[Congressional Record: June 3, 2008 (Senate)]
[Page S4971-S4973]
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS
By Mr. REID (for Mr. Obama (for himself, Mr. Coburn, Mr. Carper,
and Mr. McCain)):
S. 3077. A bill to strengthen transparency and accountability in
Federal spending; to the Committee on Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs.
Mr. OBAMA. I am proud today to introduce the Strengthening
Transparency and Accountability in Federal Spending Act of 2008. This
important legislation will improve Government transparency and give the
American people greater tools to track and monitor nearly $2 trillion
of Government spending on contracts, grants, and other forms of
assistance.
Throughout my time in public service, I have consistently fought to
increase the openness and accessibility of Government and to encourage
greater participation by people of all interests and backgrounds in
public debates. One of the most important public debates is how
Washington spends the people's money. Unfortunately, it has been far
too difficult for ordinary citizens to see where, how, and why money is
spent.
Congress took a big step toward improving transparency two years ago
when it passed the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act
that I introduced with Senator Coburn. That bill, which created the
public website USASpending.gov, makes information about nearly all
Federal grants, contracts, loans and other financial assistance
available to the public in a regularly updated, user-friendly, and
searchable format. The website includes the names of entities receiving
Federal awards, the amounts of the awards, information on the awards
including transaction types, funding agencies, location, and other
information. Soon the website will also include information about
subcontracts and subgrants.
Our work is not done however. The early success of USASpending.gov
has demonstrated that additional public information should be made
available. Whether you believe Government ought to spend more or spend
less or just spend differently, we all should be able to agree that
Government spending should be transparent and that public information
ought to be accessible to the public. We should also be able to agree
that the quality of Government financial data must be improved and made
more reliable.
Today I am pleased to be joined by Senators Coburn, Carper, and
McCain on a bill to build upon USASpending.gov and further advance
Government transparency. In addition to a few technical corrections,
the bill we are introducing today will require the website to include
additional public information, including a copy of each Federal
contract in both PDF and searchable text format. The improved website
will also include details about competitive bidding, the range of
technically acceptable bids or proposals, the profit incentives offered
for each contract, and the complete amount of money awarded, including
any options to expand or extend under a contract.
With this legislation, the website will also show if a Federal grant
or contract is the result of an earmark as well as provide an
assessment of the quality of work performed. Ordinary citizens will be
able to use the website to find information about Federal audit
disputes and resolutions, terminations of Federal awards, contractor
and grantee tax compliance, suspensions and debarments, and
administrative agreements involving Federal award recipients. The
website can also be used to find information about any civil, criminal,
or administrative actions taken against Federal award recipients,
including for violations related to the workplace, environmental
protection, fraud, securities, and consumer protections.
Under the enhanced website, information about government lease
agreements and assignments will be available in the same manner that
information is reported for contracts and grants. Information about
parent company ownership will also be available.
In addition to improving the transparency and accessibility of public
data, our bill will also improve the quality and usability of data that
is made available. For one thing the data on USASpending.gov will be
accessible through an application programming interface. The bill also
requires the use of unique award identifiers that prevent the release
of personally identifiable information. Finally, the bill creates a
simple method for the public to report errors and track the performance
of agencies in confirming or correcting errors while also requiring
regular audits of data quality.
People from every State in this great Nation sent us to Congress to
defend their rights and stand up for their interests. To do that we
have to tear down the barriers that separate citizens from the
democratic process and to shine a brighter light on the inner workings
of Washington.
This bill helps to shine that light. It is simple common sense and
good governance that has been endorsed by a diverse range of grassroots
organizations and Government watchdog groups, including the American
Association of Law Libraries, Americans for Democratic Action,
Americans for Tax Reform, the Center for American Progress, the Center
for Democracy & Technology, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in
Washington, the Environmental Working Group, the Federation of American
Scientists, the Government Accountability Project, the National
Taxpayer Union, OMB Watch, OpenTheGovernment.org, POGO, Public Citizen,
Sciencecorps, the Sunlight Foundation, Taxpayers for Common Sense
Action, U.S. Action, and U.S. PIRG among others.
This bill continues the bipartisan progress we have made opening up
Washington to greater scrutiny and oversight. I am grateful for
continued grassroots leadership on these issues and I appreciate the
hard work of my Senate colleagues. Together I know we can change the
way business is done in this town and make our Government more
accountable to the people who sent us here to work for them. I urge
support for this important legislation.
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