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Union Calendar No. 263 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 1423 

[Report No. 113–355] 

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. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 9, 2013 

Mr. LANKFORD (for himself and Mr. COOPER) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 

FEBRUARY 21, 2014 

Additional sponsors: Mr. MATHESON, Mr. OWENS, Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin, 

Mr. DESANTIS, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Mr. BARR, Mr. SOUTHERLAND, Mr. 

WALBERG, and Mr. NUGENT

FEBRUARY 21, 2014 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Insert the part printed in italic] 


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A BILL 

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. 


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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 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

6 SEC. 2. AGENCY REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO ANNUAL 

7 REPORT ON THE COST AND PERFORMANCE 

8 OF GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS AND AREAS OF 

9 DUPLICATION AMONG PROGRAMS. 

10 (a) REQUIREMENT TO IDENTIFY AND DESCRIBE

11 PROGRAMS.—On an annual basis, for purposes of the re12 port required by subsection (b), the head of each agency 

13 shall— 

14 (1) identify and describe every program admin15 istered by the agency; 

16 (2) for each such program— 

17 (A) determine the total administrative 

18 costs of the program; 

19 (B) determine the expenditures for services 

20 for the program; 

21 (C) estimate the number of clients served 

22 by the program and beneficiaries who received 

23 assistance under the program (if applicable); 

24 and 

25 (D) estimate— 


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1 (i) the number of full-time employees 

2 who administer the program; and 

3 (ii) the number of full-time equiva4 lents (whose salary is paid in part or full 

5 by the Federal Government through a 

6 grant or contract, a subaward of a grant 

7 or contract, a cooperative agreement, or 

8 another form of financial award or assist9 ance) who assist in administering the pro10 gram; and 

11 (3) identify programs within the agency with 

12 duplicative or overlapping missions, services, and al13 lowable uses of funds, including any finding of du14 plication or overlap identified by internal review, an 

15 Inspector General, the Government Accountability Of16 fice, or other report to the agency about the program. 

17 (b) REPORT.—Not later than February 1 of each fis18 cal year, the head of each agency shall create a link on 

19 the homepage of the official public website of the agency 

20 to a report containing the following: 

21 (1) IDENTIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION OF PRO22 GRAMS.—The information required under subsection 

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

24 (2) PERFORMANCE REVIEWS.—The latest per25 formance reviews (including the program performVerDate Mar 15 2010 21:28 Feb 21, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1423.RH H1423

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1 ance reports required under section 1116 of title 31, 

2 United States Code) of each program of the agency 

3 identified under subsection (a)(1), including per4 formance indicators, performance goals, output 

5 measures, and other specific metrics used to review 

6 the program and how the program performed on 

7 each. 

8 (3) IMPROPER PAYMENT INFORMATION.—For 

9 all programs and activities that may be susceptible 

10 to significant improper payments, as identified by 

11 the head of the agency under section 2(a) of the Im12 proper Payments Information Act of 2002 (31 

13 U.S.C. 321 note), the latest improper payment rate 

14 and the total estimated amount of improper pay15 ments during the preceding fiscal year, including 

16 fraudulent payments and overpayments. 

17 (4) EXPIRED GRANT FUNDING.—The total 

18 amount of undisbursed grant funding remaining in 

19 grant accounts for which the period of availability to 

20 the grantee has expired. 

21 (5) RECOMMENDATIONS.—Such recommenda22 tions as the head of the agency considers appro23 priate— 

24 (A) to consolidate programs within the 

25 agency that are duplicative or overlapping; 


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1 (B) to eliminate waste and inefficiency; 

2 and 

3 (C) to terminate lower priority, outdated, 

4 and unnecessary programs and initiatives. 

5 (c) RELATIONSHIP TO CATALOG OF DOMESTIC FI6 NANCIAL ASSISTANCE.—With respect to the requirements 

7 of subsections (a)(1) and (a)(2)(B), the head of an agency 

8 may use the same information provided in the Catalog of 

9 Domestic Financial Assistance if applicable. 

10 (d) FORMAT.—Each agency shall make reports re11 quired by subsection (b) available in a searchable, ma12 chine-readable format, and shall expend no funds for the 

13 printing of such reports, except when providing such docu14 ments to the Congress. 

15 SEC. 3. OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET REQUIRE16 MENTS RELATING TO ANNUAL REPORT ON 

17 THE COST AND PERFORMANCE OF GOVERN18 MENT PROGRAMS AND AREAS OF DUPLICA19 TION AMONG PROGRAMS. 

20 (a) REPORT BY OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND

21 BUDGET.—Not later than February 1 of each fiscal year, 

22 the Director of the Office of Management and Budget 

23 shall publish on the official public website of the Office 

24 of Management and Budget a report containing the fol25 lowing: 


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1 (1) IDENTIFICATION OF DUPLICATIVE PRO2 GRAMS.—An identification of programs across agen3 cies with duplicative or overlapping missions, serv4 ices, and allowable uses of funds. 

5 (2) RECOMMENDATIONS.—Such recommenda6 tions as the Director considers appropriate— 

7 (A) to consolidate programs across agen8 cies that are duplicative or overlapping; 

9 (B) to eliminate waste and inefficiency; 

10 and 

11 (C) to terminate lower priority, outdated, 

12 and unnecessary programs and initiatives. 

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

14 respect to the requirements of subsection (a)(2), the Di15 rector may use the same information provided in the 

16 President’s annual budget submission, if applicable. 

17 (c) DATABASE REQUIRED.—The Director shall main18 tain a database of information— 

19 (1) used to create the report required by sub20 section (a); and 

21 (2) obtained through meeting the requirements 

22 of section 21 of the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 

23 2010 (31 U.S.C. 712 note). 


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1 SEC. 4. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE REQUIRE2 MENTS RELATING TO IDENTIFICATION, CON3 SOLIDATION, AND ELIMINATION OF DUPLICA4 TIVE GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS. 

5 Section 21 of the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 

6 2010 (31 U.S.C. 712 note) is amended by inserting ‘‘(a)’’ 

7 before the first sentence and by adding at the end the fol8 lowing: 

9 ‘‘(b) The Comptroller General shall maintain and 

10 provide regular updates, on not less than an annual basis 

11 to a publicly available website that tracks the status of 

12 responses by Departments and the Congress to suggested 

13 actions that the Comptroller General has previously identi14 fied in annual reports under subsection (a). The status 

15 of these suggested actions shall be tracked for an appro16 priate period to be determined by the Comptroller General. 

17 The requirements of this subsection shall apply during the 

18 effective period of subsection (a).’’. 

19 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

20 In this Act: 

21 (1) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—The term ‘‘ad22 ministrative costs’’ has the meaning as determined 

23 by the Director of the Office of Management and 

24 Budget under section 504(b)(2) of Public Law 111– 

25 85 (31 U.S.C. 1105 note), except the term shall also 


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1 include, for purposes of that section and this section, 

2 with respect to an agency— 

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

4 costs incurred by grantees, subgrantees, and 

5 other recipients of funds from a grant program 

6 or other program administered by the agency; 

7 and 

8 (B) expenses related to personnel salaries 

9 and benefits, property management, travel, pro10 gram management, promotion, reviews and au11 dits, case management, and communication 

12 about, promotion of, and outreach for programs 

13 and program activities administered by the 

14 agency. 

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

16 meaning provided by the Director of the Office of 

17 Management and Budget and shall be limited to 

18 only activities, assistance, and aid that provide a di19 rect benefit to a recipient, such as the provision of 

20 medical care, assistance for housing or tuition, or fi21 nancial support (including grants and loans). 

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

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

24 United States Code, except that the term also inVerDate Mar 15 2010 21:28 Feb 21, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1423.RH H1423

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1 cludes offices in the legislative branch other than the 

2 Government Accountability Office. 

3 (4) PERFORMANCE INDICATOR, PERFORMANCE

4 GOAL, OUTPUT MEASURE.—The terms ‘‘performance 

5 indicator’’, ‘‘performance goal’’, and ‘‘output meas6 ure’’ have the meanings provided those terms by sec7 tion 1115 of title 31, United States Code. 

8 (5) PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘program’’ 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, any organized set of activities di12 rected toward a common purpose or goal undertaken 

13 by the agency that includes services, projects, proc14 esses, or financial or other forms of assistance, in15 cluding grants, contracts, cooperative agreements, 

16 compacts, loans, leases, technical support, consulta17 tion, or other guidance. 

18 SEC. 6. CLASSIFIED INFORMATION. 

19 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to require the 

20 disclosure of classified information. 

21 SEC. 7. REGULATIONS AND IMPLEMENTATION. 

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

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

24 Office of Management and Budget shall prescribe regula25 tions to implement this Act. 


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1 (b) IMPLEMENTATION.—This Act shall be imple2 mented not later than one year after the date of the enact3 ment of this Act. 


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Union Calendar No. 263 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 1423 

[Report No. 113–355] 

A BILL 

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 

FEBRUARY 21, 2014 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS