I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3609 

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 

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. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Taxpayers Right to 

5 Know Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO ANNUAL REPORT ON 

2 COST OF, PERFORMANCE BY, AND AREAS FOR 

3 IMPROVEMENTS FOR GOVERNMENT PRO4 GRAMS. 

5 (a) REQUIREMENT TO IDENTIFY AND DESCRIBE

6 PROGRAMS.—Each fiscal year, for purposes of the report 

7 required by subsection (b), the head of each agency 

8 shall— 

9 (1) identify and describe every program admin10 istered by the agency; 

11 (2) for each such program— 

12 (A) determine the total administrative ex13 penses of the program; 

14 (B) determine the expenditures for services 

15 for the program; 

16 (C) estimate the number of clients served 

17 by the program and beneficiaries who received 

18 assistance under the program (if applicable); 

19 and 

20 (D) estimate— 

21 (i) the number of full-time employees 

22 who administer the program; and 

23 (ii) the number of full-time equiva24 lents (whose salary is paid in part or full 

25 by the Federal Government through a 

26 grant or contract or subaward of a grant 


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1 or contract) who assist in administering 

2 the program; and 

3 (3) identify programs within the Federal Gov4 ernment (whether inside or outside the agency) with 

5 duplicative or overlapping missions, services, and al6 lowable uses of funds. 

7 (b) RELATIONSHIP TO CATALOG OF DOMESTIC AS8 SISTANCE.—With respect to the requirements of sub9 sections (a)(1) and (a)(2)(B), the head of an agency may 

10 use the same information provided in the catalog of do11 mestic and international assistance programs in the case 

12 of any program that is a domestic or international assist13 ance program. 

14 (c) REPORT.—Not later than February 1 of each fis15 cal year, the head of each agency shall publish on the offi16 cial public website of the agency a report containing the 

17 following: 

18 (1) The information required under subsection 

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

20 (2) The latest performance reviews (including 

21 the program performance reports required under 

22 section 1116 of title 31, United States Code) of each 

23 program of the agency identified under subsection 

24 (a)(1), including performance indicators, perform25 ance goals, output measures, and other specific 


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1 metrics used to review the program and how the 

2 program performed on each. 

3 (3) For each program that makes payments, 

4 the latest improper payment rate of the program 

5 and the total estimated amount of improper pay6 ments, including fraudulent payments and overpay7 ments. 

8 (4) The total amount of unspent and unobli9 gated program funds held by the agency and grant 

10 recipients (not including individuals) stated as an 

11 amount— 

12 (A) held as of the beginning of the fiscal 

13 year in which the report is submitted; and 

14 (B) held for five fiscal years or more. 

15 (5) Such recommendations as the head of the 

16 agency considers appropriate— 

17 (A) to consolidate programs that are dupli18 cative or overlapping; 

19 (B) to eliminate waste and inefficiency; 

20 and 

21 (C) to terminate lower priority, outdated, 

22 and unnecessary programs and initiatives. 

23 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 

24 (1) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—The term 

25 ‘‘administrative costs’’ has the meaning as deterVerDate Mar 15 2010 06:55 Dec 14, 2011 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3609.IH H3609

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1 mined by the Director of the Office of Management 

2 and Budget under section 504(b)(2) of Public Law 

3 111–85 (31 U.S.C. 1105 note), except the term shall 

4 also include, for purposes of that section and this 

5 section, with respect to an agency— 

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

7 costs incurred by grantees, subgrantees, and 

8 other recipients of funds from a grant program 

9 or other program administered by the agency; 

10 and 

11 (B) expenses related to personnel salaries 

12 and benefits, property management, travel, pro13 gram management, promotion, reviews and au14 dits, case management, and communication 

15 about, promotion of, and outreach for programs 

16 and program activities administered by the 

17 agency. 

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

19 meaning provided by the Director of the Office of 

20 Management and Budget and shall be limited to 

21 only activities, assistance, and aid that provide a di22 rect benefit to a recipient, such as the provision of 

23 medical care, assistance for housing or tuition, or fi24 nancial support (including grants and loans). 


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

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

3 United States Code, except that the term also in4 cludes offices in the legislative branch other than the 

5 Government Accountability Office. 

6 (4) PERFORMANCE INDICATOR, PERFORMANCE

7 GOAL, OUTPUT MEASURE, PROGRAM ACTIVITY.—The 

8 terms ‘‘performance indicator’’, ‘‘performance goal’’, 

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

10 meanings provided by section 1115 of title 31, 

11 United States Code. 

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

13 meaning provided by the Director of the Office of 

14 Management and Budget and shall include, with re15 spect to an agency, any organized set of activities di16 rected toward a common purpose or goal undertaken 

17 by the agency that includes services, projects, proc18 esses, or financial or other forms of assistance, in19 cluding grants, contracts, loans, leases, technical 

20 support, consultation, or other guidance. 

21 SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO CATALOG OF FEDERAL DOMES22 TIC ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS. 

23 (a) ADDITION OF INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE PRO24 GRAMS.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 6101 of title 31, 

2 United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

3 end the following: 

4 ‘‘(7) The term ‘international assistance’ has the 

5 meaning provided by the Director of the Office of 

6 Management and Budget and shall include, with re7 spect to an agency, assistance including grants, con8 tracts, loans, leases, and other financial and tech9 nical support to— 

10 ‘‘(A) foreign nations; 

11 ‘‘(B) international organizations; 

12 ‘‘(C) services provided by programs admin13 istered by any agency outside of the territory of 

14 the United States; and 

15 ‘‘(D) services funded by any agency pro16 vided in foreign nations or outside of the terri17 tory of the United States by non-governmental 

18 organizations and entities. 

19 ‘‘(8) The term ‘assistance program’ means each 

20 of the following: 

21 ‘‘(A) A domestic assistance program. 

22 ‘‘(B) An international assistance pro23 gram.’’. 

24 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 


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1 (A) Section 6102 of title 31, Untied States 

2 Code, is amended— 

3 (i) in subsection (a), in the matter 

4 preceding paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘do5 mestic’’ both places it appears; and 

6 (ii) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘do7 mestic’’. 

8 (B) Section 6104 of such title is amend9 ed— 

10 (i) in subsections (a) and (b), by in11 serting ‘‘and international assistance’’ 

12 after ‘‘domestic assistance’’ each place it 

13 appears; and 

14 (ii) in the section heading, by insert15 ing ‘‘and international’’ after ‘‘do16 mestic’’. 

17 (b) ADDITIONAL INFORMATION REQUIRED TO BE

18 INCLUDED CATALOG.—Section 6104(b) of title 31, United 

19 States Code, is amended— 

20 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 

21 (2); 

22 (2) by striking the period at the end of para23 graph (3) and inserting a semicolon; and 

24 (3) by adding at the end the following new 

25 paragraphs: 


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1 ‘‘(4) the information required in paragraphs (1) 

2 through (4) of subsection (b) of the Taxpayers Right 

3 to Know Act; 

4 ‘‘(5) the budget function or functions applicable 

5 to each assistance program contained in the catalog; 

6 ‘‘(6) with respect to each assistance program in 

7 the catalog, an electronic link to the annual report 

8 required by section 2(b) of the Taxpayers Right to 

9 Know Act by the agency that carries out the assist10 ance program; and 

11 ‘‘(7) the authorization and appropriation 

12 amount provided by law for each assistance program 

13 in the catalog in the current fiscal year, and a nota14 tion if the program is not authorized in the current 

15 year, has not been authorized in law, or does not re16 ceive a specific line item appropriation.’’. 

17 (c) REPORT RELATED TO COMPLIANCE WITH CATA18 LOG REQUIREMENTS.—Section 6104 of title 31, United 

19 States Code, is further amended by adding at the end the 

20 following new subsection: 

21 ‘‘(e) COMPLIANCE.—On the website of the catalog of 

22 Federal domestic and international assistance informa23 tion, the Administrator shall provide the following: 

24 ‘‘(1) CONTACT INFORMATION.—The title and 

25 contact information for the person in each agency 


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1 responsible for the implementation, compliance, and 

2 quality of the data in the catalog. 

3 ‘‘(2) REPORT.—An annual report compiled by 

4 the Administrator of domestic assistance programs, 

5 international assistance programs, and agencies with 

6 respect to which the requirements of this chapter are 

7 not met.’’. 

8 (d) BULK DOWNLOADS OF DATA.—Section 6103 of 

9 such title is amended by adding at the end the following 

10 new subsection: 

11 ‘‘(d) BULK DOWNLOADS.—The information in the 

12 catalog of domestic and international assistance under sec13 tion 6104 of this title shall be available on a regular basis 

14 through bulk downloads from the website of the catalog.’’. 

15 (e) REVISION TO AGENCY DEFINITION.—Section 

16 6101(2) of such title is amended by inserting before the 

17 period at the end the following: ‘‘except such term also 

18 includes offices in the legislative branch other than the 

19 Government Accountability Office’’. 

20 SEC. 4. REGULATIONS AND IMPLEMENTATION. 

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

22 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the 

23 Office of Management and Budget shall prescribe regula24 tions to implement this Act. 


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1 (b) IMPLEMENTATION.—This Act shall be imple2 mented beginning with the first full fiscal year occurring 

3 after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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