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Union Calendar No. 505 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3609 

[Report No. 112–635, Part I] 

To provide taxpayers with an annual report disclosing the cost of, performance 

by, and areas for improvements for Government programs, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 8, 2011 

Mr. LANKFORD (for himself, Mr. BOREN, Mr. GERLACH, and Mrs. BLACKBURN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Oversight and Government Reform 

JULY 31, 2012 

Reported with amendments and referred to the Committee on House Administration for a period ending not later than October 1, 2012, for consideration of such provisions of the bill and amendment as fall within the jurisdiction of that committee pursuant to clause 1(k), rule X 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

OCTOBER 1, 2012 

Additional sponsors: Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin, Mr. CHAFFETZ, Mr. JOHNSON

of Illinois, Mrs. MYRICK, Mr. ROE of Tennessee, Mr. KINGSTON, Mr. 

AUSTIN SCOTT of Georgia, Mr. PITTS, Mrs. LUMMIS, Mr. GOHMERT, Mr. 

WALBERG, Mr. HUIZENGA of Michigan, Mr. ROSS of Florida, Ms. FOXX, 

Mr. CANSECO, Mr. MANZULLO, Mr. WESTMORELAND, Mr. BROUN of 

Georgia, Mr. POE of Texas, Mr. ROKITA, Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina, 

and Mr. PALAZZO

OCTOBER 1, 2012 

Deleted sponsor: Mr. AMASH (added January 18, 2012; deleted January 23, 

2012) 


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OCTOBER 1, 2012 

The Committee on House Administration discharged; committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be 

printed 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on December 8, 2011] 

A BILL 

To provide taxpayers with an annual report disclosing the 

cost of, performance by, and areas for improvements 

for Government programs, and for other purposes. 


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1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SEC. 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Taxpayers Right-To5 Know Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. AGENCY REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO ANNUAL RE7 PORT ON THE COST AND PERFORMANCE OF 

8 GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS AND AREAS OF DU9 PLICATION AMONG PROGRAMS. 

10 (a) REQUIREMENT TO IDENTIFY AND DESCRIBE PRO11 GRAMS.—On an annual basis, for purposes of the report 

12 required by subsection (b), the head of each agency shall— 

13 (1) identify and describe every program admin14 istered by the agency; 

15 (2) for each such program— 

16 (A) determine the total administrative ex17 penses of the program; 

18 (B) determine the expenditures for services 

19 for the program; 

20 (C) estimate the number of clients served by 

21 the program and beneficiaries who received as22 sistance under the program (if applicable); and 

23 (D) estimate— 

24 (i) the number of full-time employees 

25 who administer the program; and 


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1 (ii) the number of full-time equivalents 

2 (whose salary is paid in part or full by the 

3 Federal Government through a grant or 

4 contract, a subaward of a grant or contract, 

5 a cooperative agreement, or another form of 

6 financial award or assistance) who assist in 

7 administering the program; and 

8 (3) identify programs within the agency with 

9 duplicative or overlapping missions, services, and al10 lowable uses of funds. 

11 (b) REPORT.—Not later than February 1 of each fiscal 

12 year, the head of each agency shall create a link on the 

13 homepage of the official public website of the agency to a 

14 report containing the following: 

15 (1) IDENTIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION OF PRO16 GRAMS.—The information required under subsection 

17 (a) with respect to the preceding fiscal year. 

18 (2) PERFORMANCE REVIEWS.—The latest per19 formance reviews (including the program performance 

20 reports required under section 1116 of title 31, United 

21 States Code) of each program of the agency identified 

22 under subsection (a)(1), including performance indi23 cators, performance goals, output measures, and other 

24 specific metrics used to review the program and how 

25 the program performed on each. 


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1 (3) IMPROPER PAYMENT INFORMATION.—For all 

2 programs and activities that may be susceptible to 

3 significant improper payments, as identified by the 

4 head of the agency under section 2(a) of the Improper 

5 Payments Information Act of 2002 (31 U.S.C. 321 

6 note), the latest improper payment rate and the total 

7 estimated amount of improper payments during the 

8 preceding fiscal year, including fraudulent payments 

9 and overpayments. 

10 (4) EXPIRED GRANT FUNDING.—The total 

11 amount of undisbursed grant funding remaining in 

12 grant accounts for which the period of availability to 

13 the grantee has expired. 

14 (5) RECOMMENDATIONS.—Such recommenda15 tions as the head of the agency considers appro16 priate— 

17 (A) to consolidate programs within the 

18 agency that are duplicative or overlapping; 

19 (B) to eliminate waste and inefficiency; and 

20 (C) to terminate lower priority, outdated, 

21 and unnecessary programs and initiatives. 

22 (c) RELATIONSHIP TO CATALOG OF DOMESTIC FINAN23 CIAL ASSISTANCE.—With respect to the requirements of sub24 sections (a)(1) and (a)(2)(B), the head of an agency may 


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1 use the same information provided in the Catalog of Domes2 tic Financial Assistance if applicable. 

3 (d) FORMAT.—Each agency shall make reports re4 quired by subsection (b) available in a searchable, machine5 readable format, and shall expend no funds for the printing 

6 of such reports, except when providing such documents to 

7 the Congress. 

8 SEC. 3. OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET REQUIRE9 MENTS RELATING TO ANNUAL REPORT ON 

10 THE COST AND PERFORMANCE OF GOVERN11 MENT PROGRAMS AND AREAS OF DUPLICA12 TION AMONG PROGRAMS. 

13 (a) REPORT BY OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDG14 ET.—Not later than February 1 of each fiscal year, the Di15 rector of the Office of Management and Budget shall publish 

16 on the official public website of the Office of Management 

17 and Budget a report containing the following: 

18 (1) IDENTIFICATION OF DUPLICATIVE PRO19 GRAMS.—An identification of programs across agen20 cies with duplicative or overlapping missions, serv21 ices, and allowable uses of funds. 

22 (2) RECOMMENDATIONS.—Such recommenda23 tions as the Director considers appropriate— 

24 (A) to consolidate programs across agencies 

25 that are duplicative or overlapping; 


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1 (B) to eliminate waste and inefficiency; and 

2 (C) to terminate lower priority, outdated, 

3 and unnecessary programs and initiatives. 

4 (b) RELATIONSHIP TO PRESIDENT’S BUDGET.—With 

5 respect to the requirements of subsection (a)(2), the Director 

6 may use the same information provided in the President’s 

7 annual budget submission, if applicable. 

8 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

9 In this Act: 

10 (1) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—The term ‘‘admin11 istrative costs’’ has the meaning as determined by the 

12 Director of the Office of Management and Budget 

13 under section 504(b)(2) of Public Law 111–85 (31 

14 U.S.C. 1105 note), except the term shall also include, 

15 for purposes of that section and this section, with re16 spect to an agency— 

17 (A) costs incurred by the agency as well as 

18 costs incurred by grantees, subgrantees, and 

19 other recipients of funds from a grant program 

20 or other program administered by the agency; 

21 and 

22 (B) expenses related to personnel salaries 

23 and benefits, property management, travel, pro24 gram management, promotion, reviews and au25 dits, case management, and communication 


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1 about, promotion of, and outreach for programs 

2 and program activities administered by the 

3 agency. 

4 (2) SERVICES.—The term ‘‘services’’ has the 

5 meaning provided by the Director of the Office of 

6 Management and Budget and shall be limited to only 

7 activities, assistance, and aid that provide a direct 

8 benefit to a recipient, such as the provision of medical 

9 care, assistance for housing or tuition, or financial 

10 support (including grants and loans). 

11 (3) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the same 

12 meaning given that term in section 551(1) of title 5, 

13 United States Code, except that the term also includes 

14 offices in the legislative branch other than the Govern15 ment Accountability Office. 

16 (4) PERFORMANCE INDICATOR, PERFORMANCE

17 GOAL, OUTPUT MEASURE, PROGRAM ACTIVITY.—The 

18 terms ‘‘performance indicator’’, ‘‘performance goal’’, 

19 ‘‘output measure’’, and ‘‘program activity’’ have the 

20 meanings provided by section 1115 of title 31, United 

21 States Code. 

22 (5) PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘program’’ has the 

23 meaning provided by the Director of the Office of 

24 Management and Budget and shall include, with re25 spect to an agency, any organized set of activities diVerDate Mar 15 2010 21:59 Oct 10, 2012 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H3609.RH H3609

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1 rected toward a common purpose or goal undertaken 

2 by the agency that includes services, projects, proc3 esses, or financial or other forms of assistance, includ4 ing grants, contracts, cooperative agreements, com5 pacts, loans, leases, technical support, consultation, or 

6 other guidance. 

7 SEC. 5. CLASSIFIED INFORMATION. 

8 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to require the 

9 disclosure of classified information. 

10 SEC. 6. REGULATIONS AND IMPLEMENTATION. 

11 (a) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 120 days after the 

12 date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office 

13 of Management and Budget shall prescribe regulations to 

14 implement this Act. 

15 (b) IMPLEMENTATION.—This Act shall be implemented 

16 beginning with the first full fiscal year occurring after the 

17 date of the enactment of this Act. 

Amend the title so as to read: ‘‘A bill to provide taxpayers with an annual report disclosing the cost and performance of Government programs and areas of duplication among them.’’. 


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Union Calendar No. 505 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3609 

[Report No. 112–635, Part I] 

A BILL 

To provide taxpayers with an annual report disother purposes. improvements for Government programs, and for closing the cost of, performance by, and areas for 

OCTOBER 1, 2012 

The Committee on House Administration discharged; 

the State of the Union and ordered to be printed committed to the Committee of the Whole House on 


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