WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Gary Peters (D-MI), Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, applauded the House passage of his bipartisan bill, the  Congressional Budget Justification Transparency Act, to help make information about how the federal government is spending taxpayer dollars more accessible to the public. The legislation will improve government transparency by requiring federal agencies to publish easily understandable justifications for their budget requests on a single, central website each year. Congressional budget justifications are plain-language explanations of how agencies propose to spend money that they request from Congressional appropriators. The materials would also be posted on each agency’s website. The bill passed the Senate in June and now heads to President Biden’s desk to be signed into law.
 

“Finding out how federal agencies are spending taxpayer dollars can be extremely difficult. This lack of transparency is highly concerning and Americans and Michiganders deserve to know how these funds are used to improve their lives and livelihoods,” said Senator Peters. “I’m grateful the House passed this bipartisan, commonsense legislation and urge the President to sign it into law as soon as possible so we can bolster accountability for the federal government and help ensure taxpayer dollars are being put to good use.”

The Congressional Budget Justification Transparency Act would amend the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 to require that agency budget justifications be made publicly available on a centralized, searchable website, as well as each agency’s own website. It also requires the Office of Management and Budget to keep an updated list of agencies that are expected to submit budget justifications, the date of submission to Congress, the date the justification is posted online, and a link to the materials online.

Peters was joined in introducing the legislation by U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-OH), Ranking Member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. U.S. Representatives Mike Quigley (D-IL-05) and James Comer (R-KY-01) led the House companion bill.

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