WI congressman wants better tracking of federal conference expenses

By M.D. Kittle | Wisconsin Reporter

MADISON — The days of $4 million training conferences and motivational employee dance videos at the Internal Revenue Service could be a thing of the past under a bill cosponsored by a Wisconsin congressman.

At least the IRS and federal agencies at large would have to do a lot better job of reporting their binge spending, according to U.S. Rep. Ron Kind, D-La Crosse.

Kind praised the introduction of the Transparency Requirements for Agency Conferences and Events Act, a bipartisan bill that Kind said will bring transparency, accountability and fiscal restraint to federal agency conferences.

The legislation’s acronym is TRACE, as in nearly $50 million of taxpayer funding disappearing without a trace between 2010 and 2012 — money the IRS spent on questionable conferences, according to a  scathing audit issued earlier this year.