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(Extensions of Remarks - July 25, 2003)
- Mr. PLATTS. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to introduce the Department of Homeland Security Financial Accountability Act.
- The purpose of this bill is to ensure that the new Department of Homeland Security is subject to the same financial management and accountability requirements as all other cabinet-level departments. This requires adding the new Department to the list of agencies that are covered by the Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act of 1990 and making adjustments to provisions of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to make it consistent with the CFO Act. These changes will put the Department's CFO on the same footing as the CFOs at the rest of the cabinet-level departments by ensuring that the Department's CFO is a presidential appointee subject to Senate confirmation, that the CFO reports directly to the Secretary, and that the CFO is a part of the statutorily created CFO Council.
- The CFO Act of 1990 increased federal accountability by enacting much needed financial management reforms. Among the most important of these reforms was the establishment of a new leadership structure for federal financial management within the 24 largest departments and agencies as well as within the Office of Management and Budget. The CFO Act created 24 chief financial officers for the major executive departments and agencies as well as 24 deputy CFOs. The CFOs in the 14 cabinet-level departments, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration are filled by presidential appointees, confirmed by the Senate. These CFOs serve as the leaders of financial management in these departments and agencies. The Department of Homeland Security, as one of our most important departments, should be in this framework.
- The newly created Department of Homeland Security is one of the most significant government reorganizations in the history of the United States. The Department faces the challenge of merging 22 agencies, 17,000 employees, and hundreds of computer systems and management processes. As the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Government Efficiency and Financial Management, I have seen how ineffective strategic planning can result in systemic problems in an agency's financial management. The Department of Defense is a good example of a situation where years of insufficient coordination among business units, improper financial planning, and the use of stove piped information systems has resulted in the inability of the Department to obtain a clean annual financial audit or fully account for the way it spends its budget. No one wishes to see these same mistakes made at the Department of Homeland Security. That is why it is extremely important to instill solid financial management practices in the Department from its inception through the establishment of a strong CFO that is on equal footing with the other CFOs at cabinet-level departments.
- Mr. Speaker, the Department of Homeland Security Financial Accountability Act makes important, common sense changes to the CFO position at the Department of Homeland Security. It is a good government measure that benefits the American taxpayer. I urge my colleagues to join with me in seeking prompt enactment of the bill.
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