I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5258 

To amend the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to require Congress to 

establish a unified and searchable database on a public website for 

congressional earmarks. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 11, 2010 

Mr. CASSIDY (for himself, Ms. SPEIER, Mr. REICHERT, and Mr. SMITH of 

Washington) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Rules, and in addition to the Committee on the Budget, for 

a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 

consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To amend the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to require 

Congress to establish a unified and searchable database 

on a public website for congressional earmarks. 

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 ‘‘Earmark Trans5 parency Act of 2010’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. UNIFIED AND SEARCHABLE DATABASE FOR CON2 GRESSIONALLY DIRECTED SPENDING ITEMS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title III of the Congressional 

4 Budget Act of 1974 is amended by adding at the end the 

5 following new section: 

6 ‘‘UNIFIED AND SEARCHABLE DATABASE FOR

7 CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED SPENDING ITEMS

8 ‘‘SEC. 316. (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF DATABASE.— 

9 Within six months after the date of enactment of this sec10 tion, the Clerk of the House of Representatives and the 

11 Secretary of the Senate shall jointly establish a searchable 

12 website, available to the public at no cost, listing all re13 quests by Members of Congress for congressionally di14 rected spending items. 

15 ‘‘(b) CONTENT.—The website established under sub16 section (a) shall be comprised of a database including the 

17 following information for each congressionally directed 

18 spending item requested by a Member of Congress: 

19 ‘‘(1) The fiscal year in which the item would be 

20 funded. 

21 ‘‘(2) The number of the bill or joint resolution 

22 for which the request is made, if available. 

23 ‘‘(3) The amount of the initial request made by 

24 the Member of Congress. 

25 ‘‘(4) The amount approved by the committee of 

26 jurisdiction. 


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1 ‘‘(5) The amount carried in the bill or joint res2 olution (or accompanying report) as passed by the 

3 House, as passed by the Senate, and as transmitted 

4 to the President, as applicable. 

5 ‘‘(6) The name of the department or agency, 

6 and the account or program, through which the item 

7 will be funded. 

8 ‘‘(7) The name and the State or district of the 

9 Member of Congress who made the request. 

10 ‘‘(8) The name and address of the intended re11 cipient. 

12 ‘‘(9) The type of organization (public, private 

13 nonprofit, or private for profit entity) of the in14 tended recipient. 

15 ‘‘(10) The project name, description, and esti16 mated completion date. 

17 ‘‘(11) A justification of the benefit to taxpayers. 

18 ‘‘(12) Whether the request is for a continuing 

19 project and if so, when funds were first appropriated 

20 for such project. 

21 ‘‘(13) A description, if applicable, of all non22 Federal sources of funding. 

23 ‘‘(14) Its current status in the legislative proc24 ess, including whether it was carried in any bill or 

25 joint resolution (or accompanying report) passed by 


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1 either House, added in a committee of conference 

2 between the Houses (or joint explanatory statement 

3 of managers) or in an amendment between the 

4 Houses, or included in a bill or joint resolution en5 acted into law, including any changes in the final 

6 dollar amount. 

7 ‘‘(c) ACCESSIBILITY OF DATA.—The website estab8 lished under subsection (a) shall allow the public to— 

9 ‘‘(1) search, sort, and download all information 

10 in the database in a machine-readable format; 

11 ‘‘(2) ascertain through a single search, by indi12 vidual Member of Congress, the total number and 

13 dollar value of congressionally directed spending 

14 items requested by that Member and the total num15 ber and dollar value of such items contained in bills 

16 or joint resolutions as passed by either House or en17 acted into law by fiscal year; 

18 ‘‘(3) search and aggregate data based on any 

19 category set forth in subsection (b); and 

20 ‘‘(4) access the website from the home page of 

21 the website of the Clerk of the House of Representa22 tives and of the Secretary of the Senate. 

23 ‘‘(d) TIMELINESS OF DATA.—(1) Within 5 calendar 

24 days of receipt of a request for a congressionally directed 

25 spending item from a Member of Congress, each comVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:58 May 12, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5258.IH H5258

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1 mittee of the House of Representatives and of the Senate 

2 shall provide to the Clerk of the House of Representatives 

3 or the Secretary of the Senate, as applicable, the initial 

4 information regarding that request that is required under 

5 this section to be placed on the website established under 

6 subsection (a). That committee shall provide up-to-date in7 formation to the Clerk or Secretary, as applicable. 

8 ‘‘(2) The Clerk of the House of Representatives and 

9 the Secretary of the Senate shall post on the website es10 tablished under subsection (a) the information received 

11 under paragraph (1) within 2 calendar days (excluding 

12 Saturdays, Sundays, or legal holidays except when the 

13 House or Senate is in session on such a day). 

14 ‘‘(e) POINT OF ORDER.—(1) It shall not be in order 

15 to consider any bill or joint resolution, or amendment 

16 thereto or conference report thereon unless it meets the 

17 requirements of this section. 

18 ‘‘(2) Subsections (c)(1) and (d)(2) of section 904 of 

19 the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 are each amended 

20 by inserting ‘316, ’ after ‘313, ’. 

21 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section— 

22 ‘‘(1) the term ‘congressionally directed spending 

23 item’ means a provision or report language included 

24 primarily at the request of a Member of Congress 

25 providing, authorizing, or recommending a specific 


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1 amount of discretionary budget authority, credit au2 thority, or other spending authority for a contract, 

3 loan, loan guarantee, grant, loan authority, or other 

4 expenditure with or to an entity, or targeted to a 

5 specific State, locality, or congressional district, 

6 other than through a statutory or administrative for7 mula-driven or competitive award process; and 

8 ‘‘(2) the term ‘Member of Congress’ means a 

9 Senator in, a Representative in, or a Delegate or 

10 Resident Commissioner to, the Congress.’’. 

11 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of con12 tents set forth in section 1(b) of the Congressional Budget 

13 and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 is amended by in14 serting after the item relating to section 315 the following 

15 new item: 

‘‘Sec. 316. Unified and searchable database for congressionally directed spending items.’’. 

Æ 


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