strong—implemented properly it will make more trust in government from the American taxpayer. It’s a significant tribute to you and Mr. Cummings working together to make government work better for people, so I join my words in congratulating you.

Rep. Issa: Thank you, and Senators: I apologize for not giving you a Fox moment.

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA): Mr. Chairman?

Rep. Issa: The gentleman from Virginia?

Rep. Connolly: I thank you, and I hope my colleagues from the Senate will indulge—I want to congratulate you as well, and I can only thank God you did not have that gavel when you began your chairmanship. But it is fitting that you get it at the end of your tenure, and I just want to congratulate you today on the news that the FITARA legislation, the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act, is in fact headed for passage both in the Senate and in the House, and I say congratulations to you. It was an honor collaborating with you on such an important topic, and it’s a great way to cap your career as Chairman of this committee. Congratulations.

Rep. Issa: Thank you, all other accolades can wait until the Senators have gone, to get to their vote, because I do know you have a vote in just a few minutes.

The DATA Act establishes government-wide structured data standards for contracts, loans and grants. The law establishes a two-year pilot for consolidated recipient reporting for entities receiving federal taxpayer funds, including states, localities, and universities. The law authorizes the Treasury Department to create a data analytics center to enable law enforcement and federal agency inspectors general to prevent improper payments. The DATA Act will improve the quality of federal spending data by requiring spending information to be made available on a single website, USAspending.gov, allowing lawmakers, watchdogs and the public to track federal dollars in a standardized, downloadable and machine-readable format.

U.S. Comptroller General Gene Dodaro testified today on the potential of the full implementation of DATA to address persistent and longstanding government management issues: “Effective implementation would help promote transparency to the public and address ongoing government management challenges by expanding the quality and availability of federal spending data. Having better data also will make it possible to gauge the magnitude of the federal investment, help agencies make fully informed decisions about how federal resources should be allocated, and provide agencies and the audit community with additional data analytic tools to detect and prevent improper payments and fraudulent spending.” The Comptroller General also testified that the GAO has begun coordination with other oversight entities, including agency inspectors general, to keep a close watch on implementation going forward.

Fiscal Assistant Secretary David Lebryk at the U.S. Department of the Treasury testified on how “the DATA Act provides not only an opportunity to improve Federal spending transparency for the public, but also an opportunity to improve how we manage the Federal Government internally. Better data leads to better decisions and ultimately a better government.” Mr. Lebryck also testified that Treasury is currently “assessing the existing capabilities of our Do Not Pay Business Center as compared to the capabilities of the Recovery Operations Center (ROC).” The DATA Act authorizes Treasury to establish a data analytics center modeled on the Recovery Board’s Recovery Operations Center (ROC) to help prevent improper payments and assist law enforcement agencies and agency inspectors general in criminal and other investigations.

Office of Management and Budget Controller David Mader testified that, “expanding and improving the intra-governmental and inter-governmental communication of how Federal dollars are spent empowers us with information to make the most efficient, effective decisions about how to allocate and apply the scarce resources that we have.” Mr. Mader also clarified that the data standards established under the law will be mandatory at all federal agencies.

Click here to watch the full video of today’s hearing.

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