Federal Financial Assistance Management Improvement Act Of 2009

Floor Speech

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

Madam Speaker, on behalf of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and Chairman ED TOWNS, I am proud to present S. 303, the Federal Financial Assistance Management Improvement Act of 2009, for consideration.

Senate 303 was introduced by Senator GEORGE VOINOVICH of Ohio on January 22, 2009, and passed by the United States Senate on March 17, 2009, by unanimous consent. The legislation was subsequently referred to the House Oversight Committee on March 18, 2009, and approved with a manager's amendment on December 10, 2009, by voice vote.

Madam Speaker, the legislation will reauthorize and enhance the Federal Financial Assistance Management Improvement Act of 1999. Specifically, Senate 303 reauthorizes and makes significant enhancements to the Web site, www.grants.gov, which serves as a central location for grant applicants to search and apply for Federal grants, as well as to submit the necessary financial reports. The Web site is a one-stop-shop for grant recipients, alleviating much of the paperwork burden that has traditionally been associated with the grant application process and allowing recipients to focus their attention on serving the American public.

In addition to reauthorizing the grants.gov Web site, Senate 303 directs the Office of Management and Budget to improve the administration of Federal grants and submit corresponding reports to Congress on its progress towards this end.

I'd also like to note that the gentleman from California, Representative DARRELL ISSA, and the ranking member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform joined Chairman Towns in offering a manager's amendment to this legislation during our committee business meeting last week.

The amendment makes a number of important technical changes to the bill. Specifically, it incorporates the provisions of H.R. 2392, the Government Information Transparency Act, legislation directing the Office of Management and Budget to adopt a single data standard for the collection, analysis, and dissemination of business and financial information. The standard must be common across all Federal agencies and make the data widely available to the public.

This standard will also be applied to the data on Federal grants, making it easier to evaluate the use of grant funds. This will make Federal financial information much more accessible to the public, thereby improving the transparency of this data and allowing the public to analyze it more easily. It will also improve the availability and interoperability of financial data reported to the government by the private sector, addressing concerns that the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform raised in their hearings earlier this year.

Madam Speaker, Senate 303 will help strengthen a great resource for Federal grant recipients as well as improve the public's access to important financial data.

I'd like to close my statement by thanking Chairman ED TOWNS, the gentleman from Brooklyn, New York, and Ranking Member DARRELL ISSA, the gentleman from California, for their work on this measure, and I urge my colleagues to join both of those gentlemen in supporting S. 303.

And I reserve the balance of our time.

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