CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—HOUSE

H14835

December 14, 2009

report provides us an opportunity tokeep a careful eye on Ecuador and itscompliance with the eligibility cri-teria. But just as important is the factthat the reporting requirement is enor-mously important as a signal to Ecua-dor—a message that this Congress iswatching Ecuador closely.The SPEAKER pro tempore. Thetime of the gentleman has expired.Mr. CAMP. I yield the gentleman anadditional 30 seconds.Mr. BRADY of Texas. I thank thegentleman from Michigan.In addition, I am disappointed thattoday’s bill doesn’t do more to estab-lish certainty for users of the programhere and abroad through an extensionthat is longer than a mere year. I andMr. C

AMP

have been seeking a 2-yearextension.Madam Speaker, I support this billbecause I don’t want the remainingpreferences to lapse, but we can andshould do better.Mr. LEVIN. I reserve the balance of my time.Mr. CAMP. Madam Speaker, I yieldmyself the balance of my time.I urge my colleagues to support theAndean Trade Preference ExtensionAct of 2009, which will extend the An-dean trade preferences, as we know asATPA, and also the Generalized Sys-tem of Preferences, we also refer to asGSP, for an additional year. However, Ido think it’s important to note my dis-appointment that we did not put amessage specifically putting Ecuadoron notice that its behavior and its re-ceipt of continued benefits is at seriousrisk. There is a deteriorating invest-ment climate in Ecuador as well astheir repudiation of the bilateral in-vestment treaty. I think it’s very im-portant that while it is understood inthis legislation that there is languagemaintaining a review, I am concernedthat there is not specific languageaimed at challenging Ecuador’s ac-tions. I do think this is a change fromcurrent law and it’s a step backward. Ithink it’s important to send a strongmessage that any central tenet of apreference program is that the partici-pants uphold their commitments to therule of law as well as their commit-ments to the U.S. on investment andother matters.So as a result of this, I believe pref-erence programs should not be viewedas an entitlement; that they are basedupon meeting certain criteria as I men-tioned, particularly, as others havesaid, the observance of labor and envi-ronmental laws, certainly actions toprevent the distortion of investment aswell as the support and enforcement of intellectual property laws as well asreasonable access to markets.However, I do think despite theseconcerns, this legislation is extremelyimportant. It is essential that we ex-tend this for another year. I think thatthis is an important step to take, andI will support its passage. I look for-ward to working with the administra-tion as well as my colleagues on theWays and Means Committee, ChairmanR

ANGEL

and Chairman L

EVIN

, as wecontinue to address trade issues in thecoming year.

Ms. RICHARDSON. Madam Speaker, I risein strong support of H.R. 4284, which wouldextend the Andean Trade Preferences Act,ATPA, and the Generalized System of Pref-erences, GSP, for an additional year. I wouldlike to thank Chairman R

ANGEL

for his leader-ship on this issue and for bringing this bill tothe floor. It is critically important that we ex-tend these trade preferences before they ex-pire at the end of this calendar year. We haveseen in the past the damage that a shortlapse can do to cross border business rela-tionships.The trade preferences we seek to extendbenefit both the United States and our SouthAmerican trading partners. These preferencessupport economic growth both here in theUnited States and abroad in some of the poor-est countries in the world. Almost 2 million jobs in the United States and the Andean re-gion depend on ATPA preferences and the re-gion has emerged an important market forU.S. exports. Because use of the programs isconditioned through eligibility criteria, such aslabor, human rights, and intellectual property,the United States is able to advance both im-portant economic and foreign policy goals.I therefore urge all of my colleagues to joinme in voting for H.R. 4284.Ms. LINDA T. SA´NCHEZ of California.Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R.4284, the Andean Trade Preference ExtensionAct of 2009 (ATPA), which would extend boththe General System of Preferences (GSP) andthe Andean Trade Preferences for one year.It is important to extend these preferenceprograms, which assist developing countries intheir efforts to build up domestic industries, in-crease exports, and alleviate poverty. In somecases, these programs have worked well.South Korea, Singapore, and other nationshave graduated from the GSP program, andno longer qualify for these special trade bene-fits.Failure to extend these preferences wouldput even more pressure on impoverished pop-ulations in developing nations.Make no mistake, my support for this exten-sion is not an unqualified endorsement of theircurrent structure. To be sure, our preferencesprograms need improvement.One key improvement that is desperatelyneeded is to change the prevailing view thattrade preferences are a development strategy.Instead, we must recognize that trade pref-erences are only part of a comprehensive de-velopment strategy, which must also includeinvestments in education, training, and infra-structure, as well as a consideration of tar-geted debt relief.In addition, our preferences programs cur-rently have inadequately-enforced labor stand-ards and no environmental standards whatso-ever.The rationale for linking trade and laborrights is vital to avoiding a ‘‘race to the bot-tom.’’ For American working families, we needto ensure that developing countries attract in-vestment based on a competitive wage advan-tage, not by artificially suppressing wagesthrough labor repression. For working familiesin developing countries, the opportunity to bar-gain collectively for better wages and workingconditions will ensure that some of the bene-fits of trade go to them, not just to multi-na-tional corporations.This one-year extension will give us the timewe need to reform existing programs withoutdisrupting the fragile economies of the lesser-developed nations that our preferences pro-grams are designed to help.Finally, I want to address the issue of Ecua-dor in particular. Unfortunately, it has come tomy attention that Chevron Corporation hasbeen urging Members of Congress and theAdministration to punish Ecuador because itsgovernment refuses to intervene in a privatelawsuit against the oil giant. The plaintiffs inthe lawsuit contend that the company is re-sponsible for polluting a vast area of the Ama-zon Basin, causing serious health and envi-ronmental consequences.While I take no position on the lawsuit, I dobelieve that the plaintiffs should have their dayin court. I also believe that, of all the legitimatereasons to oppose the U.S. trade preferencesprograms, doing the bidding of a single cor-poration is not one of them.As the editors of the Los Angeles Timeswrote in a recent editorial, ‘‘There are otherfactors for Congress to consider in deter-mining whether to extend Ecuador’s tradepreferences: workers’ rights and trade and in-vestment policy also are important. And thereare issues that remain to be negotiated be-tween the two countries. But in each of theseareas, Ecuador has demonstrated a willing-ness to work with the U.S. That should be thetest for an extension of trade benefits, not theprivate interests of one corporation.’’To reiterate, while our trade preferencesprograms are not perfect, extending them forone year is vital, and I strongly support thislegislation.

Mr. CAMP. Madam Speaker, I yieldback the balance of my time.Mr. LEVIN. I urge passage, and Iyield back the balance of my time.The SPEAKER pro tempore. Thequestion is on the motion offered bythe gentleman from Michigan (Mr.L

EVIN

) that the House suspend therules and pass the bill, H.R. 4284.The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) therules were suspended and the bill waspassed.A motion to reconsider was laid onthe table.

FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCEMANAGEMENT IMPROVEMENTACT OF 2009Mr. LYNCH. Madam Speaker, I moveto suspend the rules and pass the bill(S. 303) to reauthorize and improve theFederal Financial Assistance Manage-ment Improvement Act of 1999, asamended.The Clerk read the title of the bill.The text of the amendment is as fol-lows:

Amendment:Strike out all after the enacting clause andinsert:

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

(a) S

HORT

ITLE

.—This Act may be cited asthe ‘‘Federal Financial Assistance Manage-ment Improvement Act of 2009’’.(b) T

ABLE OF

ONTENTS

.—The table of con-tents for this Act is as follows:

VerDate Nov 24 2008 05:34 Dec 15, 2009Jkt 089060PO 00000Frm 00007Fmt 7634Sfmt 0634E:\CR\FM\K14DE7.016H14DEPT1

j b e l l o n D S K D V H 8 Z 9 1 P R O D w i t h H O U S E

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—HOUSE

H14836

December 14, 2009

Sec.1.Short title; table of contents.Sec.2.Reauthorization.Sec.3.Website relating to Federal grants.Sec.4.Report on implementation.Sec.5.Strategic plan.Sec.6.Data standard requirements.

SEC. 2. REAUTHORIZATION.

Section 11 of the Federal Financial Assist-ance Management Improvement Act of 1999(31 U.S.C. 6101 note) is amended—(1) in the section heading, by striking ‘‘

andsunset

’’; and(2) by striking ‘‘and shall cease to be effec-tive 8 years after such date of enactment’’.

SEC. 3. WEBSITE RELATING TO FEDERALGRANTS.

Section 6 of the Federal Financial Assist-ance Management Improvement Act of 1999(31 U.S.C. 6101 note) is amended—(1) by redesignating subsections (e) and (f)as subsections (g) and (h), respectively;(2) by inserting after subsection (d) the fol-lowing new subsections:‘‘(e) W

EBSITE

ELATING TO

EDERAL

RANTS

.—‘‘(1) I

N GENERAL

.—The Director shall estab-lish and maintain a public website thatserves as a central point of information andaccess for applicants for Federal grants.‘‘(2) C

ONTENTS

.—To the maximum extentpossible, the website established under thissubsection shall include, at a minimum, foreach Federal grant—‘‘(A) the grant announcement;‘‘(B) the statement of eligibility relatingto the grant;‘‘(C) the application requirements for thegrant;‘‘(D) the purposes of the grant;‘‘(E) the Federal agency funding the grant;‘‘(F) the deadlines for applying for andawarding of the grant.‘‘(G) all applications received for the grant,set forth in the single data standard adoptedunder section 9(b); and‘‘(H) all reports relating to the use of thegrant, set forth in the single data standardadopted under section 9(b).‘‘(3) U

SE BY APPLICANTS

.—The website es-tablished under this subsection shall, to thegreatest extent practicable, allow grant ap-plicants to—‘‘(A) use the website with any computerplatform;‘‘(B) search the website for all Federalgrants by type, purpose, funding agency, pro-gram source, and other relevant criteria;‘‘(C) apply for a Federal grant using thewebsite;‘‘(D) manage, track, and report on the useof Federal grants using the website; and‘‘(E) provide all required certifications andassurances for a Federal grant using thewebsite.‘‘(4) U

SE BY THE PUBLIC

.—The website es-tablished under this subsection shall, to thegreatest extent practicable, allow membersof the public to—‘‘(A) view the items described in paragraph(2);‘‘(B) navigate easily among and betweenthe items described in paragraph (2) andother supporting materials;‘‘(C) download grant applications and re-ports, in the single data standard adoptedunder section 9, individually or as a singledata set; and‘‘(D) access individual grant applicationsand reports at web addresses that are dis-tinct, permanent, unique, and searchable.‘‘(f) P

UBLICATION OF

NFORMATION

.—Noth-ing in this section shall be construed as re-quiring the publication of information other-wise exempt under section 552 of title 5,United States Code (popularly referred to asthe ‘Freedom of Information Act’).’’; and(3) in subsection (h), as so redesignated, bystriking ‘‘All actions’’ and inserting ‘‘Exceptfor actions relating to establishing thewebsite required under subsection (e), all ac-tions’’.

SEC. 4. REPORT ON IMPLEMENTATION.

The Federal Financial Assistance Manage-ment Improvement Act of 1999 (31 U.S.C. 6101note) is amended by striking section 7 andinserting the following:

‘‘SEC. 7. EVALUATION OF IMPLEMENTATION.

‘‘(a) I

ENERAL

.—Not later than 9 monthsafter the date of the enactment of the Fed-eral Financial Assistance Management Im-provement Act of 2009, and every 2 yearsthereafter until the date that is 15 yearsafter the date of the enactment of the Fed-eral Financial Assistance Management Im-provement Act of 2009, the Director shallsubmit to Congress a report regarding theimplementation of this Act.‘‘(b) C

ONTENTS

.—‘‘(1) I

N GENERAL

.—Each report under sub-section (a) shall include, for the applicableperiod—‘‘(A) a list of all grants for which an appli-cant may submit an application using thewebsite established under section 6(e);‘‘(B) a list of all Federal agencies that pro-vide Federal financial assistance to non-Fed-eral entities;‘‘(C) a list of each Federal agency that hascomplied, in whole or in part, with the re-quirements of this Act;‘‘(D) for each Federal agency listed undersubparagraph (C), a description of the extentof the compliance with this Act by the Fed-eral agency;‘‘(E) a list of all Federal agencies exemptedunder section 6(d);‘‘(F) for each Federal agency listed undersubparagraph (E)—‘‘(i) an explanation of why the Federalagency was exempted; and‘‘(ii) a certification that the basis for theexemption of the Federal agency is still ap-plicable;‘‘(G) a list of all common application formsthat have been developed that allow non-Federal entities to apply, in whole or in part,for multiple Federal financial assistance pro-grams (including Federal financial assist-ance programs administered by differentFederal agencies) through a single commonapplication;‘‘(H) a list of all common forms and re-quirements that have been developed thatallow non-Federal entities to report, inwhole or in part, on the use of funding frommultiple Federal financial assistance pro-grams (including Federal financial assist-ance programs administered by differentFederal agencies);‘‘(I) a description of the efforts made bythe Director and Federal agencies to commu-nicate and collaborate with representativesof non-Federal entities during the implemen-tation of the requirements under this Act;‘‘(J) a description of the efforts made bythe Director to work with Federal agenciesto meet the goals of this Act, including a de-scription of working groups or other struc-tures used to coordinate Federal efforts tomeet the goals of this Act; and‘‘(K) identification and description of allsystems being used to disburse Federal fi-nancial assistance to non-Federal entities.‘‘(2) S

UBSEQUENT REPORTS

.—The second re-port submitted under subsection (a), andeach subsequent report submitted under sub-section (a), shall include—‘‘(A) a discussion of the progress made bythe Federal Government in meeting thegoals of this Act, including the amendmentsmade by the Federal Financial AssistanceManagement Improvement Act of 2009, andin implementing the strategic plan sub-mitted under section 8, including an evalua-tion of the progress of each Federal agencythat has not received an exemption undersection 6(d) towards implementing the stra-tegic plan; and‘‘(B) a compilation of the reports sub-mitted under section 8(c)(3) during the appli-cable period.‘‘(c) D

EFINITION OF

PPLICABLE

ERIOD

.—Inthis section, the term ‘applicable period’means—‘‘(1) for the first report submitted undersubsection (a), the most recent full fiscalyear before the date of the report; and‘‘(2) for the second report submitted undersubsection (a), and each subsequent reportsubmitted under subsection (a), the periodbeginning on the date on which the most re-cent report under subsection (a) was sub-mitted and ending on the date of the re-port.’’.

SEC. 5. STRATEGIC PLAN.

(a) I

ENERAL

.—The Federal FinancialAssistance Management Improvement Act of 1999 (31 U.S.C. 6101 note) is further amend-ed—(1) by redesignating sections 8, 9, 10, and 11as sections 9, 10, 11, and 12, respectively; and(2) by inserting after section 7, as amendedby this Act, the following new section:

‘‘SEC. 8. STRATEGIC PLAN.

‘‘(a) I

ENERAL

.—Not later than 18months after the date of the enactment of the Federal Financial Assistance Manage-ment Improvement Act of 2009, the Directorshall submit to Congress a strategic planthat—‘‘(1) identifies Federal financial assistanceprograms that are suitable for common ap-plications based on the common or similarpurposes of the Federal financial assistance;‘‘(2) identifies Federal financial assistanceprograms that are suitable for common re-porting forms or requirements based on thecommon or similar purposes of the Federalfinancial assistance;‘‘(3) identifies common aspects of multipleFederal financial assistance programs thatare suitable for common application or re-porting forms or requirements;‘‘(4) identifies changes in law, if any, need-ed to achieve the goals of this Act; and‘‘(5) provides plans, timelines, and cost es-timates for—‘‘(A) developing an entirely electronic,web-based process for managing Federal fi-nancial assistance, including the ability to—‘‘(i) apply for Federal financial assistance;‘‘(ii) track the status of applications forand payments of Federal financial assist-ance;‘‘(iii) report on the use of Federal financialassistance, including how such use has beenin furtherance of the objectives or purposesof the Federal financial assistance; and‘‘(iv) provide required certifications andassurances;‘‘(B) ensuring full compliance by Federalagencies with the requirements of this Act,including the amendments made by the Fed-eral Financial Assistance Management Im-provement Act of 2009;‘‘(C) creating common applications for theFederal financial assistance programs identi-fied under paragraph (1), regardless of wheth-er the Federal financial assistance programsare administered by different Federal agen-cies;‘‘(D) establishing common financial andperformance reporting forms and require-ments for the Federal financial assistanceprograms identified under paragraph (2), re-gardless of whether the Federal financial as-sistance programs are administered by dif-ferent Federal agencies;‘‘(E) establishing common applications andfinancial and performance reporting formsand requirements for aspects of the Federalfinancial assistance programs identified

VerDate Nov 24 2008 04:04 Dec 15, 2009Jkt 089060PO 00000Frm 00008Fmt 7634Sfmt 0634E:\CR\FM\A14DE7.009H14DEPT1

j b e l l o n D S K D V H 8 Z 9 1 P R O D w i t h H O U S E

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—HOUSE

H14837

December 14, 2009

under paragraph (3), regardless of whetherthe Federal financial assistance programsare administered by different Federal agen-cies;‘‘(F) developing mechanisms to ensurecompatibility between Federal financial as-sistance administration systems and Statesystems to facilitate the importing and ex-porting of data;‘‘(G) developing common certifications andassurances, as appropriate, for all Federal fi-nancial assistance programs that have com-mon or similar purposes, regardless of whether the Federal financial assistance pro-grams are administered by different Federalagencies;‘‘(H) minimizing the number of differentsystems used to disburse Federal financialassistance; and‘‘(I) applying the single data standardadopted under section 9 to Federal grantsand grant applications.‘‘(b) C

ONSULTATION

.—In developing and im-plementing the strategic plan under sub-section (a), the Director shall consult withrepresentatives of non-Federal entities andFederal agencies that have not received anexemption under section 6(d).‘‘(c) F

EDERAL

GENCIES

.—‘‘(1) I

N GENERAL

.—Not later than 6 monthsafter the date on which the Director submitsthe strategic plan under subsection (a), thehead of each Federal agency that has not re-ceived an exemption under section 6(d) shalldevelop a plan that describes how the Fed-eral agency will carry out the responsibil-ities of the Federal agency under the stra-tegic plan, which shall include—‘‘(A) clear performance objectives andtimelines for action by the Federal agency infurtherance of the strategic plan; and‘‘(B) the identification of measures to im-prove communication and collaboration withrepresentatives of non-Federal entities on anon-going basis during the implementation of this Act.‘‘(2) C

ONSULTATION

.—The head of each Fed-eral agency that has not received an exemp-tion under section 6(d) shall consult withrepresentatives of non-Federal entities dur-ing the development and implementation of the plan of the Federal agency developedunder paragraph (1).‘‘(3) R

EPORTING

.—Not later than 2 yearsafter the date on which the head of a Federalagency that has not received an exemptionunder section 6(d) develops the plan underparagraph (1), and every 2 years thereafteruntil the date that is 15 years after the dateof the enactment of the Federal FinancialAssistance Management Improvement Act of 2009, the head of the Federal agency shallsubmit to the Director a report regardingthe progress of the Federal agency in achiev-ing the objectives of the plan of the Federalagency developed under paragraph (1).’’.(b) T

ECHNICAL AND

ONFORMING

MEND

MENT

.—Section 5(d) of the Federal FinancialAssistance Management Improvement Act of 1999 (31 U.S.C. 6101 note) is amended by in-serting ‘‘, until the date on which the Fed-eral agency submits the first report by theFederal agency required under section8(c)(3)’’ after ‘‘subsection (a)(7)’’.

SEC. 6. DATA STANDARD REQUIREMENTS.

(a) D

ATA

TANDARD

EQUIREMENTS

.—TheFederal Financial Assistance ManagementImprovement Act of 1999 (31 U.S.C. 6101 note)is further amended—(1) by redesignating sections 9, 10, 11, and12 as sections 10, 11, 12, and 13, respectively;and(2) by inserting after section 8, as added bythis Act, the following new section:

‘‘SEC. 9. DATA STANDARD REQUIREMENTS.

‘‘(a) D

ATA

TANDARD

EQUIREMENTS

.—‘‘(1) R

EQUIREMENT

.—The Director of the Of-fice of Management and Budget shall adopt asingle data standard for the collection, anal-ysis, and dissemination of business and fi-nancial information for use by private sectorentities in accordance with subsection (b) forinformation required to be reported to theFederal Government, and a single datastandard for use by agencies within the Fed-eral Government in accordance with sub-section (c) for Federal financial information.‘‘(2) C

HARACTERISTICS OF DATA STAND

ARDS

.—The single data standards required byparagraph (1) shall—‘‘(A) be common across all agencies, to themaximum extent practicable;‘‘(B) be a widely accepted, non-proprietary,searchable, computer-readable format forbusiness and financial data;‘‘(C) be consistent with and implement—‘‘(i) United States generally accepted ac-counting principles or Federal financial ac-counting standards (as appropriate);‘‘(ii) industry best practices; and‘‘(iii) Federal regulatory requirements;‘‘(D) improve the transparency, consist-ency, and usability of business and financialinformation; and‘‘(E) be capable of being continually up-graded to be of maximum use as technologiesand content evolve over time.‘‘(b) I

MPLEMENTATION OF

INGLE

ATA

TANDARD FOR

RIVATE

ECTOR

.—‘‘(1) OMB

GUIDANCE

.—Not later than 180days after the date of the enactment of theFederal Financial Assistance ManagementImprovement Act of 2009, the Director of theOffice of Management and Budget shall issueguidance to agencies on the use and imple-mentation of the single data standard re-quired by subsection (a) for information re-quired to be reported to agencies by the pri-vate sector.‘‘(2) A

GENCY REQUIREMENTS

.—‘‘(A) R

EQUIREMENT

.—To the maximum ex-tent practicable and consistent with theguidance provided by the Office of Manage-ment and Budget under paragraph (1), thehead of each agency shall require the use of the single data standard required by sub-section (a) for business and financial infor-mation reported to the agency by privatesector companies.‘‘(B) I

MPLEMENTATION

.—The head of theagency shall begin implementing the re-quirement of subparagraph (A) within oneyear after the date of the enactment of theFederal Financial Assistance ManagementImprovement Act of 2009.‘‘(c) I

MPLEMENTATION OF

INGLE

ATA

TANDARD FOR

EDERAL

OVERNMENT

.—‘‘(1) OMB

DEVELOPMENT

.—Not later than 1year after the date of the enactment of theFederal Financial Assistance ManagementImprovement Act of 2009, the Director of theOffice of Management and Budget shall de-velop the single data standard required bysubsection (a) for use by agencies within theFederal Government for Federal financial in-formation.‘‘(2) OMB

GUIDANCE

.—Not later than 18months after the date of the enactment of the Federal Financial Assistance Manage-ment Improvement Act of 2009, the Directorshall issue guidance to agencies on the useand implementation of the single data stand-ard developed under paragraph (1).‘‘(d) P

UBLIC

CCESS TO

ATA

.—The head of each agency shall ensure that informationcollected using the single data standards re-quired under this section is accessible to thegeneral public in that format to the extentpermitted by law.‘‘(e) R

EPORT

.—Within one year after thedate of the enactment of the Federal Finan-cial Assistance Management ImprovementAct of 2009, the Director of the Office of Man-agement and Budget shall submit to theCommittee on Oversight and GovernmentReform of the House of Representatives andthe Committee on Homeland Security andGovernmental Affairs of the Senate a reporton the status of the implementation of thissection.‘‘(f) D

EFINITIONS

.—In this section:‘‘(1) A

GENCY

.—The term ‘agency’ meansany executive department, military depart-ment, Government corporation, Governmentcontrolled corporation, independent estab-lishment, or other establishment in the exec-utive branch of the Government (includingthe Executive Office of the President), or anyindependent regulatory agency, but does notinclude—‘‘(A) the Government Accountability Of-fice;‘‘(B) the Federal Election Commission;‘‘(C) the governments of the District of Co-lumbia and of the territories and possessionsof the United States, and their various sub-divisions; or‘‘(D) Government-owned contractor-oper-ated facilities, including laboratories en-gaged in national defense research and pro-duction activities.‘‘(2) E

XECUTIVE DEPARTMENT

MILITARY DE

PARTMENT

GOVERNMENT CORPORATION

GOV

ERNMENT CONTROLLED CORPORATION

INDE

PENDENT ESTABLISHMENT

.—The terms ‘Execu-tive department’, ‘military department’,‘Government corporation’, ‘Government con-trolled corporation’, and ‘independent estab-lishment’ have the meanings given thoseterms by chapter 1 of title 5, United StatesCode.‘‘(3) I

NDEPENDENT REGULATORY AGENCY

.—The term ‘independent regulatory agency’has the meaning given that term by section3502(5) of title 44, United States Code.’’.(b) R

EQUIREMENT FOR

SE OF

INGLE

ATA

TANDARD BY

EDERAL

GENCIES

.—Section 5of the Federal Financial Assistance Manage-ment Improvement Act of 1999 (31 U.S.C. 6101note) is amended by adding at the end thefollowing new subsection:‘‘(e) S

INGLE

ATA

TANDARD

EQUIRE

MENT

.—To the maximum extent practicableand consistent with the guidance provided bythe Director under section 9, each Federalagency shall require the use of the singledata standard adopted under section 9(b)for—‘‘(1) all applications for Federal financialassistance; and‘‘(2) all reports on the use of Federal finan-cial assistance that the agency requires non-Federal entities to submit.’’.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursu-ant to the rule, the gentleman fromMassachusetts (Mr. L

YNCH

) and thegentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs.B

IGGERT

) each will control 20 minutes.The Chair recognizes the gentlemanfrom Massachusetts.

GENERAL LEAVE

Mr. LYNCH. Madam Speaker, I askunanimous consent that all Membersmay have 5 legislative days withinwhich to revise and extend their re-marks and to add any extraneous ma-terials.The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is thereobjection to the request of the gen-tleman from Massachusetts?There was no objection.Mr. LYNCH. Madam Speaker, I yieldmyself such time as I may consume.Madam Speaker, on behalf of theCommittee on Oversight and Govern-ment Reform and Chairman E

OWNS

,I am proud to present S. 303, the Fed-eral Financial Assistance ManagementImprovement Act of 2009, for consider-ation.