Unanimous Consent Request--H.R. 4887

Floor Speech

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Mr. LANKFORD. Mr. President, the Federal Government awards more than $600 billion in grant awards--$600 billion. We actually do more in grant awards than we do in contracting. Our current system is riddled with outdated reporting mechanisms that burden grant recipients and inhibit oversight from Agencies in Congress.

The bill, H.R. 4887, which is called the GREAT Act--Grant Reporting Efficiency and Agreements Transparency Act--tries to put some sense into this process. This is a process that has worked with all of the grant requesting Agencies. Whether they be universities, whether they be entities for research, they have all gone through this for the past couple of years, actually. They have given a tremendous amount of input because they struggle in actually requesting the grants and in getting through all of the chaos of those grants.

The OMB and other entities are not getting the data information to the American people, so there is no transparency in that process. For the past couple of years, we have worked very hard to establish a good process of getting transparency and also of helping the grant- requesting entities get a more efficient process.

The GREAT Act would require, within 1 year, OMB and the leading grant Agency to establish a governmentwide data standard for information related to Federal awards. Within 2 years, guidance must be issued for grant-making Agencies on how to apply those standards and implement them into the existing reporting practices. Within 3 years, Agencies must ensure that all grants and cooperative agreements use the new data standard for future information requests. This is exceptionally important to get through the process so that we are not squandering $600 billion in grants.

Let me tell you what this process has gone through.

In February, H.R. 4887 passed unanimously out of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Then it went to the House Calendar, and it passed unanimously on September 26. Every Democrat and every Republican in the House voted for this. Subsequently, Senator Enzi and I passed our amended Senate companion to H.R. 4887. It passed unanimously out of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in September.

The bill being considered today is reflective of bipartisan support from both the House and the Senate. This bill, H.R. 4887, cleared the Republican hotline weeks ago. Every single Republican has already cleared this. They want the transparency in the grant process and want a better grant process for all of the grant requesters. It is not yet clear on the Democratic side.

My simple request doesn't just come from me. This request comes from the Grant Professionals Association, the National Grants Management Association, the Association of Government Accountants, the American Library Association, the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition. Leading universities around the country have just asked to improve this grant-making process. Every single Democrat in the House has affirmed this, and every Republican in the House and every Republican in the Senate has already cleared it. We are just asking for this bill to move forward and to be passed.

4887 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration. I further ask that the Johnson substitute amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to; that the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

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Mr. LANKFORD. Mr. President, I am a little confused when every grant- making and requesting organizations--all of the universities around the country--are requesting this. Every single Democrat in the House has already affirmed this. There does not seem to be a great fear of Mick Mulvaney at the OMB since, by the time this will be implemented, it will be 2022. So it is a little bit confusing to me why getting more transparency in grants and helping grant requesting organizations would be controversial.

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