Obama signs bill into law to prevent government charge card abuse

By Ramsey Cox - 10/08/12 10:46 AM ET

President Obama signed several bills into law late Friday, including Sen. Chuck Grassley’s (R-Iowa) bill to prevent abuse of government charge cards.

The Government Charge Card Abuse Prevention Act, which passed in the Senate by unanimous consent before senators left for the election recess, requires federal agencies to put new controls on government charge cards and enforce more stringent penalties for violations by federal employees.

Grassley started pushing for the legislation years ago, after the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office documented fraudulent, questionable and overly expensive purchases with these cards, including some on “gentlemen’s clubs.”

“It shouldn’t take a decade for Washington to do everything possible to stop federal workers from purchasing kitchen appliances, jewelry and cruises, and even paying the tab at gentlemen’s clubs and legalized brothels, but Washington is an island surrounded by reality,” Grassley said in a statement Friday after the president signed the bill into law. “Perseverance paid off for this reform effort. By putting some common-sense controls into the law, we can make certain the federal bureaucracy improves the way it responsibly manages the use of these cards just like a private business would.”

Along with new controls and penalties, including dismissal, the bill will also increase scrutiny of card usage with regular audits to identify improper use.

Another bill Obama signed into law Friday was Sen. Chuck Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) Strengthening and Focusing Enforcement to Deter Organized Stealing and Enhance Safety Act (SAFE DOSES) Act.

The SAFE DOSES Act aims to fight theft of prescription painkillers from points of the supply chain, from the drug warehouse to the delivery truck to the pharmacy, by increasing penalties and giving law enforcement wiretaps access, among other tools to combat drug rings.

“This plan will help keep drug thieves off the streets and law enforcement better equipped to combat prescription drug theft in our upstate New York communities, and I am thrilled that the president has signed the SAFE DOSES Act into law,” Schumer said in a statement Friday. “The SAFE DOSES Act will help cops put a lid on the prescription drug epidemic that is spilling across New York State and the entire country, and will also ensure that powerful prescriptions, like Oxycontin and hydrocodone, make it from the factory to the patient, and nowhere else.”

The president also signed the following bills into law on Friday:

The Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest Establishment Act
FDA User Fee Corrections Act of 2012
U.S. support for assistance provided by international financial institutions for Burma
VA Major Construction Authorization and Expiring Authorities Extension Act of 2012
Remedies for Dilution Provisions in the Trademark Act
Reporting Efficiency Improvement Act