I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1423 

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 

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. 

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’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. AGENCY REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO ANNUAL 

2 REPORT ON THE COST AND PERFORMANCE 

3 OF GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS AND AREAS OF 

4 DUPLICATION AMONG PROGRAMS. 

5 (a) REQUIREMENT TO IDENTIFY AND DESCRIBE

6 PROGRAMS.—On an annual basis, for purposes of the re7 port 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 

13 costs 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 agency with 

6 duplicative or overlapping missions, services, and al7 lowable uses of funds. 

8 (b) REPORT.—Not later than February 1 of each fis9 cal year, the head of each agency shall create a link on 

10 the homepage of the official public website of the agency 

11 to a report containing the following: 

12 (1) IDENTIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION OF PRO13 GRAMS.—The information required under subsection 

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

15 (2) PERFORMANCE REVIEWS.—The latest per16 formance reviews (including the program perform17 ance reports required under section 1116 of title 31, 

18 United States Code) of each program of the agency 

19 identified under subsection (a)(1), including per20 formance indicators, performance goals, output 

21 measures, and other specific metrics used to review 

22 the program and how the program performed on 

23 each. 

24 (3) IMPROPER PAYMENT INFORMATION.—For 

25 all programs and activities that may be susceptible 


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1 to significant improper payments, as identified by 

2 the head of the agency under section 2(a) of the Im3 proper Payments Information Act of 2002 (31 

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

5 and the total estimated amount of improper pay6 ments during the preceding fiscal year, including 

7 fraudulent payments and overpayments. 

8 (4) EXPIRED GRANT FUNDING.—The total 

9 amount of undisbursed grant funding remaining in 

10 grant accounts for which the period of availability to 

11 the grantee has expired. 

12 (5) RECOMMENDATIONS.—Such recommenda13 tions as the head of the agency considers appro14 priate— 

15 (A) to consolidate programs within the 

16 agency that are duplicative or overlapping; 

17 (B) to eliminate waste and inefficiency; 

18 and 

19 (C) to terminate lower priority, outdated, 

20 and unnecessary programs and initiatives. 

21 (c) RELATIONSHIP TO CATALOG OF DOMESTIC FI22 NANCIAL ASSISTANCE.—With respect to the requirements 

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

24 may use the same information provided in the Catalog of 

25 Domestic Financial Assistance if applicable. 


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1 (d) FORMAT.—Each agency shall make reports re2 quired by subsection (b) available in a searchable, ma3 chine-readable format, and shall expend no funds for the 

4 printing of such reports, except when providing such docu5 ments to the Congress. 

6 SEC. 3. OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET REQUIRE7 MENTS RELATING TO ANNUAL REPORT ON 

8 THE COST AND PERFORMANCE OF GOVERN9 MENT PROGRAMS AND AREAS OF DUPLICA10 TION AMONG PROGRAMS. 

11 (a) REPORT BY OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND

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

13 the Director of the Office of Management and Budget 

14 shall publish on the official public website of the Office 

15 of Management and Budget a report containing the fol16 lowing: 

17 (1) IDENTIFICATION OF DUPLICATIVE PRO18 GRAMS.—An identification of programs across agen19 cies with duplicative or overlapping missions, serv20 ices, and allowable uses of funds. 

21 (2) RECOMMENDATIONS.—Such recommenda22 tions as the Director considers appropriate— 

23 (A) to consolidate programs across agen24 cies 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 (b) RELATIONSHIP TO PRESIDENT’S BUDGET.—With 

6 respect to the requirements of subsection (a)(2), the Di7 rector may use the same information provided in the 

8 President’s annual budget submission, if applicable. 

9 (c) DATABASE REQUIRED.—The Director shall main10 tain a database of information— 

11 (1) used to create the report required by sub12 section (a); and 

13 (2) obtained through meeting the requirements 

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

15 2010 (31 U.S.C. 712 note). 

16 SEC. 4. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE REQUIRE17 MENTS RELATING TO IDENTIFICATION, CON18 SOLIDATION, AND ELIMINATION OF DUPLICA19 TIVE GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS. 

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

21 2010 (31 U.S.C. 712 note) is amended by inserting ‘‘(a)’’ 

22 before the first sentence and by adding at the end the fol23 lowing: 

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

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


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1 to a publicly available website that tracks the status of 

2 responses by Departments and the Congress to suggested 

3 actions that the Comptroller General has previously identi4 fied in annual reports under subsection (a). The status 

5 of these suggested actions shall be tracked for an appro6 priate period to be determined by the Comptroller General. 

7 The requirements of this subsection shall apply during the 

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

9 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

10 In this Act: 

11 (1) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—The term ‘‘ad12 ministrative costs’’ has the meaning as determined 

13 by the Director of the Office of Management and 

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

15 85 (31 U.S.C. 1105 note), except the term shall also 

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

17 with respect to an agency— 

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

19 costs incurred by grantees, subgrantees, and 

20 other recipients of funds from a grant program 

21 or other program administered by the agency; 

22 and 

23 (B) expenses related to personnel salaries 

24 and benefits, property management, travel, pro25 gram management, promotion, reviews and auVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:11 Apr 11, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1423.IH H1423

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1 dits, case management, and communication 

2 about, promotion of, and outreach for programs 

3 and program activities administered by the 

4 agency. 

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

6 meaning provided by the Director of the Office of 

7 Management and Budget and shall be limited to 

8 only activities, assistance, and aid that provide a di9 rect benefit to a recipient, such as the provision of 

10 medical care, assistance for housing or tuition, or fi11 nancial support (including grants and loans). 

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

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

14 United States Code, except that the term also in15 cludes offices in the legislative branch other than the 

16 Government Accountability Office. 

17 (4) PERFORMANCE INDICATOR, PERFORMANCE

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

19 indicator’’, ‘‘performance goal’’, and ‘‘output meas20 ure’’ have the meanings provided those terms by sec21 tion 1115 of title 31, United States Code. 

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

23 meaning provided by the Director of the Office of 

24 Management and Budget and shall include, with re25 spect to an agency, any organized set of activities diVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:11 Apr 11, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1423.IH H1423

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1 rected toward a common purpose or goal undertaken 

2 by the agency that includes services, projects, proc3 esses, or financial or other forms of assistance, in4 cluding grants, contracts, cooperative agreements, 

5 compacts, loans, leases, technical support, consulta6 tion, or other guidance. 

7 SEC. 6. CLASSIFIED INFORMATION. 

8 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to require the 

9 disclosure of classified information. 

10 SEC. 7. REGULATIONS AND IMPLEMENTATION. 

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

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

13 Office of Management and Budget shall prescribe regula14 tions to implement this Act. 

15 (b) IMPLEMENTATION.—This Act shall be imple16 mented not later than one year after the date of the enact17 ment of this Act. 

Æ 


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