Follow the Money: Accountability and Transparency in Recovery Act Science Funding

Opening Statement By Chairman Brad Miller

Good morning, and welcome to our hearing, “Follow the Money: Accountability and Transparency in Recovery Act Science Spending.”

Our purpose today is twofold – to learn how agencies in the Committee's legislative jurisdiction intend to distribute funds available under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and then to examine what will be done to guarantee that those funds are not awarded improperly or wasted.

Last Thursday, President Obama told state officials seeking guidance on the use of Recovery Act funds that, "If we see money being misspent, we're going to put a stop to it." I assume he would give the same warning to universities, scientists and businesses seeking funds from our agencies, and today we will begin to find out how this will be accomplished.

Congress and the President enacted the Recovery Act to respond to extraordinary circumstances. It leaves the agencies to walk a fine line. If you want to jump-start the economy by expanding employment, the money in this bill needs to get into the spending pipeline quickly. Yet Congress did not relieve the agencies of their responsibility to adhere to Federal contracting rules when distributing these funds, which takes time and skilled personnel first to award the grant or contract and then to manage in a way that ensures a productive outcome.

The innovations in the Recovery Act are not in stream-lining contracting techniques. Rather, the act requires agencies to gather more information regarding their awards and to make that information more available to the public, than has ever been done before. The act also sets up elaborate systems among the Inspectors General and the Government Accountability Office to insure that waste, fraud and abuse are at a minimum.

All of this—expanded spending, transparent competition and awards tracking, and accountability after the award has been made—must be carried out while dealing with the ordinary agency, IG, and GAO business.

Our first panel has been asked to explain how they intend to balance these competing pressures and to accomplish the goals of the Recovery Act. The witnesses on that panel represent the designated “accountability officers” for the Department of Energy, NASA, NSF and the Department of Commerce. They are on the front line of conversations with OMB and program divisions in their agencies, about carrying out the Recovery Act.

Congress turns to Inspectors General and the Government Accountability Office for expertise in accountability. Our witnesses on the second panel bring to bear their experience in detecting waste, fraud and abuse, something that will be vital for managing the outflow of Recovery Act dollars. With the pressure to move the money, we cannot depend solely on audits after the fact to avoid diversion of these grants and contracts. I expect to hear that they are closely cooperating with agency management to build protections into project evaluation and procurements.

The late Senator from Illinois, Everett Dirksen, is credited with the line, "A billion here, a billion there; pretty soon you're talking real money." Today we'll be talking about some 20 times that threshold for real money.

When the stimulus funds run out next year, we want to know where they went and if these funds succeeded in meeting the goals Congress set forth. This Committee will particularly want to know, did they "provide investments needed to increase economic efficiency by spurring technological advances in science and health.”

I expect to hear from our witnesses that this will not be an easy task, but one they are prepared to tackle and get right. Since this is just the first hearing on this subject for this Subcommittee, we anticipate monitoring progress along these lines over the course of the 111th Congress.

I now recognize the Subcommittee's ranking member, the Gentleman from Georgia, Dr. Broun, for his opening statement.

Dr. Broun.
 

Witnesses

Panel 1

1 - Dr. Cora Marrett
Senior Accountability Officer National Science Foundation National Science Foundation
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2 - Mr. Ronald R. Spoehel
Chief Financial Officer National Aeronautics and Space Administration National Aeronautics and Space Administration
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3 - Ms. Ellen Herbst
Senior Official for Recovery Implementation U.S. Department of Commerce U.S. Department of Commerce
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4 - Mr. Matthew Rogers
Senior Advisor U.S. Department of Energy U.S. Department of Energy
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Panel 2

1 - Mr. Tim Cross
Interim Inspector General National Science Foundation National Science Foundation
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3 - Mr. Gregory H. Friedman
Inspector General U.S. Department of Energy U.S. Department of Energy
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2 - Mr. Todd Zinser
Inspector General U.S. Department of Commerce U.S. Department of Commerce
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5 - Ms. Patricia Dalton
Managing Director Natural Resources and Environment Division U.S. Government Accountability Office Natural Resources and Environment Division U.S. Government Ac
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4 - Ms. Eileen Norcross
Senior Research Fellow Mercatus Center at George Mason University Mercatus Center at George Mason University
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