Taxpayers Right-To-Know Act

II Calendar No. 275 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2177 [Report No. 116–154] To provide taxpayers with an improved understanding of Government pro- grams through the disclosure of cost, performance, and areas of duplica- tion among them, leverage existing data to achieve a functional Federal program inventory, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JULY 18, 2019 Mr. LANKFORD (for himself, Ms. HASSAN, Ms. SINEMA, Ms. ERNST, Mr. JOHNSON, Mr. ENZI, Mr. PAUL, Mr. CORNYN, Mr. TESTER, Mr. BRAUN, and Mr. KENNEDY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs OCTOBER 28, 2019 Reported by Mr. JOHNSON, with amendments [Omit the part struck through and insert the part printed in italic] A BILL To provide taxpayers with an improved understanding of Government programs through the disclosure of cost, performance, and areas of duplication among them, lever- age existing data to achieve a functional Federal pro- gram inventory, and for other purposes. VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:40 Oct 28, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\S2177.RS S2177 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 2177 RS Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Taxpayers Right-To- 4 Know Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. INVENTORY OF GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS. 6 Section 1122(a) of title 31, United States Code, is 7 amended— 8 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (1) and (2) as 9 paragraphs (2) and (3), respectively; 10 (2) by inserting before paragraph (2), as so re- 11 designated, the following: 12 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this sub- 13 section— 14 ‘‘(A) the term ‘Federal financial assist- 15 ance’ has the meaning given that term under 16 section 7501; 17 ‘‘(B) the term ‘open Government data 18 asset’ has the meaning given that term under 19 section 3502 of title 44; 20 ‘‘(C) the term ‘program’ means a single 21 program activity or an organized set of aggre- 22 gated, disaggregated, or consolidated program 23 activities by 1 or more agencies directed toward 24 a common purpose or goal; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:40 Oct 28, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2177.RS S2177 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 2177 RS ‘‘(D) the term ‘program activity’ has the 1 meaning given that term in section 1115(h).’’; 2 (3) in paragraph (2), as so redesignated— 3 (A) by striking ‘‘IN GENERAL.—Not later 4 than October 1, 2012, the Office of Manage- 5 ment and Budget shall’’ and inserting 6 ‘‘WEBSITE AND PROGRAM INVENTORY.—The 7 Director of the Office of Management and 8 Budget shall’’; 9 (B) in subparagraph (A), by inserting 10 ‘‘that includes the information required under 11 subsections (b) and (c)’’ after ‘‘a single 12 website’’; and 13 (C) by striking subparagraphs (B) and (C) 14 and inserting the following: 15 ‘‘(B) include on the website described in 16 subparagraph (A), or another appropriate Fed- 17 eral Government website where related informa- 18 tion is made available, as determined by the Di- 19 rector— 20 ‘‘(i) a program inventory that shall 21 identify each program; and 22 ‘‘(ii) for each program identified in 23 the program inventory, the information re- 24 quired under paragraph (3); 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:40 Oct 28, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2177.RS S2177 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 2177 RS ‘‘(C) make the information in the program 1 inventory required under subparagraph (B) 2 available as an open Government data asset; 3 and 4 ‘‘(D) at a minimum— 5 ‘‘(i) update the information required 6 to be included on the single website under 7 subparagraph (A) on a quarterly basis; 8 and 9 ‘‘(ii) update the program inventory re- 10 quired under subparagraph (B) on an an- 11 nual basis.’’; 12 (4) in paragraph (3), as so redesignated— 13 (A) in the matter preceding subparagraph 14 (A), by striking ‘‘described under paragraph (1) 15 shall include’’ and inserting ‘‘identified in the 16 program inventory required under paragraph 17 (2)(B) shall include, for each program activity 18 that is a part of a program’’; 19 (B) by striking subparagraphs (A) and 20 (C); 21 (C) by redesignating subparagraph (B) as 22 subparagraph (A); 23 (D) in subparagraph (A), as so redesig- 24 nated— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:40 Oct 28, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2177.RS S2177 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 2177 RS (i) by striking ‘‘program’’ each place 1 it appears and inserting ‘‘program activ- 2 ity’’; and 3 (ii) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; and 4 (E) by adding at the end the following: 5 ‘‘(B) a consolidated view for the current 6 fiscal year and each of the 2 fiscal years before 7 the current fiscal year of— 8 ‘‘(i) the amount appropriated; 9 ‘‘(ii) the amount obligated; and 10 ‘‘(iii) the amount outlayed; 11 ‘‘(C) to the extent practicable and per- 12 mitted by law, links to any related evaluation, 13 assessment, or program performance review by 14 the agency, an inspector general, or the Govern- 15 ment Accountability Office (including program 16 performance reports required under section 17 1116), and other related evidence assembled in 18 response to implementation of the Foundations 19 for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 20 (Public Law 115–435; 132 Stat. 5529); 21 ‘‘(D) an identification of the statutes that 22 authorize the program activity or the authority 23 under which the program activity was created 24 or operates; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:40 Oct 28, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2177.RS S2177 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 2177 RS ‘‘(E) an identification of any major regula- 1 tions specific to the program activity; 2 ‘‘(F) any other information that the Direc- 3 tor of the Office of Management and Budget 4 determines relevant relating to program activity 5 data in priority areas most relevant to Congress 6 or the public to increase transparency and ac- 7 countability; and 8 ‘‘(G) for assistance listings under which 9 Federal financial assistance is provided, for the 10 current fiscal year and each of the 2 fiscal 11 years before the current fiscal year and con- 12 sistent with existing law relating to the protec- 13 tion of personally identifiable information— 14 ‘‘(i) a linkage to the relevant program 15 activities that fund Federal financial as- 16 sistance by assistance listing; 17 ‘‘(ii) information on the population in- 18 tended to be served by the assistance list- 19 ing based on the language of the solicita- 20 tion, as required under section 6102; 21 ‘‘(iii) to the extent practicable based 22 on data reported to the agency providing 23 the Federal financial assistance, the results 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:40 Oct 28, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2177.RS S2177 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 2177 RS of the Federal financial assistance awards 1 provided by assistance listing; 2 ‘‘(iv) to the extent practicable, the 3 percentage of the amount appropriated for 4 the assistance listing that is used for man- 5 agement and administration; 6 ‘‘(v) the identification of each award 7 of Federal financial assistance and, to the 8 extent practicable, the name of each direct 9 or indirect recipient of the award; and 10 ‘‘(vi) any information relating to the 11 award of Federal financial assistance that 12 is required to be included on the website 13 established under section 2(b) of the Fed- 14 eral Funding Accountability and Trans- 15 parency Act of 2006 (31 U.S.C. 6101 16 note).’’; and 17 (5) by adding at the end the following: 18 ‘‘(4) ARCHIVING.—The Director of the Office of 19 Management and Budget shall— 20 ‘‘(A) archive and preserve the information 21 included in the program inventory required 22 under paragraph (2)(B) after the end of the pe- 23 riod during which such information is required 24 to be made available under paragraph (3); and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:40 Oct 28, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2177.RS S2177 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 2177 RS ‘‘(B) make information archived in accord- 1 ance with subparagraph (A) available for re- 2 search via an archiving process that results in 3 self-service of data access.’’. 4 SEC. 3. GUIDANCE, IMPLEMENTATION, REPORTING, AND 5 REVIEW. 6 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 7 (1) the term ‘‘Director’’ means the Director of 8 the Office of Management and Budget; 9 (2) the term ‘‘program’’ has the meaning given 10 that term in section 1122(a)(1) of title 31, United 11 States Code, as amended by section 2 of this Act; 12 and 13 (3) the term ‘‘program activity’’ has the mean- 14 ing given that term in section 1115(h) of title 31, 15 United States Code. 16 (b) PLAN FOR IMPLEMENTATION AND RECONCILING 17 PROGRAM DEFINITIONS.—Not later than 180 days after 18 the date of enactment of this Act, the Director shall sub- 19 mit to Congress a report that— 20 (1) includes a plan that— 21 (A) discusses how making available on a 22 website the information required under sub- 23 section (a) of section 1122 of title 31, United 24 States Code, as amended by section 2, will le- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:40 Oct 28, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2177.RS S2177 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 2177 RS verage existing data sources while avoiding du- 1 plicative or overlapping information in pre- 2 senting information relating to program activi- 3 ties and programs; 4 (B) indicates how any gaps in data will be 5 assessed and addressed; 6 (C) indicates how the Director will display 7 such data; and 8 (D) discusses how the Director will expand 9 the information collected with respect to pro- 10 gram activities to incorporate the information 11 required under the amendments made by sec- 12 tion 2; 13 (2) sets forth details regarding a pilot program, 14 developed in accordance with best practices for effec- 15 tive pilot programs— 16 (A) to develop and implement a functional 17 program inventory that could be limited in 18 scope; and 19 (B) under which the information required 20 under the amendments made by section 2 with 21 respect to program activities shall be made 22 available on the website required under section 23 1122(a) of title 31, United States Code; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:40 Oct 28, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2177.RS S2177 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 2177 RS (3) establishes an implementation timeline 1 for— 2 (A) gathering and building program activ- 3 ity information; 4 (B) developing and implementing the pilot 5 program; 6 (C) seeking and responding to stakeholder 7 comments; 8 (D) developing and presenting findings 9 from the pilot program to Congress; 10 (E) notifying Congress regarding how pro- 11 gram activities will be aggregated, 12 disaggregated, or consolidated as part of identi- 13 fying programs; and 14 (F) implementing a Governmentwide pro- 15 gram inventory through an iterative approach; 16 and 17 (4) including includes recommendations, if any, 18 to reconcile the conflicting definitions of the term 19 ‘‘program’’ in relevant Federal statutes, as it relates 20 to the purpose of this Act. 21 (c) IMPLEMENTATION.— 22 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years after 23 the date of enactment of this Act, the Director shall 24 make available online all information required under 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:40 Oct 28, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2177.RS S2177 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 2177 RS the amendments made by section 2 with respect to 1 all programs. 2 (2) EXTENSIONS.—The Director may, based on 3 an analysis of the costs of implementation, and after 4 submitting to Congress a notification of the action 5 by the Director, extend the deadline for implementa- 6 tion under paragraph (1) by not more than a total 7 of 1 year. 8 (d) REPORTING.—Not later than 2 years after the 9 date on which the Director makes available online all in- 10 formation required under the amendments made by sec- 11 tion 2 with respect to all programs, the Comptroller Gen- 12 eral of the United States shall submit to Congress a report 13 regarding the implementation of this Act and the amend- 14 ments made by this Act, which shall— 15 (1) review how the Director and agencies deter- 16 mined how to aggregate, disaggregate, or consolidate 17 program activities to provide the most useful infor- 18 mation for an inventory of Government investments; 19 (2) evaluate the extent to which the program 20 inventory required under section 1122 of title 31, 21 United States Code, as amended by this Act, pro- 22 vides useful information for transparency, decision- 23 making, and oversight; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:40 Oct 28, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2177.RS S2177 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •S 2177 RS (3) evaluate the extent to which the program 1 inventory provides a coherent picture of the scope of 2 Federal investments in particular areas; and 3 (4) include the recommendations of the Comp- 4 troller General, if any, for improving implementation 5 of this Act and the amendments made by this Act. 6 SEC. 4. TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1122 of title 31, United 8 States Code, is amended— 9 (1) in subsection (b), in the matter preceding 10 paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘described in subsection 11 (a)(2)(A)’’ after ‘‘the website’’ each place it appears; 12 (2) in subsection (c), in the matter preceding 13 paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘described in subsection 14 (a)(2)(A)’’ after ‘‘the website’’; and 15 (3) in subsection (d)— 16 (A) in the subsection heading, by striking 17 ‘‘ON WEBSITE’’; and 18 (B) in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘on 19 the website’’. 20 (b) OTHER AMENDMENTS.— 21 (1) Section 1115(a) of title 31, United States 22 Code, is amended in the matter preceding paragraph 23 (1) by striking ‘‘the website provided under’’ and in- 24 serting ‘‘a website described in’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:40 Oct 28, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2177.RS S2177 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 13 •S 2177 RS (2) Section 10 of the GPRA Modernization Act 1 of 2010 (31 U.S.C. 1115 note) is amended— 2 (A) in subsection (a)(3), by striking ‘‘the 3 website described under’’ and inserting ‘‘a 4 website described in’’; and 5 (B) in subsection (b)— 6 (i) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘the 7 website described under’’ and inser [Text truncated for display. 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