Release
Washington, D.C. – On Wednesday, Congressman Josh Brecheen introduced the Expedited Transparency Act to require faster reporting on where taxpayer dollars are being spent. This legislation amends the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act by requiring that all taxpayer disbursements be made public on USASpending.gov within three business days.
Co-leads of this legislation are Congressmen Jimmy Panetta and Chip Roy. Original cosponsors are Representatives Begich, Higgins, Cloud, Donalds, Harshbarger, and Self.
This legislation also has outside support from the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), Americans for Tax Reform, State Financial Officer Foundation, and American Action Forum.
The Washington Stand wrote an exclusive on this legislation, which you can read here.
“It is an honor to introduce the Expedited Transparency Act, which will update late-Senator Coburn’s Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act to require that all disbursements of federal taxpayer dollars be viewable on USASpending within three days. This means that whenever appropriated monies are spent, the agencies will be required to make this disbursement public within three days.
Currently, it takes weeks for these disbursements to be made public, furthering the divide between taxpayers and transparency. It is essential that we require rapid transparency, as the longer the delay between disbursement and reporting, the harder it is to demand accountability. Agencies will always seek ways to hide their spending, as evidenced by the major discrepancy in agency reporting: some report in a matter of weeks, some in six months, and some not at all. There must be transparency and accountability, not excuses and delays!!
By introducing the Expedited Transparency Act, we are advancing the transparency initiative Dr. Coburn championed with the original measure. I want to thank John Hart, CEO of Open the Books, for allowing us to work on this initiative with him. John was the Communications Director for Dr. Coburn when this initiative was originally passed,” said Congressman Josh Brecheen.
“Our founders wrote transparency into the Constitution before the Bill of Rights because it is a first principle and a building block of our other freedoms. Had the founders had access to today‘s technology, they would have insisted on real-time transparency. The Expedited Transparency Act is a much-needed improvement to USASpending, which was created by Senators Coburn and Obama in 2006. This bill will dramatically speed up the reporting process and help sunshine overcome secrecy. In a free society, you can’t have accountability without visibility. Americans should be encouraged Representatives Brecheen and Panetta are fighting for this first principle across party lines. There are no Republican facts or Democrat facts. There are simply facts. Taxpayers have the right to know how the government is spending their money in as close to real-time as possible,” said John Hart, CEO, Open the Books. 
“Right now, the American people are forced to wait a month before they can see how their tax dollars are being disbursed, a delay that undermines accountability and leaves the public in the dark,” said Congressman Jimmy Panetta. “The Expedited Transparency Act closes that gap by requiring federal award information to be posted within 3 days, ensuring citizens have real-time access to how their government spends their money. With this commonsense reform, we can take a meaningful step toward a more transparent and trustworthy federal government.”
“Federal spending is out of control, pushing our nation further and further to the brink. One of the many tools we have to keep it in check is transparency. I am proud to lead with Representatives Brecheen and Panetta on this legislation so that taxpayers can finally get timely accounting of how their tax dollars are being spent,” said Congressman Chip Roy.
Background: The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 created USASpending. This was a bipartisan initiative led by late-Senator Coburn and then-Senator Obama to create a portal that allowed taxpayers to view how their tax dollars were being spent.
This legislation echoes the objective set forth by our Founding Fathers that transparency must be a core principle of any republic. As Father of our Constitution, James Madison, once wrote, “[a] popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps, both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”
As it currently stands, USASpending is not updated for weeks at a time, which delays constituent knowledge of how taxpayer dollars are being spent. The Expedited Transparency Act will allow for quicker reporting on how federal funds are spent, fulfilling the precedent set by President Madison.