Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, has introduced S-3480, designed to address the repeated instances of wasteful and abusive use of travel cards and purchase cards by federal employees.
Grassley noted that much of the misspending that has come to light in inspector general and Government Accountability Office reports–including purchase of jewelry, a dinner party, reclining rocking chairs, gambling, concert tickets and other unauthorized spending–related to cards issued by the Defense Department and at least in some cases involved military personnel, not federal employees. However, he added that similar problems have been revealed in other agencies, including the Forest Service, Housing and Urban Development and the Federal Aviation Administration.
His proposal would tighten controls over use of the cards in numerous ways, including performing credit checks for travel cardholders 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; and utilizing available technologies to prevent or catch fraudulent purchases.
In addition, agency inspectors general would periodically conduct risk assessments of agency purchase card and travel card programs and perform periodic audits to identify potential fraudulent, improper, and abusive use of cards. His bill further requires penalties–in cases of serious misuse or fraud, employees would have to be fired, and suspected cases of fraud would be referred to the appropriate U.S. attorney for prosecution under federal antifraud laws.
