114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 598 

AN ACT 

To provide taxpayers with an annual report disclosing the 

cost and performance of Government programs and areas 

of duplication among them, 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, 
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Taxpayers Right-To3 Know Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. INVENTORY OF GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1122(a) of title 31, 

6 United States Code, is amended— 

7 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (1) and (2) as 

8 paragraphs (2) and (3), respectively; 

9 (2) by inserting before paragraph (2), as so re10 designated, the following: 

11 ‘‘(1) DEFINITION OF PROGRAM.—For purposes 

12 of this subsection, the term ‘program’ means an or13 ganized set of activities by one or more agencies di14 rected toward a common purpose or goal.’’; 

15 (3) in paragraph (2), as so redesignated— 

16 (A) by striking ‘‘IN GENERAL.—Not later 

17 than October 1, 2012, the Office of Manage18 ment and Budget shall’’ and inserting 

19 ‘‘WEBSITE AND PROGRAM INVENTORY.—The 

20 Director of the Office of Management and 

21 Budget shall’’; 

22 (B) by striking subparagraph (C) and in23 serting the following: 

24 ‘‘(C) include on the website— 

25 ‘‘(i) a program inventory that shall 

26 identify each program of the Federal Gov-
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1 ernment for which there is more than 

2 $1,000,000 in annual budget authority, 

3 which shall include— 

4 ‘‘(I) any activity that is com5 monly referred to as a program by a 

6 Federal agency in communications 

7 with Congress, including any activity 

8 identified as a program in a budget 

9 request; 

10 ‘‘(II) any activity that is com11 monly referred to as a program by a 

12 Federal agency in communications 

13 with the public, including each pro14 gram for which financial awards are 

15 made on a competitive basis; and 

16 ‘‘(III) any activity referenced in 

17 law as a program after June 30, 

18 2019; and 

19 ‘‘(ii) for each program identified in 

20 the program inventory, the information re21 quired under paragraph (3) or paragraph 

22 (4), as applicable.’’; 

23 (4) in paragraph (3), as so redesignated— 

24 (A) in the matter preceding subparagraph 

25 (A), by striking ‘‘INFORMATION.—Information 
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1 for each program described under paragraph 

2 (1)’’ and inserting ‘‘INFORMATION FOR LARGER

3 PROGRAMS.—Information for each program 

4 identified in the program inventory required 

5 under paragraph (2) for which there is more 

6 than $10,000,000 in annual budget authority’’; 

7 (B) by striking subparagraph (C); 

8 (C) by redesignating subparagraph (B) as 

9 subparagraph (D); 

10 (D) by striking subparagraph (A) and in11 serting the following: 

12 ‘‘(A) an identification of the program ac13 tivities that are aggregated, disaggregated, or 

14 consolidated as part of identifying programs; 

15 ‘‘(B) for each program activity described in 

16 subparagraph (A), the amount of funding for 

17 the current fiscal year and previous 2 fiscal 

18 years; 

19 ‘‘(C) an estimate of the amount of funding 

20 for the program;’’; 

21 (E) in subparagraph (D), as so redesig22 nated, by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; and 

23 (F) by adding at the end the following: 
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1 ‘‘(E) an identification of the statutes that 

2 authorize the program and any major regula3 tions specific to the program; 

4 ‘‘(F) for any program that provides grants 

5 or other financial assistance to individuals or 

6 entities, for the most recent fiscal year— 

7 ‘‘(i) a description of the individuals 

8 served by the program and beneficiaries 

9 who received financial assistance under the 

10 program, including an estimate of the 

11 number of individuals and beneficiaries, to 

12 the extent practicable; 

13 ‘‘(ii) for each program for which the 

14 head of an agency determines it is not 

15 practicable to provide an estimate of the 

16 number of individuals and beneficiaries 

17 served by the program— 

18 ‘‘(I) an explanation of why data 

19 regarding the number of such individ20 uals and beneficiaries cannot be pro21 vided; and 

22 ‘‘(II) a discussion of the meas23 ures that could be taken to gather the 

24 data required to provide such an esti25 mate; and 
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1 ‘‘(iii) a description of— 

2 ‘‘(I) the Federal employees who 

3 administer the program, including the 

4 number of full-time equivalents with a 

5 pro rata estimate for full-time equiva6 lents associated with multiple pro7 grams; and 

8 ‘‘(II) other individuals whose sal9 ary is paid in part or full by the Fed10 eral Government through a grant, 

11 contract, cooperative agreement, or 

12 another form of financial award or as13 sistance who administer or assist in 

14 any way in administering the pro15 gram, including the number of full16 time equivalents, to the extent prac17 ticable; 

18 ‘‘(G) links to any evaluation, assessment, 

19 or program performance reviews by the agency, 

20 an Inspector General, or the Government Ac21 countability Office (including program perform22 ance reports required under section 1116) re23 leased during the preceding 5 years; and 

24 ‘‘(H) to the extent practicable, financial 

25 and other information for each program activity 
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1 required to be reported under the Federal 

2 Funding Accountability and Transparency Act 

3 of 2006 (31 U.S.C. 6101 note).’’; and 

4 (5) by adding at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘(4) INFORMATION FOR SMALLER PROGRAMS.— 

6 Information for each program identified in the pro7 gram inventory required under paragraph (2) for 

8 which there is more than $1,000,000 and not more 

9 than $10,000,000 in annual budget authority shall, 

10 at a minimum, include— 

11 ‘‘(A) an identification of the program ac12 tivities that are aggregated, disaggregated, or 

13 consolidated as part of identifying programs; 

14 ‘‘(B) for each program activity described in 

15 subparagraph (A), the amount of funding for 

16 the current fiscal year and previous 2 fiscal 

17 years; 

18 ‘‘(C) an identification of the statutes that 

19 authorize the program and any major regula20 tions specific to the program; 

21 ‘‘(D) for any program that provides grants 

22 or other financial assistance to individuals or 

23 entities, a description of the individuals served 

24 by the program and beneficiaries who received 
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1 financial assistance under the program for the 

2 most recent fiscal year; and 

3 ‘‘(E) links to any evaluation, assessment, 

4 or program performance reviews by the agency, 

5 an Inspector General, or the Government Ac6 countability Office (including program perform7 ance reports required under section 1116) re8 leased during the preceding 5 years. 

9 ‘‘(5) ARCHIVING.—After the end of each fiscal 

10 year, the Director of the Office of Management and 

11 Budget shall archive and preserve the information 

12 included in the program inventory required under 

13 paragraph (2) relating to that fiscal year.’’. 

14 (b) EXPIRED GRANT FUNDING.—Not later than Feb15 ruary 1 of each fiscal year, the Director of the Office of 

16 Management and Budget shall publish on a public website 

17 the total amount of undisbursed grant funding remaining 

18 in grant accounts for which the period of availability to 

19 the grantee has expired. 

20 SEC. 3. GUIDANCE AND IMPLEMENTATION. 

21 (a) GUIDANCE.—Not later than June 30, 2018, the 

22 Director of the Office of Management and Budget— 

23 (1) shall prescribe guidance to implement this 

24 Act, and the amendments made by this Act; 
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1 (2) shall issue guidance to agencies to identify 

2 how the program activities used for reporting under 

3 the Federal Funding Accountability and Trans4 parency Act of 2006 (31 U.S.C. 6101 note) are as5 sociated with programs identified in the program in6 ventory required under section 1122(a)(2)(C)(i) of 

7 title 31, United States Code, as amended by sub8 section (a); 

9 (3) may issue guidance to agencies to ensure 

10 that the programs identified in the program inven11 tory required under section 1122(a)(2)(C)(i) of title 

12 31, United States Code, as amended by subsection 

13 (a), are presented at a similar level of detail across 

14 agencies and are not duplicative or overlapping; and 

15 (4) may, based on an analysis of the costs of 

16 implementation, and after submitting to Congress a 

17 notification of the action by the Director— 

18 (A) exempt from the requirements under 

19 section 1122(a) of title 31, United States Code, 

20 an agency that— 

21 (i) is not listed in section 901(b) of 

22 title 31, United States Code; and 

23 (ii) for the fiscal year during which 

24 the exemption is made, has budget author25 ity (as defined in section 3 of the Congres-
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1 sional Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 622)) 

2 of not more than $10,000,000; and 

3 (B) extend the implementation deadline 

4 under subsection (b) by not more than 1 year. 

5 (b) IMPLEMENTATION.—This Act, and the amend6 ments made by this Act, shall be implemented not later 

7 than June 30, 2019. 

8 SEC. 4. NO ADDITIONAL FUNDS AUTHORIZED. 

9 No additional funds are authorized to carry out the 

10 requirements of this Act and the amendments made by 

11 this Act. Such requirements shall be carried out using 

12 amounts otherwise authorized. 

Passed the House of Representatives January 11, 

2016. 

Attest: 

Clerk. 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 598 

AN ACT 

To provide taxpayers with an annual report disand for other purposes. programs and areas of duplication among them, closing the cost and performance of Government