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![handle is hein.gao/gaobadhbt0001 and id is 1 raw text is:
S THE COMPTROLLER GENERAL
DECISI N . OF THE UNITED STATES
WASHINGTON, 0. C. 20548
FILE: B-129650 DATE: March 27, 1979
MATTER OF: Availability of United States currency to
defray congressional foreign travel expenses
DIGEST: Amendment to Section 502(b) of Mutual Security
Act of 1954 provides that the Secretary of the
Treasury shall purchase such local currencies
as may be necessary [to finance congressional
travel]. Travelers on occasion spend their
own dollars for expenses of authorized official
travel. Despite statutory language, this Office
will not object to reimbursement from appro-
priation established by section 502(b), or to dollar
expenditures directly connected with such travel. . o
The Department of State has requested that wefdetermin& what
hinds of jransactions are authorized by section 22 ot the International
Security Assistance Act oT1978, Pub. L. No. 95-384, 92 Stat. 742.
Section 22 amended section 502(b) of the Mutual Security Act of
1954, as amended, 22 U.S. C. § 1754(b) (1976), which authorized the
use of foreign currency for the expenses of members and staff of the
Congress while on official business abroad. In our decision Practices
making foreign currencies available for congressional travel
(B-129650, May 11, 1977), we held that section 502(b), a-s it was then
written, id not authorize the Department of the Treasury to purchase
foreign currency with dollars to finance congressional travel in
instances where no foreign currency of a particular country was
owned by the United States The Congress, apparently in response
to this decision, enacted section 22 of the International Security
Assistance Act of 1978 which amends section 502(b) to provide:
Whenever local currencies owned by the United States
are not otherwise available for purposes of this subsection,
the Secretary of the Treasury shall purchase such local
currencies as may be necessary for such purposes, using
any funds in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated.
The State Department explains that two permanent indefinite
appropriation accounts have been established by the Department of the
Treasury to finance the purchase of foreign currency needed for con-
gressional travel expenses. The Department of State, through its](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.gao/gaobadhbt0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)