Congressman Peters Introduces ‘Stop Paying Something for Nothing’ Act

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congressman Scott Peters (CA-52) introduced a piece of legislation aimed at reforming government by cutting waste and unnecessary spending from the federal budget. Currently there are numerous government bank accounts that sit empty but continue to be charged monthly service fees. While that fee is only a few dollars, there are thousands of such accounts, and the total bill to the government for this year will be at least $890,000, as identified by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). That is equivalent to cutting a mandatory furlough day for more than 3,000 defense employees.

“As we find ways to save in the federal budget, this is an easy solution to save precious taxpayer dollars,” Congressman Peters said. “With these leftover accounts, we are spending money on nothing which is inexcusable. This bill takes action to ensure that these accounts do not fall through the cracks.”

Rep. Peters continued, “We cannot afford to waste money anywhere in the budget, especially as sequester is causing furloughs nationwide and there are ongoing cuts to vital services. I will continue to push our government to operate efficiently and with the taxpayer in mind.”

The ‘Stop Paying Something for Nothing’ Act establishes a framework for the closure of expired accounts. To ensure flexibility and oversight, these accounts are initially created so that a grant awardee can withdraw their award funds. However, when the grant expires the service fees continue if the account is not closed. In addition this legislation requires the Office of Management and Budget to annually report on expired grant accounts to prevent this waste from continuing.

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