House panel calls for financial accountability at Homeland Security

A House Government Reform subcommittee on Wednesday passed legislation to institute financial accountability at the newly-established Department of Homeland Security.

The Government Efficiency and Financial Management Subcommittee passed the bill (H.R. 2886) by voice vote.

The measure would require the Homeland Security Department to abide by the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990, which requires the president to appoint a chief financial officer to all Cabinet-level agencies-to be confirmed by the Senate-to oversee financial accounting practices at the departments.

"The newness and the size of the Homeland Security Department calls for more accountability, not less," said Rep. Todd Platts, R-Pa., subcommittee chairman and cosponsor of the bill. The department is the only cabinet-level department without a Senate-confirmed chief financial officer, he said, and it sets a "dangerous precedent."

Ranking Democrat Rep. Edolphus Towns of New York said it was an "unfortunate oversight" that Congress did not include the chief financial officer language in the bill passed last year to establish the department.

Excluding the Homeland Security Department from the law could mean its chief information officer may be barred from testifying before Congress, thus limiting lawmakers' ability to demand accountability, Platts said.

The bill also aims to ensure long-term financial stability at the department by requiring an independent audit of its accounting practices to reveal "inherent weaknesses" before "they become ingrained" at the department, according to a committee spokesman.

Platts, along with full committee Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., and other lawmakers, introduced the measure in July after an inspector general's report found 18 major weaknesses in the accounting practices of the different agencies transferred over to the department in March, said a committee spokeswoman.

The spokeswoman also said Senate confirmation of the current chief financial officer is not expected to be controversial since he was previously confirmed as the Energy Department's chief financial officer.

Before reporting the bill to the full committee, the subcommittee passed by voice vote a substitute amendment offered by Platts to require the chief financial officer to confirm the merits of the agency's accounting practices and mandate the auditor sign off on its evaluation. It would also remove the waiver in fiscal year 2003 for the department to compile and audit its financial statements, but would allow the department to delay implementing the auditing requirements until fiscal year 2005.

Finally, the substitute amendment would request a report from the administration on requiring all federal chief financial officers to verify accounting practices and an auditor's certification of its assessment.