[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Page 16762]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     FEDERAL FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY

  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I rise today to discuss a topic not 
debated nearly enough here on the Senate floor--making the Federal 
Government more accountable and transparent.
  Today, the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, 
under the leadership of Chairman Carper and Ranking Member Coburn, 
passed important legislation that will expand Federal financial 
transparency and accountability in many important ways.
  I sponsored this legislation--the Digital Accountability and 
Transparency, or DATA, Act--because it will significantly reform the 
way agencies report Federal spending, and for the first time provide 
checkbook-type spending data from across the Federal Government.
  The Federal Government spends more than $3.7 trillion each year, with 
more than $1 trillion being distributed as awards. However, the public 
cannot clearly track where this money goes. We currently have a Web 
site--USASpending.gov--that is supposed to show taxpayers and 
policymakers where the money goes, but it is not accurate.
  Most States already have an online portal so that taxpayers can track 
where their dollars are spent, and it is long past time for the Federal 
Government to move into the 21st century and adopt a similar system.
  At a recent hearing of the Budget Committee Task Force on Government 
Performance that I chair, it was reported that over $900 billion of 
direct assistance data on USASpending.gov was misreported in 2011 
alone.
  No wonder the public has such little confidence in government--we 
can't even tell them where their tax money goes.
  It seems to me that the data collected by the budget shops, the 
accountants, the procurement offices, and grant makers all needs to be 
combined, reconciled, and then presented in a relevant and transparent 
way.
  These various systems should be able to work together based on 
financial standards so that policymakers and the public can track the 
full cycle of Federal spending clearly.
  The DATA Act will help us move in that direction by making four 
specific improvements that I want to highlight today.
  First, it creates transparency for all Federal funds. DATA will 
expand USAspending.gov to include spending data for all Federal funds 
by appropriation, Federal agency, program, function, and maintain the 
current reporting for Federal awards like contracts, grants, and loans. 
This is important because there is currently no place online to find 
and compare all government spending.
  This expansion of USASpending.gov will allow policymakers and 
taxpayers to track Federal funds more clearly and to more easily link 
spending to budget priorities.
  Second, the DATA Act sets government-wide financial data standards. 
Currently there are no consistent standards for reporting financial 
data to USAspending.gov, and it makes much of the data confusing and 
unreliable--especially if you want to compile and compare spending from 
multiple Federal agencies.
  DATA tasks the Department of Treasury with establishing consistent 
financial data standards for the Federal agencies to support the 
USAspending.gov website.
  Third, the DATA Act will actually reduce recipient reporting 
requirements. I have long been concerned about the compliance costs for 
the recipients of Federal funds. It appears that all the overlapping 
systems are frustrating and also create additional waste--especially 
for State and local governments.
  For example, many universities file similar financial reports, 
multiple times, to multiple agencies on an annual, quarterly and 
monthly basis. If all this reporting redundancy were streamlined, we 
could direct more money to programs and less to administrative costs.
  This legislation requires the Office of Management and Budget to 
review the existing Federal award recipient financial reporting to 
reduce compliance costs based on the new financial data standards.
  Finally, the DATA Act will improve data quality. The inspectors 
general at each agency will be required to provide reports on the 
quality and accuracy of the financial data provided to USASpending.gov. 
Then GAO will then create a government-wide assessment on data quality 
and accuracy based on the inspectors generals' findings.
  Being able to follow the money is critically important to running our 
government in a more efficient way and getting the best value for the 
taxpayer. The DATA Act will help us take steps in that direction, and 
that is why passing it is so important.
  I want to close today by saying thanks again to my colleagues for 
passing the DATA Act out of committee. I am also pleased to be working 
with my friend, Republican Rob Portman of Ohio, as my Senate cosponsor 
of the DATA Act. We will continue working to make sure this important 
bipartisan legislation becomes law this year.

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