Senate Passes Tester’s Bill to Crack Down on Government Perks and Cut Waste, Fraud & Abuse

Bipartisan Legislation Holds Bureaucrats Accountable Across Federal Agencies

(Missoula, Mont.)- The U.S. Senate has unanimously passed Senator Jon Tester’s bipartisan legislation to crack down on abuse of government travel cards.

Tester’s Saving Federal Dollars Through Better Use of Government Purchase and Travel Cards Act will increase accountability and oversight across federal agencies on purchases made using federal government charge cards. Tester’s bill would improve anti-waste and fraud analysis and would save taxpayer money by leveraging the government’s purchasing power when buying items in bulk.

“This bipartisan bill holds accountable all government employees entrusted with the responsibility of using taxpayer-owned travel cards by scrutinizing every penny and cracking down on abuse, fraud, and waste,” Tester said. “This bill will put eagle eyes on how the government spends money to clean up Washington, cut wasteful spending and stop government bureaucrats from treating taxpayer money like their own personal piggy banks.”

Tester, a longtime champion of accountability and transparency, cosponsored the bill in June and secured its passage this week.

The bill now heads to the House of Representatives for consideration. Full text of the bill can be found HERE.