Senate passes bill to crack down on government credit cards

The Senate late Wednesday passed legislation creating an office to monitor what agencies charge to government-issued credit cards.

The Saving Federal Dollars Through Better Use of Government Purchase and Travel Cards Act of 2015, introduced by Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) in June, passed by unanimous consent.

The bill directs the General Services Administration (GSA) to establish an Office of Federal Charge Card Analytics and Review (OFCCAR) that will be charged with improving the use and oversight of purchases made by federal agencies and programs.

{mosads}The office will be responsible for reviewing purchases and travel transactions for all federal agencies, and establishing a library of analytical tools and data sources that can be used by government.

Carper called the bill “common sense legislation” to prevent potential abuse and misuse of government charge cards.

“While federal agencies have made progress in strengthening financial controls over government travel and purchase cards, more needs to be done to eliminate wasteful charge card spending,” he said in a statement.

“Congress must continue to work across the aisle to ensure that federal agencies crack down on charge card abuse and taxpayer dollars are being spent responsibly across the federal government.”

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said the legislation builds on the Government Charge Card Abuse Prevention Act he was able to get passed in 2012, by adding government oversight.

“Earlier this year, a Defense Department inspector general report, which was drafted in response to the 2012 law, highlighted some areas where the Defense Department was not properly implementing the required controls and flagged casinos as a high risk for misuse of charge cards,” he said in a statement.

“Our bill will make sure we’re looking for similar patterns of misuse across all federal agencies and that agencies are sharing best practices to prevent misuse and identify potential cost savings.”