Government Funding Transparency Act of 2008
GOVERNMENT FUNDING TRANSPARENCY ACT OF 2008 -- (House of Representatives - April 23, 2008)
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Mr. DAVIS of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
(Mr. DAVIS of Virginia asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. DAVIS of Virginia. Let me thank Chairman Waxman and the author of this bill, Mr. Murphy of Connecticut, for reaching out. I think we have a pretty good work product at the end of this. I think what started as a germination of one idea going in one direction, as we sat and discussed and talked about it, we have a more inclusive bill that I think gets the gentleman the information that he thought should be public. But I think is even more encompassing and shines even more sunshine on government. And I'm happy to get up here today and speak for this legislation.
Specifically, H.R. 3928 will require any nonpublic company receiving more than $25 million from the Federal sources, whether it is grants, loans, cooperative agreements, contracts, and other forms of financial assistance and earning 80 percent of its revenue from those sources, to disclose the names and total compensation of the organization's five most highly compensated officers. The mandatory disclosure of this type of information on a public Web site is what will ensue.
As introduced, the bill would have accomplished, I think, a much more limited scope, but in working with the author of this bill, we now expand the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act that was authored last year by myself and Mr. Blunt and in the Senate by Mr. Coburn and Mr. Obama, to include compensation disclosures for all entities receiving more than $25 million a year.
This isn't a contracting reform bill in the strictest sense of the word, but it is a disclosure bill that I think will shed much sunlight on government. And transparency in government is very fundamental. Sunshine is the best disinfectant.
I want to again thank Chairman Waxman and Mr. Murphy and their staff for a willingness to work to make an open-government bill, one that I think will have good ramifications in the years ahead.
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Today we rise to take up H.R. 3928, the Government Funding Transparency Act. This legislation would expand the Federal spending database created by the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 to include information about the compensation of management officials of private entities receiving most of their revenues from the Federal Government.
Specifically, H.R. 3928 would require any non-public company receiving more than $25 million from Federal sources--such as grants, loans, cooperative agreements, contracts, and other forms of financial assistance, and earning 80 percent of its revenue from those sources--to disclose the names and total compensation of the organization's five most highly compensated officers.
As introduced, the bill would have set the threshold at $5 million from Federal sources instead of the $25 million threshold in the bill we are considering today; focused exclusively on ``contracts'' rather than all recipients of Federal funds; required a contract certification regarding the percentage of revenues received from the Federal Government; and placed the salary information on the Federal Procurement Data System, which is only for information on Government acquisitions.
The mandatory disclosure of this type of information--on a public Web site--would have had no useful purpose for contracting officials.
Information regarding salaries of top company officials can be useful under certain cost-type contracts where the Government reimburses a firm for its reasonable and allowable costs plus a fee. Under current acquisition regulations governing such contracts, this information is already available to Government contracting officials. In fact, procurement regulations place a ceiling on executive compensation costs which can be reimbursed under such cost-type contracts.
Moreover, this information is also available to contracting officials--to the extent it is relevant--during the negotiations leading up to the award of a fixed-priced contract.
As introduced, H.R. 3928 would have accomplished nothing other than to discourage the participation of privately held firms in the Government market--which would decrease competition and, ultimately, increase Government costs.
I am pleased to say I have been able to work with Chairman WAXMAN and the bill's sponsor, Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut, to bring to the floor today a bill which has matured into an ``open government'' bill.
The bill now expands the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, authored by Mr. BLUNT and me last Congress, to include compensation disclosure for all entities receiving more than $25 million a year in Government funds from such sources as contracts, grants, loans, cooperative agreements and other forms of financial assistance--as long as these Federal funds make up 80 percent or more of their income.
But again I must say, this bill, while much improved, is not a ``contracting reform'' bill and will do little to improve the ability of the Federal Government to get the best value goods and services it needs at fair and reasonable prices.
But, transparency in Government is fundamental--as I've always said, ``Sunshine is the best disinfectant.'' So I thank Chairman WAXMAN and Mr. MURPHY and the staff for their willingness to work with us to make this an ``open government'' bill.
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