[Senate Report 116-221]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                                                     Calendar No. 436
116th Congress     }                                     {      Report
                                 SENATE
 2d Session        }                                     {     116-221

_______________________________________________________________________

                                     



      CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET JUSTIFICATION TRANSPARENCY ACT OF 2019

                               __________

                              R E P O R T

                                 of the

                   COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND

                          GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS

                          UNITED STATES SENATE

                              to accompany

                                S. 2560

  TO AMEND THE FEDERAL FUNDING ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY ACT OF 
 2006, TO REQUIRE THE BUDGET JUSTIFICATIONS AND APPROPRIATION REQUESTS 
                 OF AGENCIES BE MADE PUBLICLY AVAILABLE






              [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]






                 March 2, 2020.--Ordered to be printed

                               __________

                      U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
                      
99-010                     WASHINGTON : 2020 


















        COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS

                    RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin, Chairman
ROB PORTMAN, Ohio                    GARY C. PETERS, Michigan
RAND PAUL, Kentucky                  THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware
JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma             MAGGIE HASSAN, New Hampshire
MITT ROMNEY, Utah                    KAMALA D. HARRIS, California
RICK SCOTT, Florida                  KYRSTEN SINEMA, Arizona
MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming             JACKY ROSEN, Nevada
JOSH HAWLEY, Missouri

                Gabrielle D'Adamo Singer, Staff Director
                   Joseph C. Folio III, Chief Counsel
 Courtney Allen Rutland, Deputy Chief Counsel for Governmental Affairs
               Daniel J. Spino, Professional Staff Member
               David M. Weinberg, Minority Staff Director
               Zachary I. Schram, Minority Chief Counsel
          Yogin J. Kothari, Minority Professional Staff Member
                     Laura W. Kilbride, Chief Clerk

















                                                      Calendar No. 436
116th Congress     }                                     {      Report
                                 SENATE
 2d Session        }                                     {     116-221

======================================================================



 
      CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET JUSTIFICATION TRANSPARENCY ACT OF 2019

                                _______
                                

                 March 2, 2020.--Ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

 Mr. Johnson, from the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 
                    Affairs, submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                         [To accompany S. 2560]

      [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

    The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 
Affairs, to which was referred the bill (S. 2560) to amend the 
Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, to 
require the budget justifications and appropriation requests of 
agencies be made publicly available, and for other purposes, 
having considered the same, reports favorably thereon with an 
amendment and recommends that the bill, as amended, do pass.

                                CONTENTS

                                                                   Page
  I. Purpose and Summary..............................................1
 II. 1Background and Need for the Legislation.........................2
III. Legislative History..............................................2
 IV. Section-by-Section Analysis......................................2
  V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact..................................3
 VI. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate........................3
VII. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported............4

                         I. Purpose and Summary

    The purpose of S. 2560, the Congressional Budget 
Justification Transparency Act, is to provide the public with 
more information regarding agencies' budget justifications. 
This bill requires Federal agencies to post their congressional 
budget justification materials on the agency website. The bill 
also requires the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to 
maintain a public website that includes the links to the 
congressional budget justification materials for each agency 
for each fiscal year among other information, and for the 
Department of Treasury (Treasury) to post the congressional 
budget justification materials for each agency on 
USAspending.gov.

              II. Background and the Need for Legislation

    Agencies provide congressional budget justifications for 
annual funding requests to Congress to explain the resources 
needed to run programs and achieve performance goals. Agency 
congressional budget justifications, while publically 
available, can sometimes be challenging to find. Some agencies 
post budget justification documents directly to their 
website,\1\ while some submit directly to OMB, who then curates 
them into the President's Annual Budget.\2\ The lack of a 
designated and structured database to access congressional 
budget justification reports makes it difficult to determine 
where a particular budget justification for a particular year 
may be located. USAspending.gov currently hosts some agency's 
congressional budget justifications but the collection is not 
exhaustive.\3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\Small Business Administration, Congressional budget 
justification and annual performance report (2019), available at 
https://www.sba.gov/document/report--congressional-budget-
justification-annual-performance-report.
    \2\ Office of Management and Budget, Budget of the U.S. Government, 
A Budget for a Better America, The Budget for Fiscal Year 2020 (Mar. 
11, 2019), available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/
2019/03/budget-fy2020.pdf.
    \3\ Tajha Chappellet-Lanier, USASpending.gov now has a home for 
(most) agency budget justifications, Fedscoop, Scoop News Group (Aug. 
21, 2019), available at https://www.fedscoop.com/usaspending-
congressional-budget-justifications-page/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    S. 2560 improves transparency by making congressional 
budget justifications readily available to the public for 
accountability and oversight. S. 2560 requires federal agencies 
to provide two online avenues to their budget justification 
documents: on the agency website and on USAspending.gov.

                        III. Legislative History

    S. 2560 was introduced on September 26, 2019, by Ranking 
Member Gary Peters (D-MI) and Senator Rob Portman (R-OH). The 
bill was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and 
Governmental Affairs.
    The Committee considered S. 2560 at a business meeting on 
November 6, 2019. S. 2560 passed by voice vote en bloc with 
Senators Johnson, Portman, Paul, Lankford, Romney, Scott, Enzi, 
Hawley, Peters, Carper, Hassan, Sinema, and Rosen present. 
Consistent with Committee rules, the bill was reported with a 
technical and conforming amendment agreed to by the Chairman 
and Ranking Member.

        IV. Section-by-Section Analysis of the Bill, as Reported


Section 1. Short title

    This section establishes the short title of the bill as the 
Congressional Budget Justification Transparency Act of 2019.

Section 2. Public availability of budget justifications and 
        appropriation requests

    Section 2 requires the Federal Government to publicly post 
Federal agencies' budget justifications on certain websites.
    Subsection (a) requires Treasury to post the budget 
justification materials for every agency on the website 
USAspending.gov starting with the second fiscal year beginning 
after the date of enactment. The budget justification materials 
must be posted within two weeks from the date on which the 
materials were first submitted to Congress in an open format.
    Subsection (b) requires agencies to publish the budget 
justification materials submitted to Congress on the website of 
the agency. OMB must establish guidelines for agencies to use a 
website name that is consistent across agencies and 
identifiable to the public, such as ``agencyname.gov/budget.''
    OMB must also maintain a website consisting of a list 
identifying each agency that submits budget justification 
materials for each fiscal year. The list must also include the 
date on which materials were first submitted to Congress and 
link to the agency website hosting the information. This 
information must be made available in an open format. This 
subsection also requires OMB to link to this list on its own 
website that hosts the president's budget.

                   V. 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 and determined 
that the bill will have no regulatory impact within the meaning 
of the rules. The Committee agrees with the Congressional 
Budget Office's statement that the bill contains no 
intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the 
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) and would impose no costs 
on state, local, or tribal governments.

             VI. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimates

                                     U.S. Congress,
                               Congressional Budget Office,
                                  Washington, DC, February 4, 2020.
Hon. Ron Johnson,
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. 2560, the 
Congressional Budget Justification Transparency Act of 2019.
    If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be 
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Matthew 
Pickford.
            Sincerely,
                                         Phillip L. Swagel,
                                                          Director.
    Enclosure.

    
    

    S. 2560 would require Federal agencies to publish more 
information online about federal spending and about the budget 
in general. All agencies would be required to post their annual 
budget justification documents online and to make those 
documents available to the public in a centralized, searchable 
database, as well as at each agency's website. The Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) would coordinate the effort. 
Because this information is already created by agencies and 
collected by OMB, CBO estimates that implementing the bill 
would cost less than $500,000 over the 2020-2025 period. Those 
costs would primarily be for administrative expenses at OMB and 
governmentwide to make the information available online.
    Enacting S. 2560 could affect direct spending by some 
agencies that are allowed to use fees, receipts from the sale 
of goods, and other collections to cover operating costs. CBO 
estimates that any net changes in direct spending by those 
agencies would be negligible because most of them can adjust 
amounts collected to reflect changes in operating costs.
    The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Matthew 
Pickford. The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, 
Deputy Director of Budget Analysis.

       VII. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported

    In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate, changes in existing law made by 
the bill, as reported, are shown as follows: (existing law 
proposed to be omitted is enclosed in 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

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *



SEC. 1105. BUDGET CONTENTS AND SUBMISSION TO CONGRESS.

    (a) * * *

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *

    (i)
          (1) The Director of the Office of Management and 
        Budget shall make publicly available on an internet 
        website, and continuously update, a tabular list for 
        each fiscal year of each agency that submits to 
        Congress budget justification materials in support of 
        the budget of the agency, which shall include--
                  (A) the name of the agency;
                  (B) a unique identifier that identifies the 
                agency;
                  (C) to the extent practicable, the date on 
                which the budget justification materials of the 
                agency are first submitted to Congress;
                  (D) the date on which the budget 
                justification materials of the agency are 
                posted online under section 3 of the Federal 
                Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 
                2006 (31 U.S.C. 6101 note);
                  (E) the uniform resource locator where the 
                budget justification materials submitted to 
                Congress are published on the website of the 
                agency; and
                  (F) a single data set that contains the 
                information described in subparagraphs (A) 
                through (E) with respect to the agency for all 
                fiscal years for which budget justifications of 
                the agency are made available under section 3 
                of the Federal Funding Accountability and 
                Transparency Act of 2006 (31 U.S.C. 6101 note) 
                in a structured data format.
          (2)
                  (A) Each agency that submits to Congress 
                budget justification materials in support of 
                the budget of the agency shall make the 
                materials available on the website of the 
                agency.
                  (B) The Director of Office of Management and 
                Budget shall establish best practices for 
                agencies relating to making available materials 
                under subparagraph (A)(i), which shall include 
                guidelines for using a uniform resource locator 
                that is in a consistent format across agencies 
                and is descriptive, memorable, and 
                pronounceable, such as the format of 
                ``agencyname.gov/budget''.
                  (C) If the Director of Office of Management 
                and Budget maintains a public website that 
                contains the budget of the United States 
                Government submitted under subsection (a) and 
                any related materials, such website shall also 
                contain a link to the tabular list required 
                under paragraph (1).
          (3) In this subsection, the term ``budget 
        justification materials'' has the meaning given that 
        term in section 3 of the Federal Funding Accountability 
        and Transparency Act of 2006 (31 U.S.C. 6101 note).

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


SUBTITLE V--GENERAL ASSISTANCE ADMINISTRATION

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *



CHAPTER 61--PROGRAM INFORMATION

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *



SECTION 6101 DEFINITIONS

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *



HISTORICAL AND REVISION NOTES

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *



            FEDERAL FUNDING ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY


SEC. 1. * * *

SEC. 2. * * *

SEC 3. FULL DISCLOSURE OF FEDERAL FUNDS.

    (a) In General.--Not [later than 3 years after the date of 
enactment of the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 
2014 [May 9, 2014], and] less frequently than monthly when 
practicable, [but not less] and in any event, not less 
frequently than quarterly [thereafter], the Secretary[,] (in 
consultation with the Director and, with respect to information 
described in subsection (b)(2), the head of the applicable 
Federal agency)[,] shall ensure that updated information with 
respect to the information described in subsection (b) is 
posted on the website established under section 2.
    (b) Information To Be Posted.--
          (1) Funds.--For any funds made available to or 
        expended by a Federal agency or component of a Federal 
        agency, the information to be posted shall include--
          [(1)] (A) for each appropriations account, including 
        an expired or unexpired appropriations account, the 
        amount--
                  [(A)] (i) of budget authority appropriated;
                  [(B)] (ii) that is obligated;
                  [(C)] (iii) of unobligated balances; and
                  [(D)] (iv) of any other budgetary resources;
          [(2)] (B) from which accounts and in what amount--
                  [(A)] (i) appropriations are obligated for 
                each program activity; and
                  [(B)] (ii) outlays are made for each program 
                activity;
          [(3)] (C) from which accounts and in what amount--
                  [(A)] (i) appropriations are obligated for 
                each object class; and
                  [(B)] (ii) outlays are made for each object 
                class; and
          [(4)] (D) for each program activity, the amount--
                  (A) obligated for each object class; and
                  (B) of outlays made for each object class.
          (2) Budget Justifications.--
                  (A) Definitions.--In this paragraph--
                          (i) the term ``agency'' has the 
                        meaning given that term in section 101 
                        of title 31, United States Code; and
                          (ii) the term ``budget justification 
                        materials'' means the annual budget 
                        justification materials of an agency 
                        that are submitted to Congress in 
                        support of the budget of the agency, in 
                        conjunction with the budget of the 
                        United States Government submitted 
                        under section 1105(a) of title 31, 
                        United States Code.
                  (B) Information.--The information to be 
                posted shall include the budget justification 
                materials of each agency--
                          (i) for the second fiscal year 
                        beginning after the date of enactment 
                        of this paragraph, and each fiscal year 
                        thereafter; and
                          (ii) to the extent practicable, that 
                        were released for any fiscal year 
                        before the date of enactment of this 
                        paragraph.
                  (C) Format.--Budget justification materials 
                shall be posted under subparagraph (B)--
                          (i) in an open format;
                          (ii) in a manner that enables users 
                        to download individual reports, 
                        download all reports in bulk, and 
                        download in bulk the results of a 
                        search, to the extent practicable; and
                          (iii) in a structured data format, to 
                        the extent practicable.
                  (D) Deadline.--The budget justification 
                materials required to be posted under 
                subparagraph (B)(i) shall be posted not later 
                than 2 weeks after the date on which the budget 
                justification materials are first submitted to 
                Congress.
                  (E) Rule of construction.--Nothing in this 
                paragraph shall be construed to authorize the 
                agency to destroy any budget justification 
                materials relating to a fiscal year before the 
                fiscal year described in subparagraph (B)(i)

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