Data shows drop in agency conference spending last year

Agencies that recently provided conference spending totals to Senate investigators collectively spent less on work-related trips and underwriting events in fiscal 2005 than they did the previous year.

The 12 agencies reporting complete data for both years to the office of Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., spent $19.7 million less in fiscal 2005 than in fiscal 2004, slowing an apparent growth in spending.

In a Senate hearing last week, Coburn, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information and International Security, criticized federal agencies, calling the overall rise over the past five years "astounding."

Using data submitted in response to a summer 2005 request, Coburn's office estimated that spending increased by nearly 70 percent from fiscal 2000 to fiscal 2005. But a review of the figures, provided to Government Executive by Coburn's office, also shows a decline last year.

The decrease in spending was driven by the Agriculture Department, which spent $19.6 million in 2004 but only $10.2 million in 2005. The Environmental Protection Agency's events spending dropped by $6.5 million over that time, and the Education Department's fell off by $5.4 million.

"A one-year decline is a step in the right direction, but the overall growth in conference spending since 2000 is astonishing," said John Hart, Coburn's spokesman, in a statement. He added that there is a "spring break" mentality toward traveling on government business and it "continues to be a serious problem."

"Trumpeting a one-year decline in spending may mean spring break lasts six days instead of seven days, but it's still spring break in too many agencies," Hart said.

The Health and Human Services Department had the largest increase from 2004 to 2005, jumping by $4.9 million from $63.6 million to $68.5 million, according to Coburn's figures.

But in testimony before the subcommittee last week, Charles Johnson, HHS assistant secretary for budget, technology and finance, said that while conference spending at the National Institutes of Health rose by $4.5 million during the time period, the department's overall spending actually declined by $1.4 million over that time.

Coburn's office maintained that the figures provided to Government Executive showing an increase at HHS last year are the most current.

Those figures also show that spending at the Housing and Urban Development Department grew by $1.2 million in fiscal 2005. Other agencies that increased spending that year were the departments of Transportation (by $960,000), Homeland Security (by $869,499), Treasury (by $688,498) and Defense (by $400).

Coburn's statistics cover conference activities at 14 agencies over five years. But because some agencies provided incomplete reports, fiscal 2000 figures for six of the 14 agencies included in the survey had to be estimated based on the annual percentage increase between fiscal 2001 and fiscal 2005.

Figures for the Justice and Commerce departments for fiscal 2005, also unavailable, were projected based on the annual percentage increase between fiscal 2000 and fiscal 2004.

The Veterans Affairs Department did not respond to Coburn's request, and the Interior Department provided incomplete data.

The five agencies providing comprehensive data for the past five years -- HHS, EPA, and the Labor, Agriculture and Education departments -- showed a $32.5 million jump in conference spending, or a 45.7 percent increase.

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