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MAJORITY MEMBERS

BOB LIVINGSTON, LOUISIANA, CHAIRMAN

JOSEPH M. McDADE, PENNSYLVANIA

JOHN T. MYERS, INDIANA

CW BILL YOUNG, FLORIDA

RALPH REGULA, OHIO

JERRY LEWIS, CALIFORNIA

JOHN EDWARD PORTER, ILLINOIS

HAROLD ROGERS, KENTUCKY

JOE SKEEN, NEW MEXICO

FRANK A. WOLF, VIRGINIA

TOM DELAY. TEXAS

JIM KOLDE ARIZONA

BARBARA F. VUCANOVICH, NEVADA

JIM LIGHTFOOT, IOWA

RON PACKARD, CALIFORNIA

SONNY CALLAHAN, ALABAMA

JAMEST WALSH, NEW YORK

CHARLES H. TAYLOR, NORTH CAROLINA

DAVID L. HOBSON, OHIO

ERNEST JISTOOK, JR. OKLAHOMA

HENRY BONILLA, TEXAS

JOE KNOLLENBERG, MICHIGAN

CAN MILLER FLORIDA

JAY DICKEY, ARKANSAS

JACK KINGSTON, GEORGIA

PRANK RIGGS, CALIFORNIA

RODNEY P. FRELINGHUYSEN, NEW JERSEY

ROGER WICKER, MISSISSIPPI

MICHAEL P. FORBES. NEW YORK

GEORGE NETHERCUTT, WASHINGTON

JM BUNA, OREGON

MARK W. NEUMANN, WISCONSIN

Congress of the United States
House of Representatives
Committee on Appropriations
Washington, DC 20515-6015

February 21, 1995

MINORITY MEMBERS

DAVID R. OBEY, WISCONSIN
SIDNEY R YATES ELLINOIS
LOUIS STOKES. OHIO
TOM BEVILL ALABAMA

JOHN P MURTHA PENNSYLVANIA
CHARLES WILSON, TEXAS
NORMAND DICKS WASHINGTON
MARTIN OLAV SABO MINNESOTA
JULIAN C DIXON CALIFORNIA
VIC FAZO, CALIFORNIA

WG BILL HEFNER NORTH CAROLINA
STENY H HOYER, MARYLAND
RICHARD DURBIN, ILLINOIS
RONALD D COLEMAN, TEXAS

ALAN 8. MOLLOHAN WEST VIRGINIA

JIM CHAPMAN, TEXAS

MARCY KAPTUR OHIO

DAVIDE SKAGGS COLORADO

NANCY PELOS! CALIFORNIA

PETER J VISCLOSKY INDIANA

THOMAS M FOGLIETTA PENNSYLVANIA
ESTEBAN EDWARD TORRES. CALIFORNIA

NITA M LOWEY, NEW YORK

RAY THORNTON, ARKANSAS

CLERK AND STAFF DIRECTOR
JAMES W. DYER

TELEPHONE

(202) 225-2771

Mr. Scott Faulkner

Chief Administrative Officer
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Mr. Faulkner:

This is to confirm that, during the Appropriations hearing held on
Wednesday, February 15, 1995, the Committee approved your February 13 request
to reprogram $3.7 million within the amounts available for salaries and expenses
of the House of Representatives, Fiscal Year 1995. Specifically, you requested
this transfer from "Committee employees" to "Salaries, officers and employees,
Office of the Inspector General" for a comprehensive audit of House operations.

So that we have a complete reconciliation of the amount transferred, please provide the Committee with the amount approved for the audit contract, and any additional amounts in this funds transfer that are being allocated for other purposes, and an itemization of those purposes.

Sincerely,

Ron Packard

Ron Packard

Chairman

Subcommittee on Legislative

[blocks in formation]

Pursuant to the authority included in Section 101(c)(1) of Public Law 102392 (106 STAT. 1710), I respectfully request approval to reprogram funds within fiscal year 1995 as follows:

Transfer to the Inspector General funds to provide for a comprehensive audit of House operations.

From: Committee Employees

To: Salaries, Officers and Employees

Office of the Inspector General

$3,700,000

$3,700,000

If I may be of further assistance to you in this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me.

SMF:pam

Sincerely,

Scot M. Faulkner

Chief Administrative Officer

Mr. PACKARD. All right. Thank you. Please go ahead if you have further questions.

Mr. FAZIO. No, I really don't. I think I had my opportunity in several meetings I have had with the Inspector General, so I won't take the time of the committee.

Mr. PACKARD. Thank you.

Mr. Miller, do you have questions?

FURTHER DISCUSSION ON REPROGRAMMING FOR AUDIT

Mr. MILLER. I am going to ask some clarifying questions. I have not been to these other meetings. But when we reprogram, we are just talking about putting money into this fiscal year; that is not a supplemental, is it?

Mr. PACKARD. No, that is reprogrammed monies that have not been obligated in other areas of our subcommittee jurisdiction. Mr. MILLER. Okay, okay.

Mr. PACKARD. And providing the money without asking for additional funds. This is money that is already there that we will use for this purpose rather than for other purposes that were in the budget.

Mr. FAZIO. If I could just indicate.

Mr. PACKARD. There will be many reprogrammings during the

year.

Mr. FAZIO. Normally the history of this is that the Chairman signs the reprogramming requests, but I have always operatec, and I see Mr. Packard following that precedent, of getting bipar isan support for reprograms, and I want to thank him for that con inuation of that tradition. Everything that occurred in the years I was chairman was signed off on by Bill Young and Jerry Lewis, and I think that anything that becomes controversial, either from the standpoint of where the money is coming from or where it may be going to is something that ought to be voted by the committee. But I don't think we will ever get to that and I look forward to the same approach that we have always had.

ELEVEN AUDIT AREAS DESCRIBED

Mr. MILLER. On the audit, I would like to get more specific. You say there is 11 different parts of the audit or 11 different functions being audited separately; is that right? Would you identify those? Mr. LAINHART. Yes, sir. The first and major area for the audit is the financial statement audit to identify the expenses and the actual status of accounts as of the end of December of this past year. In addition to that, we have identified 11 operational audits. Õperational audits are to look at the efficiency and effectiveness of operations in 11 different areas. The areas are the Office of Finance itself, sales operations, inventory systems, accounts payable, contract administration, computer security, financial management functions, short and long-range planning, and the financial management system that is being developed by HIS to potentially replace the current financial management system that is used to maintain our accounts.

In addition, we also have a major audit of the House Information Systems which has never been looked at by outside organizations. And then, finally, as I mentioned, the survey of the joint entities

of the Architect of the Capitol. This survey will identify areas that we should look at in the future, in the way of audits of the joint entities that provide services to the House of Representatives.

Mr. MILLER. The Library of Congress or the Government Printing Office or the Botanic Gardens and such, are they within your jurisdiction?

Mr. LAINHART. No, that is not within my area of responsibility. Mr. MILLER. Are you doing a traditional audit in the sense that a business will go in and audit the books? Is it the traditional type of audit that Joe's Pizza Parlor would have?

Mr. LAINHART. The financial statement audit is like that; yes, sir. You know, where annually you do a financial statement audit for a public corporation.

TYPES OF AUDITS

Mr. MILLER. You are doing eleven separate financial audits?

Mr. LAINHART. No, one financial audit and the others are operational audits. We are looking for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of operations.

Mr. MILLER. So we really aren't auditing all of the books of Congress.

Mr. LAINHART. We will be auditing the House's books.

Mr. MILLER. Such as the cost of the electric bill in this room and the staff?

Mr. LAINHART. Yes. Looking at the financial operations for the Office of Finance. We are doing that, yes.

Mr. MILLER. What areas are being excluded from the audit? What are you or Price Waterhouse not going to look at?

Mr. LAINHART. Some operational areas. For example, the suggestion that Robin Carle made earlier today to look at the Official Reporters of Debate. We hadn't planned on looking at that, so we will add that to our workload, and then certain areas like that, operational areas.

As far as the financial operations, we will look at the entire financial operations.

Mr. MILLER. Has this ever been done before?

Mr. LAINHART. No, never been done before.

Mr. MILLER. Now you are doing the audit for not exactly the fiscal year, but for the fiscal year, plus three months. Is the expectation we are going to start doing this annually? What is the plan long-term as far as auditing by a congressional session?

Mr. LAINHART. Well, we would recommend, and it is in our budget, that we would do it on an annual basis. The reason why I am doing it this way this time is so that the new officers have a starting point, a benchmark to measure their work load.

Mr. MILLER. And we will do it on a calendar year; is that your intention?

Mr. LAINHART. Either calendar year or fiscal year, but we really haven't decided that.

EXEMPT AREAS FROM AUDIT

Mr. MILLER. So your expectation is for the audit to be an ongoing thing. Let me go back. What is exempted from it? Is there any

thing specifically is being exempted from the audit? What about individual Members' offices?

Mr. LAINHART. Individual Members' offices will not be looked at. The only reason why we would look at Members' offices is to get an original source document. The Finance Office might only have a copy of a document or a voucher or something like that. We might, in doing our inventory audit, have to go to a Member's office to see if the items that are on the inventory records in the Office of Systems Management are actually physically there.

Mr. MILLER. How about the LSO?

Mr. LAINHART. No, sir.

Mr. MILLER. That has been excluded.

Mr. LAINHART. Yes, sir.

Mr. MILLER. The Office of Minority Leader and Majority leaders, are they just the same as Members' offices?

Mr. LAINHART. Yes, sir. They are going to be audited in the sense that the Finance Office processes their vouchers so they will be looked at in that respect.

Mr. MILLER. So the documentation on a plane trip or something, then you might have to go back to the office to look at that.

Mr. LAINHART. Yes, sir.

Mr. MILLER. Okay. Is it just for this one audit rather than redoing it every year?

Mr. LAINHART. Yes, sir, just for this one, through the end of June is all.

Mr. MILLER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. PACKARD. Thank you, Mr. Miller.
Mr. Thornton.

Mr. THORNTON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am very impressed, and I think it is commendable that you are undertaking this audit and using a nationally-recognized firm to do it. I commend you for that. And I believe you have been working on this for-this is your second term; is that correct?

Mr. LAINHART. Yes, sir.

Mr. THORNTON. And the initiative for this was begun in a bipartisan way. I think it is important to point that out.

I also think it would be interesting to compare the actions of the House of Representatives in this regard with those of the Senate. Is there an equivalent position to yours on the Senate side?

Mr. LAINHART. No, sir, there isn't. Although I understand from the General Accounting Office that there are discussions going on as to whether the Senate will have an audit, as well. It has been in Roll Call.

Mr. THORNTON. It would seem to me that this would reflect a sense of responsibility to the public by the House of Representatives toward making sure its affairs are being conducted in a precise and proper way, and it would seem to me that that might be a good example for other institutions of government to follow. Do you have any view on that?

Mr. LAINHART. I think that is correct. I think we will have a starting point and a benchmark that others can use, without a doubt.

Mr. THORNTON. Mr. Chairman, I just thought it was important to point out that we are in a leadership role here, that the House

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