II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1957 

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 7, 2011 

Mr. COBURN (for himself, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. CHAMBLISS, Mr. BURR, Mrs. 

MCCASKILL, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. BEGICH, Mr. MCCAIN, Ms. AYOTTE, Mr. 

HATCH, Mr. PAUL, Mr. HELLER, Mr. CRAPO, Mr. COATS, Mr. ENZI, Mr. 

DEMINT, Mr. THUNE, Mr. RUBIO, Mr. JOHNSON of Wisconsin, Mr. LEE, 

Mr. BOOZMAN, Mr. HOEVEN, Mr. CORNYN, Mr. VITTER, Mr. GRAHAM, 

Mr. KYL, Mr. TOOMEY, Mr. MCCONNELL, Mr. RISCH, Mr. WICKER, Mr. 

INHOFE, and Mr. BARRASSO) introduced the following bill; which was 

read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and 

Governmental Affairs 

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, a subaward of a grant 


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1 or contract, a cooperative agreement, or 

2 another form of financial award or assist3 ance) who assist in administering the pro4 gram; and 

5 (3) identify programs within the Federal Gov6 ernment (whether inside or outside the agency) with 

7 duplicative or overlapping missions, services, and al8 lowable uses of funds. 

9 (b) RELATIONSHIP TO CATALOG OF DOMESTIC AS10 SISTANCE.—With respect to the requirements of sub11 sections (a)(1) and (a)(2)(B), the head of an agency may 

12 use the same information provided in the catalog of do13 mestic and international assistance programs in the case 

14 of any program that is a domestic or international assist15 ance program. 

16 (c) REPORT.—Not later than February 1 of each fis17 cal year, the head of each agency shall publish on the offi18 cial public website of the agency a report containing the 

19 following: 

20 (1) The information required under subsection 

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

22 (2) The latest performance reviews (including 

23 the program performance reports required under 

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

25 program of the agency identified under subsection 


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1 (a)(1), including performance indicators, perform2 ance goals, output measures, and other specific 

3 metrics used to review the program and how the 

4 program performed on each. 

5 (3) For each program that makes payments, 

6 the latest improper payment rate of the program 

7 and the total estimated amount of improper pay8 ments, including fraudulent payments and overpay9 ments. 

10 (4) The total amount of unspent and unobli11 gated program funds held by the agency and grant 

12 recipients (not including individuals) stated as an 

13 amount— 

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

15 year in which the report is submitted; and 

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

17 (5) Such recommendations as the head of the 

18 agency considers appropriate— 

19 (A) to consolidate programs that are dupli20 cative or overlapping; 

21 (B) to eliminate waste and inefficiency; 

22 and 

23 (C) to terminate lower priority, outdated, 

24 and unnecessary programs and initiatives. 

25 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 


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1 (1) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—The term 

2 ‘‘administrative costs’’ has the meaning as deter3 mined by the Director of the Office of Management 

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

5 111–85 (31 U.S.C. 1105 note), except the term shall 

6 also include, for purposes of that section and this 

7 section, with respect to an agency— 

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

9 costs incurred by grantees, subgrantees, and 

10 other recipients of funds from a grant program 

11 or other program administered by the agency; 

12 and 

13 (B) expenses related to personnel salaries 

14 and benefits, property management, travel, pro15 gram management, promotion, reviews and au16 dits, case management, and communication 

17 about, promotion of, and outreach for programs 

18 and program activities administered by the 

19 agency. 

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

21 meaning provided by the Director of the Office of 

22 Management and Budget and shall be limited to 

23 only activities, assistance, and aid that provide a di24 rect benefit to a recipient, such as the provision of 


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1 medical care, assistance for housing or tuition, or fi2 nancial support (including grants and loans). 

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

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

5 United States Code, except that the term also in6 cludes offices in the legislative branch other than the 

7 Government Accountability Office. 

8 (4) PERFORMANCE INDICATOR, PERFORMANCE

9 GOAL, OUTPUT MEASURE, PROGRAM ACTIVITY.—The 

10 terms ‘‘performance indicator’’, ‘‘performance goal’’, 

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

12 meanings provided by section 1115 of title 31, 

13 United States Code. 

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

15 meaning provided by the Director of the Office of 

16 Management and Budget and shall include, with re17 spect to an agency, any organized set of activities di18 rected toward a common purpose or goal undertaken 

19 by the agency that includes services, projects, proc20 esses, or financial or other forms of assistance, in21 cluding grants, contracts, cooperative agreements, 

22 compacts, loans, leases, technical support, consulta23 tion, or other guidance. 


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1 SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO CATALOG OF FEDERAL DOMES2 TIC ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS. 

3 (a) ADDITION OF INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE PRO4 GRAMS.— 

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

6 United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

7 end the following: 

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

9 meaning provided by the Director of the Office of 

10 Management and Budget and shall include, with re11 spect to an agency, assistance including grants, con12 tracts, compacts, loans, leases, and other financial 

13 and technical support to— 

14 ‘‘(A) foreign nations; 

15 ‘‘(B) international organizations; 

16 ‘‘(C) services provided by programs admin17 istered by any agency outside of the territory of 

18 the United States; and 

19 ‘‘(D) services funded by any agency pro20 vided in foreign nations or outside of the terri21 tory of the United States by non-governmental 

22 organizations and entities. 

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

24 of the following: 

25 ‘‘(A) A domestic assistance program. 


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1 ‘‘(B) An international assistance pro2 gram.’’. 

3 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

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

5 Code, is amended— 

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

7 preceding paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘do8 mestic’’ both places it appears; and 

9 (ii) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘do10 mestic’’. 

11 (B) Section 6104 of such title is amend12 ed— 

13 (i) in subsections (a) and (b), by in14 serting ‘‘and international assistance’’ 

15 after ‘‘domestic assistance’’ each place it 

16 appears; and 

17 (ii) in the section heading, by insert18 ing ‘‘and international’’ after ‘‘do19 mestic’’. 

20 (b) ADDITIONAL INFORMATION REQUIRED TO BE

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

22 States Code, is amended— 

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

24 (2); 


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1 (2) by striking the period at the end of para2 graph (3) and inserting a semicolon; and 

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

4 paragraphs: 

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

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

7 to Know Act; 

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

9 to each assistance program contained in the catalog; 

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

11 the catalog, an electronic link to the annual report 

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

13 Know Act by the agency that carries out the assist14 ance program; and 

15 ‘‘(7) the authorization and appropriation 

16 amount provided by law for each assistance program 

17 in the catalog in the current fiscal year, and a nota18 tion if the program is not authorized in the current 

19 year, has not been authorized in law, or does not re20 ceive a specific line item appropriation.’’. 

21 (c) REPORT RELATED TO COMPLIANCE WITH CATA22 LOG REQUIREMENTS.—Section 6104 of title 31, United 

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

24 following new subsection: 


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

2 Federal domestic and international assistance informa3 tion, the Administrator shall provide the following: 

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

5 contact information for the person in each agency 

6 responsible for the implementation, compliance, and 

7 quality of the data in the catalog. 

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

9 the Administrator of domestic assistance programs, 

10 international assistance programs, and agencies with 

11 respect to which the requirements of this chapter are 

12 not met.’’. 

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

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

15 new subsection: 

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

17 catalog of domestic and international assistance under sec18 tion 6104 of this title shall be available on a regular basis 

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

20 (e) REVISION TO AGENCY DEFINITION.—Section 

21 6101(2) of such title is amended by inserting before the 

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

23 includes offices in the legislative branch other than the 

24 Government Accountability Office’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. REGULATIONS AND IMPLEMENTATION. 

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

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

4 Office of Management and Budget shall prescribe regula5 tions to implement this Act. 

6 (b) IMPLEMENTATION.—This Act shall be imple7 mented beginning with the first full fiscal year occurring 

8 after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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