[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3335 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3335

To require Congress to establish a unified and searchable database on a 
    public website for congressional earmarks as called for by the 
     President in his 2010 State of the Union Address to Congress.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 11, 2010

Mr. Coburn (for himself, Mr. McCain, Mr. Feingold, Mrs. Gillibrand, Mr. 
 Bennet, Mr. Ensign, Mr. Corker, and Mr. Udall of Colorado) introduced 
the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 
             on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To require Congress to establish a unified and searchable database on a 
    public website for congressional earmarks as called for by the 
     President in his 2010 State of the Union Address to Congress.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Earmark Transparency Act''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Congressionally directed spending item.--The term 
        ``congressionally directed spending item'' shall have the same 
        meaning as given the term in section 521 of the Honest 
        Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 (Public Law 110-81).
            (2) Request.--The term ``request'' means a formal 
        communication, most commonly in writing, from a Member of 
        Congress to a committee of Congress or a chairman or ranking 
        member of such a committee requesting a congressionally 
        directed spending item.
            (3) Requestor.--The term ``requestor'' means the Member or 
        Members of Congress that submits a request.
            (4) Searchable website.--The term ``searchable website'' 
        means a website that allows the public to--
                    (A) search and aggregate congressionally directed 
                spending items by any element required under section 3;
                    (B) ascertain through a single search the total 
                number and dollar value of congressionally directed 
                spending items requested by an individual Member of 
                Congress;
                    (C) download data included in subparagraph (A) 
                included in the outcome from searches;
                    (D) programmatically search and access all data in 
                a serialized machine readable format via a web-services 
                application programming interface;
                    (E) access a public facing interface that can be 
                queried across multiple fields from a single search, or 
                through an advanced search that allows users to query 
                for information in specific fields; and
                    (F) access the website address and link on the 
                front page of the websites of the Secretary of the 
                Senate and Clerk of the House of Representatives.

SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL EARMARK DATABASE.

    (a) Website.--Not later than 6 months after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Clerk of the House of Representatives, in coordination 
with the Secretary of the Senate, shall ensure the existence of a 
single searchable website, available to the public at no cost to 
access, that includes for each request--
            (1) the fiscal year in which the congressionally directed 
        spending item would be funded;
            (2) the bill number on which request is made;
            (3) the bill section location;
            (4) the amount of initial request made by requestor;
            (5) the amount approved by the committee of jurisdiction;
            (6) the amount approved in final legislation (if approved);
            (7) the name of Federal department or agency through which 
        the entity will receive the funding;
            (8) if the request was included in the President's budget 
        for the relevant fiscal year;
            (9) if the request is authorized in law and when any such 
        authorization expires;
            (10) the name of the requestor or requestors;
            (11) the requestor State (for Members of the Senate) or 
        State and District (for Members of the House of 
        Representatives);
            (12) the name of any beneficiary designated to receive 
        appropriations, including Federal agencies, municipalities, and 
        States;
            (13) the type of organization (public, private non-profit, 
        or private for-profit entity);
            (14) the address of each beneficiary identified in 
        paragraph (12);
            (15) the project name;
            (16) the project description;
            (17) the justification, as provided by the requestor or 
        requestors, explaining how congressionally directed spending 
        item would benefit taxpayers;
            (18) an indication of whether congressionally directed 
        spending item related to request is a continuing project;
            (19) for each congressionally directed spending item 
        identified as a continuing project under paragraph (18), an 
        indication of how long it has received appropriations;
            (20) the estimated completion date of the project funded by 
        the congressionally directed spending item;
            (21) a description, if applicable, of any Federal or non-
        Federal sources of funding for the previous 2 fiscal years, 
        including the amount of a State or local matching requirement, 
        for the congressionally directed spending item;
            (22) for any non-Federal sources of funding identified 
        under paragraph (21), an identification of the sources and 
        their percentage of the project's total funding;
            (23) a copy of all requests and supplemental documents 
        submitted to a committee of Congress relevant to each request; 
        and
            (24) the status of the congressionally directed spending 
        item, including if it was only requested, or then inserted into 
        a bill passed by either House, and also noted if it was 
        included in final conference report, including any changes in 
        final dollar amount awarded for the item.
    (b) Scope of Data.--The website created under subsection (a) shall 
contain all requests made on or after the date of enactment of this Act 
consistent with the provision of this Act.
    (c) Search Requirements.--The website created under subsection (a) 
shall--
            (1) distinguish between requests that have been included in 
        authorizing or appropriation legislation and those that were 
        requested but not included in any legislation;
            (2) provide a permanent and unique identification number 
        for each request for a congressionally directed spending item;
            (3) provide that all search results return permanent 
        weblinks; and
            (4) include information from all relevant sources including 
        bills, conference reports, amendments, manager's amendments, 
        and committee reports.
    (d) Availability.--Requests shall be made available on the website 
created under subsection (a) not later than 5 days after submission by 
a requestor to a committee of Congress. For items under paragraphs (2), 
(3), (5), and (6) of subsection (a), information shall be added to the 
website as soon as it becomes available.
    (e) Conference Reports.--The database shall be updated to include 
congressionally directed spending items included in any conference 
report.
    (f) Committees Responsible.--The burden to provide information in a 
timely manner and in compliance with this Act to the Secretary of the 
Senate and the Clerk of the House regarding requests shall be on the 
committee of Congress to which a request is made.
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