[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 48 (Thursday, March 12, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1736-S1737]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             SUNSHINE WEEK

  Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I rise to submit to the Senate a statement 
in support of Sunshine Week, an annual event that spotlights the key 
need of a government-transparency. Without openness and access to how 
all levels of government spend tax dollars or make key decisions, 
accountability and oversight will lack.
  Where transparency is lacking, waste, fraud, and duplication tend to 
proliferate. The Government Accountability Office-GAO-regularly cites 
``lack of transparency'' as a chronic problem across many agencies and 
programs. This can have serious consequences. This causes increased 
taxpayer spending and improper payments. This hinders competition. In 
turn, a lack of transparency can affect everything from public health 
to our national defense.
  Given the profound and far-reaching impacts of Federal programs and 
policies, the people need to know how their tax dollars are being 
spent.
  Without access to reliable, accurate information, how can we be sure 
good decisions are being made when it comes to spending the tax dollars 
of hard-working families? Sure that the policies we craft in this 
Chamber are working as intended? Sure that our limited resources go 
where they are needed most? Sure that the programs we create aren't 
causing harm?
  Well that is why, as the chairman of the Budget Committee, I have 
focused the last several years on enhancing transparency and improving 
both the quality and quantity of data available for all decisionmakers. 
I am extremely gratified that my colleagues from both sides of the 
aisle, along with key organizations and experts, so often join these 
efforts.
  One step in the right direction is the Senate Budget Committee has 
started to publish regular scorekeeping reports. These are available 
for the public on the committee's website and track the budgetary 
impact of legislation approved by Congress against current spending 
levels. This helps provide other committees, Members of Congress, and 
taxpayers with ongoing updates about the fiscal implications of 
recently agreed upon legislation.
  In addition, there are obviously many unknowns when it comes to 
agencies implementing the laws and programs already on the books. To 
address this concern, I led a bipartisan group of 15 Senators last 
July, along with Senator Lankford, to urge the White House Office of 
Management and Budget to make a complete list of all Federal programs 
publicly available in a central, governmentwide website. This would 
help to identify and eliminate program waste and duplication. Because, 
believe it or not, there is no comprehensive list of each and every 
program the Federal Government funds. It still isn't available.
  The fact that legislators and taxpayers don't even know how many 
programs we have or what they do is troubling, particularly as we 
continue to create and fund new ones.
  In the past, GAO has identified massive amounts of duplication across 
the Federal Government, including more than 12 programs on financial 
literacy, 160 Federal housing assistance programs or activities, 94 
green building initiatives, 253 crime prevention programs, 14 diesel 
emission reduction programs, 45 early learning and child care programs, 
and 163 STEM programs.
  Most recently, GAO's 2019 annual report on duplication found six 
different government programs engaged in quantum computing research. 
Clearly, all of these programs could be improved by some basic 
coordination or consolidation.
  This simple inventory has been on the to-do list for almost a decade. 
There have been previous attempts, but those have fallen short. We will 
continue working with GAO and OMB until the list is actually published.
  Most importantly, last fall, I joined with Senator Whitehouse to 
introduce bipartisan budget process reform legislation--the first 
bipartisan budget reforms approved by the Senate Budget Committee since 
1990.
  The Bipartisan Congressional Budget Reform Act would increase 
transparency in the congressional budget process in a number of ways--
by having Congress develop a fiscal plan that is easy to understand and 
offers the public a chance to view if Congress is living within its 
means, encouraging other committees to review the programs in their 
jurisdiction that are in most need of review, directing both GAO and 
the Congressional Budget Office to review program portfolios-portfolios 
are groups of programs with

[[Page S1737]]

similar efforts. This has to be done on an ongoing basis.
  But that is not all the bill would do. We also need to require CBO to 
review and report to Congress on the accuracy of its past projections 
and cost estimates, along with an annual plan outlining their efforts 
to enhance transparency. We need to make public the information 
underlying cost estimates of major legislation and reports related to 
the debt-to-GDP ratio agreed upon in the budget resolution. We need to 
require CBO to provide more information to help better understand the 
true costs of our actions by including projected interest costs in 
estimates for mandatory spending programs, revenue changes, and 
supplemental appropriations bills.
  We need CBO to include 10 years of cost estimates for spending 
subject to appropriations, doubling the current practice of 5 years. We 
need to bring budget gimmicks into the light. CBO would have to produce 
public estimates of appropriations legislation that include the costs 
associated with doling out money before the revenue comes in. We should 
expose gimmicks like budget bait and switch.
  In Washington, we like to say that ``sunlight is the best 
disinfectant,'' and that is true, but sunlight does far more than 
disinfect. It lights the way. Opening the books and reforming the 
budget process will help make us better equipped to face the enormous 
fiscal challenges looming just ahead.

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