The General Services Administration would be empowered to better prevent credit card and travel card abuse, under legislation introduced by a bipartisan group of senators June 18.

The Saving Federal Dollars Through Better Use of Government Purchase and Travel Cards Act of 2015, would establish an Office of Federal Charge Card Analytics and Review within GSA to continuously examine charge card use within the government and identify potential fraud of misuse.

Related: IG: DoD card holders spent $1M on casinos, strippers

The legislation would also help improve anti-fraud information sharing among federal agencies and would require agencies to share best practices for detecting fraud, waste and abuse in charge card programs.

Senators Tom Carper, D-Del., Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., are sponsoring the bill.

Carper said while federal agencies have made real progress strengthening their financial controls and preventing wasteful charge card spending, recent reports revealed we can and should implement stronger controls.

"Congress has a moral obligation to look into every nook and cranny of government spending and ensure our hard-earned taxpayer dollars are being spent responsibly and effectively," Carper said.

Related: New payment cards available to feds

Grassley said the bill builds on previous charge card abuse legislation by adding an additional layer of government wide oversight. He cited recent Defense Department reports that showed employees spent close to $1 million gambling and at strip clubs.

"Our bill will make sure we're looking for similar patterns of misuse across all federal agencies and that agencies are sharing best practices to prevent misuse and identify potential cost savings," Grassley said.

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