During preliminary voting on its version of the 2005
Transportation-Treasury appropriations bill, the House
struck out for technical reasons language that would have
required agencies to evaluate the creditworthiness of an
individual before issuing him or her a government purchase
card or travel charge card.
The language had been put in the measure as a reaction to a
string of reports from agency inspectors general and the
Government Accountability Office of abuses of the cards,
including purchases of personal and other inappropriate
goods and services. It would have barred issuance of those
cards to those who either lack a credit history or are found
to have an unsatisfactory one.
The language also would have required agencies to set
policies for disciplinary actions to be take for improper,
fraudulent or abusive use of the cards.
It was struck as impermissible setting of new policy in a
spending bill.
