Bonuses for Cost-Cutters Act of 2017

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 378) to amend title 5, United States Code, to enhance the authority under which Federal agencies may pay cash awards to employees for making cost saving disclosures, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I speak in support of H.R. 378, introduced by the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Fleischmann), the Bonuses for Cost- Cutters Act of 2017.

The people in the best position to identify waste throughout the Federal Government are the employees on the front lines at the Federal agencies. They are the ones on the ground who know when agencies waste money. It is in the taxpayers' best interest to encourage Federal employees to report waste when they see it.

H.R. 378 increases the incentive for Federal employees to report wasteful spending by authorizing a reward of up to $20,000 for blowing the whistle on waste. This incentive is especially necessary at the end of the fiscal year when too many agencies adopt a ``use it or lose it'' mentality regarding their budgets.

Some agencies fear that if they do not spend every last dollar in their budget, that Congress will somehow decrease their future funding. That dynamic leads to the most outrageous expenditures in the last week before the end of the fiscal year on September 30.

Under the structure put in place by H.R. 378, agency leadership will also be able to verify that spending identified by whistleblowers is actually wasteful. This was a concern raised by our colleagues in the minority. We are thankful for their constructive work in getting this bill to a mutually agreeable compromise.

The bill also maintains Congress' constitutional role in the appropriations process. As we know, Congress is responsible for authorizing spending by the Federal Government, and this bill is careful to respect that authority.

After the agency's chief financial officer affirms that the spending in question is indeed wasteful, the agency must submit a report to the President. The President may then submit a recommendation to Congress to eliminate the wasteful spending in question.

H.R. 378 is the result of a bipartisan process, and I urge my colleagues to support this bill as an example of what we can achieve when both sides put their minds to reform and husband the taxpayers' dollars.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Fleischmann), the sponsor of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I urge the adoption of the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 378, the Bonuses for Cost- Cutters Act, as reported by the committee. This legislation enhances the existing award program for Federal employees whose identification of waste, fraud, and abuse results in cost savings to an agency.

Every day, Federal employees across the country provide vital services to the American people. They ensure that our veterans receive the benefits to which they are entitled. They work to keep our air safe to breathe and our water safe to drink. They spend long hours and put their lives at risk to safeguard our national and homeland security. And Federal employees are on the front lines in ensuring that these important missions are carried out as effectively and efficiently as possible.

I think we can all agree that no one benefits when taxpayer dollars are wasted. This bill aims to increase government efficiency and save taxpayer dollars by providing incentives to Federal employees to identify wasteful spending. The legislation allows an agency head to award an employee a bonus for the identification of wasteful expenses that result in agency cost savings.

The bill also doubles the amount that an inspector general may award an employee for disclosures of waste, fraud, and abuse that result in cost savings from $10,000 to $20,000.

In addition, the bill contains several accountability measures so that Congress and the American people can determine whether the legislation is working as intended. First, agencies must include information on disclosures of wasteful spending and awards distributed under this legislation in their annual, publicly available, performance report.

The bill also includes a requirement that the director of the Office of Management and Budget submit a report to Congress each year certifying that each agency's cash award program complies with the bill.

In addition, the bill requires a GAO report on the operation of awards program within 3 years, including any recommendations for legislative changes. Democratic members of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee raised concerns about prior versions of this bill, and I want to thank Chairman Gowdy for working with us to address those concerns. The bill we have before us today reflects bipartisan concerns.

We must support Federal employees who identify ways to increase efficiency and reduce waste. I believe this bill does that, and I urge my colleagues to support it.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of my bill, the Bonuses

for Cost-Cutters Act of 2017. I wish to thank the gentleman from Oklahoma and the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia.

Mr. Speaker, what we see today in my bill is what I think the American people want, Republicans and Democrats working together with good, commonsense legislation that makes sense and saves the American taxpayer's money.

Let's face it: whether we are a family or a business, we have to manage our money in the private sector; and the Federal Government, for far too long, has been guilty of spending waste, fraud, and abuse. There have been so many problems, and the American people know it.

When we go home and we talk with our constituents, they want us to be very good stewards of their money, and they deserve that. That is exactly what this bill does, and it does it in a way that does a lot of different things that I think is great.

First of all, as my colleagues on both sides of the aisle have said, it incentivizes Federal employees to detect waste. We all know that government has a tendency, when they have a pool of money, to spend it, whether they need it or not. So if a Federal employee can go in there, find this problem out, tell the agency head, he or she now can get up to $20,000 of incentive pay. So we have incentivized fiscal responsibility in the Federal Government. That is great, and that is just good government.

In addition to that, Mr. Speaker, we look at the United States Constitution, and that is a document that our Founding Fathers gave us and is so important. Why is that so important with this bill? Because when that agency head goes to the President of the United States with this recommendation, the President of the United States has to come where? Back to the Congress, where he should have to come.

When Congress looks at that recommendation from the President, Congress then can make the final determination. So we have fiscal responsibility, we have constitutional sanctity, and we have good government.

Most of all, I want to thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle. We have Republicans and Democrats working together, the way the American people want us to do, to be fiscally responsible.

Mr. Speaker, I urge colleagues on both sides of the aisle to pass this good government bill.