II 

Calendar No. 66 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 272 

[Report No. 117–23] 

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. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 8, 2021 

Mr. PETERS (for himself, Mr. PORTMAN, Mr. CARPER, Mr. CORNYN, and Ms. 

ERNST) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

MAY 27, 2021 

Reported by Mr. PETERS, with an amendment 

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

A BILL 

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. 

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


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Congressional Budget 

3 Justification Transparency Act of 2021’’. 

4 SEC. 2. PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF BUDGET JUSTIFICATIONS 

5 AND APPROPRIATION REQUESTS. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 3 of the Federal Funding 

7 Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (31 U.S.C. 

8 6101 note) is amended to read as follows: 

9 ‘‘SEC. 3. FULL DISCLOSURE OF FEDERAL FUNDS. 

10 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not less frequently than monthly 

11 when practicable, and in any event not less frequently than 

12 quarterly, the Secretary (in consultation with the Director 

13 and, with respect to information described in subsection 

14 (b)(2), the head of the applicable agency (as defined in 

15 subsection (b)(1))) shall ensure that updated information 

16 with respect to the information described in subsection (b) 

17 is posted on the website established under section 2. 

18 ‘‘(b) INFORMATION TO BE POSTED.— 

19 ‘‘(1) FUNDS.—For any funds made available to 

20 or expended by a Federal agency or component of a 

21 Federal agency, the information to be posted shall 

22 include— 

23 ‘‘(A) for each appropriations account, in24 cluding an expired or unexpired appropriations 

25 account, the amount— 

26 ‘‘(i) of budget authority appropriated; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) that is obligated; 

2 ‘‘(iii) of unobligated balances; and 

3 ‘‘(iv) of any other budgetary re4 sources; 

5 ‘‘(B) from which accounts and in what 

6 amount— 

7 ‘‘(i) appropriations are obligated for 

8 each program activity; and 

9 ‘‘(ii) outlays are made for each pro10 gram activity; 

11 ‘‘(C) from which accounts and in what 

12 amount— 

13 ‘‘(i) appropriations are obligated for 

14 each object class; and 

15 ‘‘(ii) outlays are made for each object 

16 class; and 

17 ‘‘(D) for each program activity, the 

18 amount— 

19 ‘‘(i) obligated for each object class; 

20 and 

21 ‘‘(ii) of outlays made for each object 

22 class. 

23 ‘‘(2) BUDGET JUSTIFICATIONS.— 

24 ‘‘(A) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph— 


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1 ‘‘(i) the term ‘agency’ has the mean2 ing given that term in section 101 of title 

3 31, United States Code; 

4 ‘‘(ii) the term ‘budget justification 

5 materials’ means the annual budget jus6 tification materials of an agency that are 

7 submitted, in conjunction with the budget 

8 of the United States Government sub9 mitted under section 1105(a) of title 31, 

10 United States Code; and 

11 ‘‘(iii) the term ‘open Government data 

12 asset’ has the meaning given that term in 

13 section 3502 of title 44, United States 

14 Code). 

15 ‘‘(B) INFORMATION.—The information to 

16 be posted— 

17 ‘‘(i) shall include any budget justifica18 tion materials— 

19 ‘‘(I) for the second fiscal year be20 ginning after the date of enactment of 

21 this paragraph, and each fiscal year 

22 thereafter; and 

23 ‘‘(II) to the extent practicable, 

24 that were released for any fiscal year 


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1 before the date of enactment of this 

2 paragraph; and 

3 ‘‘(ii) shall not include any portion of 

4 the budget justification materials the dis5 closure of which is prohibited by law, that 

6 contains classified information, or that is 

7 exempt from disclosure under paragraph 

8 (1) of section 552(b) of title 5, United 

9 States Code. 

10 ‘‘(C) FORMAT.—Budget justification mate11 rials shall be posted under subparagraph (B)— 

12 ‘‘(i) as an open Government data 

13 asset; 

14 ‘‘(ii) in a manner that enables users 

15 to download individual reports, download 

16 all reports in bulk, and download in bulk 

17 the results of a search, to the extent prac18 ticable; and 

19 ‘‘(iii) in a structured data format, to 

20 the extent practicable. 

21 ‘‘(D) DEADLINE.—The budget justification 

22 materials required to be posted under subpara23 graph (B)(i) shall be posted not later than 2 

24 weeks after the date on which the budget jusVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:54 May 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S272.RS S272

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1 tification materials are first submitted to Con2 gress. 

3 ‘‘(E) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing 

4 in this paragraph shall be construed to author5 ize an agency to destroy any budget justifica6 tion materials relating to a fiscal year before 

7 the fiscal year described in subparagraph 

8 (B)(i).’’. 

9 (b) INFORMATION REGARDING AGENCY BUDGET

10 JUSTIFICATIONS.—Section 1105 of title 31, United States 

11 Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: 

12 ‘‘(i)(1) The Director of the Office of Management 

13 and Budget shall make publicly available on a website, and 

14 continuously update, a tabular list for each fiscal year of 

15 each agency that submits budget justification materials, 

16 which shall include— 

17 ‘‘(A) the name of the agency; 

18 ‘‘(B) a unique identifier that identifies the 

19 agency; 

20 ‘‘(C) to the extent practicable, the date on 

21 which the budget justification materials of the agen22 cy are first submitted to Congress; 

23 ‘‘(D) the date on which the budget justification 

24 materials of the agency are posted online under secVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:54 May 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S272.RS S272

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1 tion 3 of the Federal Funding Accountability and 

2 Transparency Act of 2006 (31 U.S.C. 6101 note); 

3 ‘‘(E) the uniform resource locator where the 

4 budget justification materials are published on the 

5 website of the agency; and 

6 ‘‘(F) a single data set that contains the infor7 mation described in subparagraphs (A) through (E) 

8 with respect to the agency for all fiscal years for 

9 which budget justifications of the agency are made 

10 available under section 3 of the Federal Funding Ac11 countability and Transparency Act of 2006 (31 

12 U.S.C. 6101 note) in a structured data format. 

13 ‘‘(2)(A) Each agency that submits budget justifica14 tion materials shall make the materials available on the 

15 website of the agency, in accordance with the policies es16 tablished by the Director of the Office of Management and 

17 Budget under subparagraph (B). 

18 ‘‘(B) Not later than 30 days after the date of enact19 ment of this subsection, the Director of the Office of Man20 agement and Budget, in consultation with the Secretary 

21 of the Treasury, shall establish policies for agencies relat22 ing to making available materials under subparagraph 

23 (A), which shall include guidelines for making budget jus24 tification materials available in a format aligned with the 

25 requirements of section 3(b)(2)(C) of the Federal Funding 


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1 Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (31 U.S.C. 

2 6101 note) and using a uniform resource locator that is 

3 in a consistent format across agencies and is descriptive, 

4 memorable, and pronounceable, such as the format of 

5 ‘agencyname.gov/budget’. 

6 ‘‘(C) If the Director of the Office of Management and 

7 Budget maintains a public website that contains the budg8 et of the United States Government submitted under sub9 section (a) and any related materials, such website shall 

10 also contain a link to the tabular list required under para11 graph (1). 

12 ‘‘(3) In this subsection, the term ‘budget justification 

13 materials’ has the meaning given that term in section 3 

14 of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency 

15 Act of 2006 (31 U.S.C. 6101 note).’’. 

16 SEC. 3. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS. 

17 The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of 

18 complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go-Act of 2010, 

19 shall be determined by reference to the latest statement 

20 titled ‘‘Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation’’ for this 

21 Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional Record 

22 by the Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, pro23 vided that such statement has been submitted prior to the 

24 vote on passage. 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Congressional Budget 

3 Justification Transparency Act of 2021’’. 

4 SEC. 2. PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF BUDGET JUSTIFICATIONS 

5 AND APPROPRIATION REQUESTS. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 3 of the Federal Funding 

7 Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (31 U.S.C. 

8 6101 note) is amended to read as follows: 

9 ‘‘SEC. 3. FULL DISCLOSURE OF FEDERAL FUNDS. 

10 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not less frequently than monthly 

11 when practicable, and in any event not less frequently than 

12 quarterly, the Secretary (in consultation with the Director 

13 and, with respect to information described in subsection 

14 (b)(2), the head of the applicable Federal agency) shall en15 sure that updated information with respect to the informa16 tion described in subsection (b) is posted on the website es17 tablished under section 2. 

18 ‘‘(b) INFORMATION TO BE POSTED.— 

19 ‘‘(1) FUNDS.—For any funds made available to 

20 or expended by a Federal agency or component of a 

21 Federal agency, the information to be posted shall in22 clude— 

23 ‘‘(A) for each appropriations account, in24 cluding an expired or unexpired appropriations 

25 account, the amount— 

26 ‘‘(i) of budget authority appropriated; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) that is obligated; 

2 ‘‘(iii) of unobligated balances; and 

3 ‘‘(iv) of any other budgetary resources; 

4 ‘‘(B) from which accounts and in what 

5 amount— 

6 ‘‘(i) appropriations are obligated for 

7 each program activity; and 

8 ‘‘(ii) outlays are made for each pro9 gram activity; 

10 ‘‘(C) from which accounts and in what 

11 amount— 

12 ‘‘(i) appropriations are obligated for 

13 each object class; and 

14 ‘‘(ii) outlays are made for each object 

15 class; and 

16 ‘‘(D) for each program activity, the 

17 amount— 

18 ‘‘(i) obligated for each object class; and 

19 ‘‘(ii) of outlays made for each object 

20 class. 

21 ‘‘(2) BUDGET JUSTIFICATIONS.— 

22 ‘‘(A) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph— 

23 ‘‘(i) the term ‘budget justification ma24 terials’ means the annual budget justifica25 tion materials of a Federal agency, or a 


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1 component of a Federal agency, that are 

2 submitted, in conjunction with the budget of 

3 the United States Government submitted 

4 under section 1105(a) of title 31, United 

5 States Code; and 

6 ‘‘(ii) the term ‘open Government data 

7 asset’ has the meaning given that term in 

8 section 3502 of title 44, United States Code. 

9 ‘‘(B) INFORMATION.—The information to be 

10 posted— 

11 ‘‘(i) shall include any budget justifica12 tion materials— 

13 ‘‘(I) for the second fiscal year be14 ginning after the date of enactment of 

15 this paragraph, and each fiscal year 

16 thereafter; and 

17 ‘‘(II) to the extent practicable, 

18 that were released for any fiscal year 

19 before the date of enactment of this 

20 paragraph; and 

21 ‘‘(ii) shall not include budget justifica22 tion materials the disclosure of which is 

23 prohibited by law, that are classified, or 

24 that are exempt from disclosure under sec25 tion 552(b) of title 5, United States Code. 


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1 ‘‘(C) FORMAT.—Budget justification mate2 rials shall be posted under subparagraph (B)— 

3 ‘‘(i) as an open Government data asset; 

4 ‘‘(ii) in a manner that enables users to 

5 download individual reports, download all 

6 reports in bulk, and download in bulk the 

7 results of a search, to the extent practicable; 

8 and 

9 ‘‘(iii) in a structured data format, to 

10 the extent practicable. 

11 ‘‘(D) DEADLINE.—The budget justification 

12 materials required to be posted under subpara13 graph (B)(i) shall be posted not later than 2 

14 weeks after the date on which the budget jus15 tification materials are first submitted to Con16 gress. 

17 ‘‘(E) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 

18 this paragraph shall be construed to authorize a 

19 Federal agency, or a component of a Federal 

20 agency, to destroy any budget justification mate21 rials relating to a fiscal year before the fiscal 

22 year described in subparagraph (B)(i).’’. 

23 (b) INFORMATION REGARDING AGENCY BUDGET JUS24 TIFICATIONS.—Section 1105 of title 31, United States Code, 

25 is amended by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(i)(1) The Director of the Office of Management and 

2 Budget shall make publicly available on a website, and con3 tinuously update, a tabular list for each fiscal year of each 

4 agency that submits budget justification materials, which 

5 shall include— 

6 ‘‘(A) the name of the agency; 

7 ‘‘(B) a unique identifier that identifies the agen8 cy; 

9 ‘‘(C) to the extent practicable, the date on which 

10 the budget justification materials of the agency are 

11 first submitted to Congress; 

12 ‘‘(D) the date on which the budget justification 

13 materials of the agency are posted online under sec14 tion 3 of the Federal Funding Accountability and 

15 Transparency Act of 2006 (31 U.S.C. 6101 note); 

16 ‘‘(E) the uniform resource locator where the 

17 budget justification materials are published on the 

18 website of the agency; and 

19 ‘‘(F) a single data set that contains the informa20 tion described in subparagraphs (A) through (E) with 

21 respect to the agency for all fiscal years for which 

22 budget justifications of the agency are made available 

23 under section 3 of the Federal Funding Account24 ability and Transparency Act of 2006 (31 U.S.C. 

25 6101 note) in a structured data format. 


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1 ‘‘(2)(A) Each agency that submits budget justification 

2 materials shall make the materials available on the website 

3 of the agency, in accordance with the policies established 

4 by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget 

5 under subparagraph (B). 

6 ‘‘(B) Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 

7 of this subsection, the Director of the Office of Management 

8 and Budget, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treas9 ury, shall establish policies and data standards for agencies 

10 relating to making available materials under subparagraph 

11 (A), which shall include guidelines for making budget jus12 tification materials available in a format aligned with the 

13 requirements of section 3(b)(2)(C) of the Federal Funding 

14 Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (31 U.S.C. 

15 6101 note) and using a uniform resource locator that is 

16 in a consistent format across agencies and is descriptive, 

17 memorable, and pronounceable, such as the format of 

18 ‘agencyname.gov/budget’. 

19 ‘‘(C) If the Director of the Office of Management and 

20 Budget maintains a public website that contains the budget 

21 of the United States Government submitted under sub22 section (a) and any related materials, such website shall 

23 also contain a link to the tabular list required under para24 graph (1). 


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1 ‘‘(3) In this subsection, the term ‘budget justification 

2 materials’ has the meaning given that term in section 

3 3(b)(2) of the Federal Funding Accountability and Trans4 parency Act of 2006 (31 U.S.C. 6101 note).’’. 

5 SEC. 3. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS. 

6 The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of 

7 complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go-Act of 2010, 

8 shall be determined by reference to the latest statement titled 

9 ‘‘Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation’’ for this Act, 

10 submitted for printing in the Congressional Record by the 

11 Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, provided that 

12 such statement has been submitted prior to the vote on pas13 sage. 


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Calendar No. 66 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 272 

[Report No. 117–23] 

A BILL 

To amend the Federal Funding Accountability and 

cies be made publicly available. justifications and appropriation requests of agenTransparency Act of 2006, to require the budget 

MAY 27, 2021 

Reported with an amendment 


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