[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 66 (Monday, May 5, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2643-S2644]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                DATA ACT

  Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I rise today to commend my colleagues in 
the Senate and House for coming together last month to pass the Digital 
Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014, which is known as the DATA 
Act. The measure enjoyed near unanimous support in both bodies, and I 
expect President Obama to sign the DATA Act into law shortly.
  This legislation seeks to ensure that Federal agencies have a 
framework in place to standardize their financial data, and will better 
ensure that expenditure data for all of our agencies is accessible to 
taxpayers and Congress. This will represent an important step toward a 
more transparent and responsive government.
  Passage of the DATA Act, though, is merely the first step towards 
improving transparency into how the Federal Government spends taxpayer 
dollars. Now comes the hard part--implementation. I know that Federal 
agencies and the Office of Management and Budget will face challenges 
in implementing the bill. To that effect, I have received a letter from 
Beth Cobert, the Deputy Director for Management at the Office of 
Management and Budget, expressing concern about implementing the bill 
without additional resources.
  As with any legislation, our job does not end when the President 
signs the bill. I believe that those of us here in Congress have the 
responsibility to work with the administration to ensure that laws--
such as the DATA Act--that we enact have the support they need to be 
implemented. That is why I will work with my colleagues on the 
Appropriations committees to help make sure Federal agencies have the 
resources they need to meet the requirements of the bill. I invite my 
colleagues who worked so hard to pass this legislation to join me in 
this continuing effort.
  With that being said, I ask unanimous consent that Ms. Cobert's 
letter be printed in the Record in its entirety.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

         Executive Office of the President, Office of Management 
           and Budget,
                                     Washington, DC., May 1, 2014.
     Hon. Thomas R. Carper,
     U.S. Senate,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Chairman Carper: The Administration recognizes and 
     appreciates your commitment to Government transparency and 
     accountability, and appreciates the Committee on Homeland 
     Security and Government Affairs' leadership on these issues.
       The Administration supports the objectives of the Digital 
     Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014 (DATA Act) which 
     would establish Government-wide data

[[Page S2644]]

     standards for financial data and assist in making Government-
     wide spending more accessible. The Administration appreciates 
     the bill's support for establishing data standards and we 
     additionally appreciate the bill's statement of confidence in 
     the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Department 
     of Treasury (Treasury). The Administration is currently 
     working to improve Federal spending transparency. For 
     example, we will soon roll-out a refreshed USAspending.gov 
     with better search capabilities and functionality to 
     manipulate the data and issue guidance to improve 
     USAspending.gov's data quality. Additionally, we completed 
     the transition of USAspending.gov to the Department of 
     Treasury to take advantage of its core functions on agency 
     financial reporting and ongoing work with other initiatives 
     related to transparency in Federal spending.
       To implement the legislation, Executive branch agencies 
     will need to work to redesign the structure of existing 
     financial systems, adopt new data standards, and review 
     future budgetary requests to ensure compliance with the new 
     definitions. However, the legislation does not provide funds 
     to OMB, Treasury, or any agency to develop and implement new 
     data standards under the timeframes prescribed. Without 
     specific appropriations, this bill's requirements would 
     require that agencies either divert agency resources from 
     other mission critical activities, or implement requirements 
     based on current funding and the timeframes that permits.
       Also, the bill requires agencies to report information by 
     ``program activities.'' The FY 2015 President's Budget 
     includes 1,275 executive budget accounts that track Federal 
     agencies' spending. Currently, Executive Branch agencies' 
     Federal financial systems are not designed to report by 
     ``program activity'' as defined by the legislation. ``Program 
     activities'' can and do change from year to year as a result 
     of Congressional or other action. To avoid public reporting 
     of information that is incomplete or potentially inaccurate, 
     Executive Branch agencies will implement these requirements 
     initially through reporting at the budget account level. We 
     commit to implement the statute by working on efforts to 
     report below the budget account level in a manner that 
     clearly links to the spending data in agency financial 
     systems. We share a common goal with data transparency, 
     however, OMB needs to ensure that our approach considers the 
     realities of the funding environment and reflects how funds 
     are currently tracked through the budget process and in 
     agency financial systems.
       We look forward to working with you to pursue our shared 
     goal of improving Federal spending transparency.
           Sincerely,

                                                  Beth Cobert,

                                   Deputy Director for Management,
     Office of Management and Budget.

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