Senate tacks GSA modernization to appropriations bill
A one-sentence section would allow GSA to merge its separate funds into a single pool.
The Senate may have maneuvered around a hold placed on the General Services Administration’s modernization legislation by adding it into an appropriations bill.
A one-sentence section in H.R. 5576, the fiscal 2007 Departments of Transportation, Treasury, Housing and Urban Development, the Judiciary, the District of Columbia and Independent Agencies Appropriations bill, would allow GSA to merge its separate funds into a single pool. H.R. 2066, the GSA Modernization Act, would create the Federal Acquisition Service Fund by merging the Information Technology and General Supply funds.
Sen. Jim Jeffords (I-Vt.) has threatened to object to H.R. 2066, possibly by filibuster, if it comes to the floor.
The House passed H.R. 2066 on May 23, 2005, and the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approved it May 2, 2006, with a few amendments. One amendment calls for up to seven regional executives in the Federal Acquisition Service, two more than the House version authorized. Another amendment added a provision regarding employee retention bonuses.
The appropriations legislation would enact the Senate’s version of the GSA bill.
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