GAO Mandates Revision Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8241 To eliminate or modify certain mandates of the Government Accountability Office. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SEPTEMBER 14, 2020 Mrs. LAWRENCE (for herself and Mr. HICE of Georgia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services A BILL To eliminate or modify certain mandates of the Government Accountability Office. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘GAO Mandates Revi- 4 sion Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. AUDITS MODIFIED. 6 (a) TROUBLED ASSET RELIEF PROGRAM.— 7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 116 of the Emer- 8 gency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (12 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:31 Sep 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8241.IH H8241 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8241 IH U.S.C. 5226) is amended by striking subsection (b) 1 and inserting the following: 2 ‘‘(b) AUDITS.— 3 ‘‘(1) ANNUAL AUDIT.—The TARP shall annu- 4 ally prepare and issue to the appropriate committees 5 of Congress and the public audited financial state- 6 ments that shall be— 7 ‘‘(A) prepared in accordance with generally 8 accepted accounting principles; 9 ‘‘(B) prepared and audited in the same 10 manner as the financial statements of covered 11 executive agencies under section 3515 of title 12 31, United State Code, and executive agency 13 components under section 3521 of such Code; 14 and 15 ‘‘(C) prepared on the fiscal year basis pre- 16 scribed under section 1102 of title 31 of such 17 Code. 18 ‘‘(2) AUDIT COSTS.— 19 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 20 transfer to the Inspector General of the Depart- 21 ment of the Treasury such sums as are nec- 22 essary to reimburse the Inspector General for 23 the full cost of performing an audit required 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:31 Sep 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8241.IH H8241 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8241 IH under paragraph (1) or procuring the audit 1 from an independent external auditor. 2 ‘‘(B) CREDIT.—The reimbursements de- 3 scribed in subparagraph (A) shall be credited to 4 the appropriation account ‘Salaries and Ex- 5 penses, Office of the Inspector General, Depart- 6 ment of the Treasury’ current when the pay- 7 ment is received and remain available until ex- 8 pended. 9 ‘‘(3) CORRECTIVE RESPONSES TO AUDIT PROB- 10 LEMS.—The TARP shall— 11 ‘‘(A) take action to address deficiencies 12 identified by the auditor of the TARP financial 13 statements; or 14 ‘‘(B) certify to the appropriate committees 15 of Congress that no action is necessary or ap- 16 propriate.’’. 17 (2) APPLICATION.—The amendment made by 18 paragraph (1) shall apply to any audit performed 19 under section 116(b) of the Emergency Economic 20 Stabilization Act of 2008 (12 U.S.C. 5226(b)), as 21 amended by paragraph (1), with respect to a fiscal 22 year beginning on or after October 1, 2020. 23 (b) BUREAU OF CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTEC- 24 TION.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:31 Sep 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8241.IH H8241 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 8241 IH (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 1017(a) of the Con- 1 sumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 (12 U.S.C. 2 5497(a)) is amended by striking paragraph (5) and 3 inserting the following: 4 ‘‘(5) AUDIT OF THE BUREAU.—The Bureau 5 shall prepare and submit to the Congress and the 6 Director of the Office of Management and Budget 7 an audited financial statement for each fiscal year, 8 covering all accounts and associated activities of 9 each office, bureau, and activity of the Bureau. The 10 audited financial statement shall include the balance 11 sheet, the statement of net cost, the statement of 12 changes in net position, the statement of budgetary 13 resources, and such comments and information as 14 may be determined necessary to inform Congress of 15 the financial operations and condition of the Bureau. 16 The Office of Inspector General of the Board of 17 Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the 18 Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection shall pro- 19 vide for an audit of the financial statements of the 20 Bureau on an annual basis by an independent exter- 21 nal auditor in accordance with the United States 22 generally accepted government auditing standards as 23 may be prescribed by the Comptroller General of the 24 United States.’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:31 Sep 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8241.IH H8241 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 8241 IH (2) REPEAL OF PREVIOUS REQUIREMENT.— 1 Section 1016A of the Consumer Financial Protec- 2 tion Act of 2010 (12 U.S.C. 5496a) is repealed. 3 (3) APPLICATION.—The amendments made by 4 paragraphs (1) and (2) shall apply to any audit per- 5 formed under section 1017 of the Consumer Finan- 6 cial Protection Act of 2010 (12 U.S.C. 5497) or sec- 7 tion 1016A of the Consumer Financial Protection 8 Act of 2010 (12 U.S.C. 5496a), as amended by 9 paragraphs (1) and (2), with respect to a fiscal year 10 beginning on or after October 1, 2020 11 (c) FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY.— 12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 1316 of the Federal 13 Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Sound- 14 ness Act of 1992 (12 U.S.C. 4516) is amended— 15 (A) in subsection (g)(4), by striking 16 ‘‘Comptroller General of the United States’’ 17 and inserting ‘‘auditor of the financial state- 18 ments of the Agency’’; and 19 (B) by striking subsection (h) and insert- 20 ing the following: 21 ‘‘(h) AUDIT OF AGENCY.—The Agency shall prepare 22 and submit to the Congress and the Director of the Office 23 of Management and Budget an audited financial state- 24 ment for each fiscal year, covering all accounts and associ- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:31 Sep 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8241.IH H8241 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 8241 IH ated activities of each office, bureau, and activity of the 1 Agency. The audited financial statement shall include the 2 consolidated balance sheet, the consolidated statement of 3 net cost, the consolidated statement of changes in net posi- 4 tion, the combined statement of budgetary resources, and 5 such comments and information as may be deemed nec- 6 essary to inform Congress of the financial operations and 7 condition of the Agency. The Agency shall provide for an 8 audit of the financial statements of the Agency on an an- 9 nual basis by an independent external auditor in accord- 10 ance with the United States generally accepted govern- 11 ment auditing standards as may be prescribed by the 12 Comptroller General of the United States.’’. 13 (2) APPLICATION.—The amendments made by 14 paragraph (1) shall apply to any audit performed 15 under section 1316 of the Federal Housing Enter- 16 prises Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992 17 (12 U.S.C. 4516) with respect to a fiscal year begin- 18 ning on or after October 1, 2020. 19 (d) FEDERAL CIVIL PENALTIES INFLATION ADJUST- 20 MENT ACT.—The Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjust- 21 ment Act of 1990 (28 U.S.C. 2461 note), is amended in 22 section 7 by striking subsection (c). 23 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:31 Sep 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H8241.IH H8241 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS