[Senate Report 113-243]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
113th Congress Report
SENATE
2d Session 113-243
_______________________________________________________________________
Calendar No. 531
TAXPAYERS RIGHT-TO-KNOW ACT
__________
R E P O R T
of the
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND
GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
to accompany
S. 2113
TO PROVIDE TAXPAYERS WITH AN ANNUAL REPORT DISCLOSING THE COST AND
PERFORMANCE OF GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS AND AREAS OF DUPLICATION AMONG THEM,
AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
August 26, 2014.--Ordered to be printed
Filed, under authority of the order of the Senate of August 5
(legislative day, August 1), 2014
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware Chairman
CARL LEVIN, Michigan TOM COBURN, Oklahoma
MARK L. PRYOR, Arkansas JOHN McCAIN, Arizona
MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin
CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri ROB PORTMAN, Ohio
JON TESTER, Montana RAND PAUL, Kentucky
MARK BEGICH, Alaska MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming
TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin KELLY AYOTTE, New Hampshire
HEIDI HEITKAMP, North Dakota
Gabrielle A. Batkin, Staff Director
John P. Kilvington, Deputy Staff Director
Mary Beth Schultz, Chief Counsel
Kristine V. Lam, Professional Staff Member
Keith B. Ashdown, Minority Staff Director
Christopher J. Barkley, Minority Deputy Staff Director
Andrew C. Dockham, Minority Chief Counsel
Patrick J. Bailey, Minority Counsel
Laura W. Kilbride, Chief Clerk
Calendar No. 531
113th Congress Report
SENATE
2d Session 113-243
======================================================================
TAXPAYERS RIGHT-TO-KNOW ACT
_______
August 26, 2014.--Ordered to be printed
Filed, under authority of the order of the Senate of August 5
(legislative day,
August 1), 2014
_______
Mr. Carper, from the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany S. 2113]
The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, to which was referred the bill (S. 2113), to provide
taxpayers with an annual report disclosing the cost and
performance of Government programs and areas of duplication
among them, and for other purposes, having considered the same,
reports favorably thereon with an amendment in the nature of a
substitute and recommends that the bill, as amended, do pass.
CONTENTS
Page
I. Purpose and Summary..............................................1
II. Background.......................................................2
III. Legislative History..............................................4
IV. Section-by-Section Analysis of the Bill, as Reported.............4
V. Estimated Cost of Legislation....................................6
VI. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact..................................7
VII. Changes in Existing Law..........................................8
I. Purpose and Summary
The Taxpayers Right-To-Know Act of 2014 (S. 2113) will
provide the public with better and more useful information on
the breadth, cost, and performance of programs administered by
the federal government. It will do so by refining existing
requirements under the Government Performance and Results
Modernization Act for agencies to create, update, and make
public an inventory of their programs. Specifically, by
providing a uniform definition of the term ``program,'' better
detailing the information agencies must provide, and requiring
the inclusion of financial data about programs, S. 2113 will
give the American taxpayer a much better sense of the programs
they are paying for and how those programs are performing.
II. Background and Need for Legislation
Over twenty years ago, Congress passed the Government
Performance and Results Act (GPRA) (P.L. 103-62), a law
premised on the belief that the regular and systemic
measurement and reporting of how government programs are
working will help those programs to work better.\1\
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\1\See U.S. Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, Government
Performance and Results Act, 1993 (S. 20), Together with Dissenting and
Separate Views, (103 S. Rpt. 103-58), p. 2. The Committee on
Governmental Affairs is the former name of this Committee.
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GPRA required agencies to take a number of steps to better
plan and budget for their activities. It also required agencies
to provide information about that planning and budgeting, so
that Congress had the data it needed when considering changes
to, or authorizing spending on, federal programs.\2\ GPRA
implementation, combined with other statutory efforts in the
1990s addressing long-standing management problems,\3\ has
provided a powerful framework for developing and integrating
information about agencies' strategic priorities, the results-
oriented performance goals that flow from those priorities,
performance data showing the level of achievement of those
goals, and the relationship of reliable and audited financial
information and information technology investments to the
achievement of those goals.\4\
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\2\GPRA, Sec. Sec. (a)(1) and 2(b)(5).
\3\This includes the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990 (P.L.
111-204), as amended by the Government Management Reform Act of 1994
(P.L. 103-356), and information technology reform legislation,
including the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (P.L. 104-13) and the
Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-106).
\4\GAO, Results-Oriented Government: GPRA Has Established a Solid
Foundation for Achieving Greater Results, GAO-04-38 (Washington, D.C.:
March 10, 2004) p. 25.
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In the years since GPRA's enactment, that statute has led
to many improvements in the federal government's performance,
but experience in implementing GPRA has also shown that
Congress must regularly step in to refine that law's mandates.
For example, in 2010, Congress passed the Government
Performance and Results Modernization Act (GPRA Modernization)
(P.L. 111-352). GPRA Modernization addressed weaknesses in the
original GPRA by requiring: the Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) to provide government-wide priority goals; increased
frequency and enhanced quality of agency reporting; and
improved transparency of performance reporting. Additionally,
GPRA Modernization also required OMB to publish information
about programs identified by agencies. This last provision
required agencies to describe the purposes of programs meeting
OMB's inventory criteria, explain how those programs contribute
to the mission and goals of the agency, and state the amount
the program cost for the current and two previous fiscal years.
The purpose of a central program list is to facilitate
coordination across agencies and programs by making it easier
for federal agencies and Congress to find programs seeking to
serve a shared goal. A program list with detailed performance
and financial information also has the potential to assist
Congress in comparing similar programs across different
agencies and assessing whether there is duplication, overlap,
fragmentation, or inefficiencies within government programs. As
the Government Accountability Office (GAO) noted in its first
annual report on duplication in 2010, ``needed information on
program performance is not readily available; the level of
funding in agency budgets devoted to overlapping or fragmented
programs is not clear; and the implementation costs that might
be associated with program consolidations or terminations,
among other variables, are difficult to predict.''\5\ Reviewing
44 duplicative employment training programs in that same
report, GAO explained that ''the extent to which individuals
receive the same services from these programs is unknown due to
program data limitations.''\6\
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\5\GAO, Opportunities to Reduce Potential Duplication in Government
Programs, Save Tax Dollars, and Enhance Revenue, GAO-11-318SP
(Washington, D.C.: March, 2011) p. 3.
\6\Id.
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The first program inventory was published in May 2013 on
www.performance.gov, a website established by OMB. GAO
immediately expressed concern that the program inventory did
not meet the requirements under the GPRA Modernization Act and
that the inventory therefore would not enable Congress to
compare similar programs government-wide. In testimony before
this Committee, the Comptroller General of the United States,
Gene Dodaro, reported that GAO's preliminary review of the
inventories yielded concerns about the usefulness of the
information being developed and the extent to which it would
assist executive branch and congressional efforts to identify
and address fragmentation, overlap, and duplication.\7\ Among
the problems identified by GAO were OMB's guidance for
developing the inventories, which allowed agencies flexibility
to define their programs in various ways, including by
outcomes, customers, products/services, organization structure,
and budget structure. As a result, agencies--and even the
components within an agency--took different approaches to
define their programs. The variation in how agencies defined
their programs limited comparability among like programs.
Additionally, federal budget and cost information was not
available for all programs.
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\7\Statement of Gene Dodaro (Comptroller General of the United
States), Hearing before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs, Management Matters: Creating a 21st Century
Government (March 12, 2014), GAO-14-436T, p. 7.
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The Taxpayers Right-To-Know Act was introduced to ensure
that future program inventories will reflect what this
Committee and Congress envisioned when GPRA Modernization was
passed. Instead of requiring OMB to provide agencies with
guidance on how to define a program for the purposes of the
program inventory, the legislation itself defines the term
``program,'' thereby providing for uniformity of reporting. The
Taxpayers Right-To-Know Act also requires agencies to identify
and publish the specific statute authorizing each program and
any regulations specific to the program, and to provide links
to any evaluation, assessment, or program performance reviews
by the agency, an Inspector General, or the Government
Accountability Office for the preceding five years. For any
program that provides grants or other financial assistance to
individuals or entities, agencies are also required to publish
an estimate of the number of individuals served by the program
and beneficiaries who received financial assistance under the
program, an estimate of the number of full-time equivalents who
administer the program, and the number of full-time equivalents
who administer or assist in administering the program whose
salary is paid in part or full by the federal government
through a grant, contract, cooperative agreement, or another
form of financial award or assistance.
In order for Congress and the public to get a complete
picture of a program, the Committee believes it is important to
link a program's performance information with its financial
information. On September 13, 2006, President Bush signed into
law the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act
(FFATA), landmark legislation which fundamentally changed the
way that federal spending was reported to the public.
In order to further refine and improve the financial
reporting required under FFATA, the Committee and Congress
passed the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act (DATA
Act) (P.L. 113-101), which was signed into law by President
Obama on May 9, 2014. The DATA Act requires the federal
government to increase the availability, accuracy, and
usefulness of on-line information regarding federal spending.
Specifically, it requires federal agencies to publish spending
information online to cover virtually all forms of government
spending, mandates that the information appear in a form that
is both easily searchable and downloadable, and makes uniform
the manner in which agencies provide such data for online
posting. The Taxpayers Right-To-Know Act would require that
program inventories also include, to the extent available,
financial information for each program required to be reported
under the DATA Act or a direct web link to the information.
When fully enacted, the Taxpayers Right-to-Know Act will result
in detailed financial and performance information for every
federal program, all in one place.
III. Legislative History
On March 12, 2014, Senator Coburn and nineteen original co-
sponsors\8\ introduced S. 2113, the Taxpayers Right-To-Know Act
of 2014, which was referred to the Senate Committee on Homeland
Security and Governmental Affairs.
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\8\The original co-sponsors of S. 2113 are Senators Ayotte, Begich,
Burr, Chambliss, Collins, Cruz, Enzi, Flake, Hatch, Inhofe, Ron
Johnson, McCain, McCaskill, Paul, Portman, Risch, Scott, Vitter, and
Warner.
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The Committee considered the bill at a business meeting on
May 21, 2014, at which point the legislation had 37 total
cosponsors. The Committee adopted a substitute amendment
offered by Senator Coburn and then ordered the underlying bill
reported favorably, both by voice vote. The substitute added a
definition for the term ``program'' for the purposes of the
program inventory and specified the information that agencies
must provide for each program. Members present for the vote on
the amendment and on the bill were Senators Carper, Pryor,
Landrieu, McCaskill, Tester, Begich, Coburn, Johnson, Portman,
and Enzi.
IV. Section-by-Section Analysis of the Bill, as Reported
Section 1: Short title
The short title of the bill is the ``Taxpayers Right-To-
Know Act.''
Section 2: Cost and performance of Government programs
Definition of Program. This section defines the term
``program'' for the purposes of 31 U.S.C. Sec. 1122 (the
provision establishing the requirement for OMB to publish an
inventory of agency programs) as an organized set of activities
by one or more agencies directed toward a common purpose or
goal.
Website and Program Inventory. This section directs the OMB
Director to publish a program inventory that identifies each
program of the federal government on the website where
performance information is posted pursuant to the Government
Performance and Results Modernization Act. Additionally, this
section requires the program inventory to include: (1) any
activity that is commonly referred to as a program; (2) any
activity specifically created by law, or referenced in law, as
a program; (3) each program that has an application process;
(4) each program for which financial awards are made on a
competitive basis; and, (5) any activity identified as a
program activity in a budget request. The listing for each
program must also state the specific statute that authorizes
the program and any regulations specific to the program. Any
program that provides grants or other financial assistance to
individuals or entities is also required to include an estimate
of the number of individuals served by the program and
beneficiaries who received financial assistance under the
program, an estimate of the number of full time equivalents who
administer the program, and the number of full-time equivalents
whose salary is paid in part or full by the federal government
through a grant, contract, cooperative agreement, or another
form of financial award or assistance who administer or assist
in any way in administering the program. Programs listed in the
program inventory must also include web links to any
evaluation, assessment, or program performance reviews by the
agency, an Inspector General, or the Government Accountability
Office that was issued in the preceding five years. Finally, to
the extent available, financial information for each program
that is required to be reported under section 3(b) of the
Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (31
U.S.C. 6101 note), as amended by the DATA Act, is also required
to be included in the program inventory. In lieu of
republishing this financial information, a direct web link to
such information is also allowed.
Guidance. This section requires the Director of the Office
of Management and Budget to issue guidance that will assist
agencies in identifying the program activities listed in the
President's budget submission to Congress that correspond with
programs identified in the program inventory that is required
by this legislation. Additionally, the OMB Director is
authorized to issue guidance to agencies on how to more closely
align programs in the program inventory for purposes of the
budget that the President submits to Congress.
Section 3: Regulations and implementation
Regulations. This section requires the OMB Director to
issue regulations or other guidance to implement this
legislation within 120 days after enactment of this Act.
Implementation. This section requires the provisions in
this legislation to be implemented no later than one year after
the date of enactment of this Act.
V. Estimated Cost of Legislation
July 31, 2014.
Hon. Tom Carper,
Chairman, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, U.S.
Senate, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for S. 2113, the Taxpayers
Right-To-Know Act.
If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Matthew
Pickford.
Sincerely,
Douglas W. Elmendorf.
Enclosure.
S. 2113--Taxpayers Right-To-Know Act
Summary: S. 2113 would amend federal law to increase the
amount of information about federal programs that the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) provides online. The legislation
would require that each program administered by a federal
agency be described on the agency's website, including the
number of people served by or benefiting from the program, the
number of federal employees and contract staff involved, and
links to reviews of the program including those by the
Government Accountability Office (GAO) and Inspectors General.
Based on information from several agencies, CBO estimates
that implementing S. 2113 would cost $60 million over the 2015-
2019 period, assuming appropriation of the necessary amounts.
Enacting the bill could affect direct spending by agencies not
funded through annual appropriations; therefore, pay-as-you-go
procedures apply. CBO estimates, however, that any net increase
in spending by those agencies would be negligible. Enacting S.
2113 would not affect revenues.
S. 2113 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA)
and would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal
governments.
Estimated cost to the Federal Government: The estimated
budgetary impact of S. 2113 is shown in the following table.
The costs of this legislation fall within all budget functions
that include spending on administrative activities for
government programs.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By fiscal year, in millions of dollars--
-------------------------------------------------------
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2015-2019
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CHANGES IN SPENDING SUBJECT TO APPROPRIATION
Estimated Authorization Level........................... 20 20 10 5 5 60
Estimated Outlays....................................... 20 20 10 5 5 60
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Basis of estimate: For this estimate, CBO assumes that the
bill will be enacted near the end of fiscal year 2014, that the
necessary amounts will be appropriated each year, and that
spending will follow historical patterns for federal salaries
and expenses.
Under current law, agencies regularly produce information
on program management, budgets, strategic plans, and annual
performance. A recent amendment to the Government Performance
and Results Act (GPRA) requires agencies to describe every
program they administer. Consequently, CBO expects that some of
the provisions in S. 2113 would codify or only slightly modify
current requirements.
However, the legislation also would expand the definition
of a federal program to require agencies to report each
governmental activity as an individual program, along with the
number of federal employees and contract staff involved. The
Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance lists more than 2,200
federal programs, projects, services, and activities that
provide assistance or benefits to the public, although some
programs may be listed more than once. Using information from
OMB and selected agencies about the costs to implement GPRA,
CBO estimates that assembling such information about each
government activity that provides benefits or services to the
public would cost less than $1 million annually per agency, or
$60 million over the 2015-2019 period. Most costs would occur
over the first three years to identify the programs and develop
the necessary information for posting.
Pay-as-you-go considerations: The Statutory Pay-As-You-Go
Act of 2010 establishes budget-reporting and enforcement
procedures for legislation affecting direct spending or
revenues. Enacting S. 2113 could affect direct spending by
agencies not funded through the appropriation process, but CBO
estimates that any change in net spending would not be
significant in any year. Enacting S. 2113 would not affect
revenues.
Intergovernmental and private-sector impact: S. 2113
contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as
defined in UMRA and would not affect the budgets of state,
local, or tribal governments.
Previous CBO estimate: On August 22, 2013, CBO transmitted
a cost estimate for H.R. 1423, the Taxpayers-Right-To-Know Act,
as ordered reported by the House Committee on Oversight and
Government Reform on July 24, 2013. The two pieces of
legislation would affect the management of information about
federal programs. However, the bills have different definitions
of a federal program and different reporting requirements.
Those differences are reflected in the CBO cost estimates.
Estimate prepared by: Federal Costs: Matthew Pickford;
Impact on State, Local, and Tribal Governments: Michael Hirsch
and Leo Lex; Impact on the Private Sector: John Rodier and
Patrice Gordon.
Estimate approved by: Theresa Gullo, Deputy Assistant
Director for Budget Analysis.
VI. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact
Pursuant to the requirements of paragraph 11(b) of rule
XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee has
considered the regulatory impact of this bill.
The Committee agrees with the Congressional Budget Office
that the bill contains no intergovernmental or private-sector
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and
would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments,
or private entities. The enactment of this legislation would
not have significant regulatory impact.
VII. Changes in Existing Statute Made by the Bill, as Reported
In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules of the Senate, the following changes in existing
law made by S. 994, as reported, are shown as follows (existing
law proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black brackets, new
matter is printed in italic, and existing law in which no
change is proposed is shown in roman).
UNITED STATES CODE
TITLE 31--MONEY AND FINANCE
* * * * * * *
SUBTITLE II--THE BUDGET PROCESS
* * * * * * *
CHAPTER 11--THE BUDGET AND FISCAL, BUDGET, AND PROGRAM INFORMATION
* * * * * * *
Section 1101. Definitions. * * *
Sec. 1122. Transparency of programs, priority goals, and results.
(a) Transparency of Agency Programs.
(1) Definition of program.--For purposes of this
subsection, the term `program' means an organized set
of activities by 1 or more agencies directed toward a
common purpose or goal.
(2) [In general.--Not later than October 1, 2012, the
Office of Management and Budget shall] Website and
Program Inventory._The Director of the Office of
Management and Budget shall--
(A) ensure the effective operation of a
single website;
(B) at a minimum, update the website on a
quarterly basis; and
(C) [include on the website information about
each program identified by the agencies.]
include on the website--
(i) a program inventory that shall
identify each program of the Federal
Government, which shall include--
(I) any activity that is
commonly referred to as a
program;
(II) any activity
specifically created by law, or
referenced in law, as a
program;
(III) each program that has
an application process;
(IV) each program for which
financial awards are made on a
competitive basis; and
(V) any activity identified
as a program activity in a
budget request; and
(ii) for each program identified in
the program inventory, the information
required under paragraph (3).
(3) Information.--Information for each program
[described under paragraph (1)] identified in the
program inventory required under paragraph (2) shall
include--
(A) [an identification of how the agency
defines the term ``program'', consistent with
guidance provided by the Director of the Office
of Management and Budget, including the program
activities that are aggregated, disaggregated,
or consolidated to be considered a program by
the agency;] the program activities that are
considered a program by the agency;
(B) a description of the purposes of the
program and the contribution of the program to
the mission and goals of the agency; [and]
(C) an identification of funding for the
current fiscal year and previous 2 fiscal
years[.];
(D) an identification of the specific statute
that authorizes the program and any regulations
specific to the program;
(E) for any program that provides grants or
other financial assistance to individuals or
entities, for the most recent fiscal year--
(i) an estimate of the number of
individuals served by the program and
beneficiaries who received financial
assistance under the program; and
(ii) an estimate of--
(I) the number of full-time
equivalents who administer the
program; and
(II) the number of full-time
equivalents whose salary is
paid in part or full by the
Federal Government through a
grant, contract, cooperative
agreement, or another form of
financial award or assistance
who administer or assist in any
way in administering the
program;
(F) links to any evaluation, assessment, or
program performance reviews by the agency, an
Inspector General, or the Government
Accountability Office (including program
performance reports required under section
1116) released during the preceding 5 years;
and
(G) to the extent available, financial
information for each program required to be
reported under section 3(b) of the Federal
Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of
2006 (31 U.S.C. 6101 note), or a direct link to
such information for a specific program on the
website established under section 2 of that
Act.
(b) * * *
(c) * * *
(d) * * *