II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2177 

To provide taxpayers with an improved understanding of Government programs through the disclosure of cost, performance, and areas of duplication among them, leverage existing data to achieve a functional Federal 

program inventory, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 18, 2019 

Mr. LANKFORD (for himself, Ms. HASSAN, Ms. SINEMA, Ms. ERNST, Mr. 

JOHNSON, Mr. ENZI, Mr. PAUL, Mr. CORNYN, and Mr. TESTER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To provide taxpayers with an improved understanding of 

Government programs through the disclosure of cost, 

performance, and areas of duplication among them, leverage existing data to achieve a functional Federal program inventory, 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. INVENTORY OF GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS. 

2 Section 1122(a) of title 31, United States Code, is 

3 amended— 

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

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

6 (2) by inserting before paragraph (2), as so re7 designated, the following: 

8 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this sub9 section— 

10 ‘‘(A) the term ‘Federal financial assist11 ance’ has the meaning given that term under 

12 section 7501; 

13 ‘‘(B) the term ‘open Government data 

14 asset’ has the meaning given that term under 

15 section 3502 of title 44; 

16 ‘‘(C) the term ‘program’ means a single 

17 program activity or an organized set of aggre18 gated, disaggregated, or consolidated program 

19 activities by 1 or more agencies directed toward 

20 a common purpose or goal; and 

21 ‘‘(D) the term ‘program activity’ has the 

22 meaning given that term in section 1115(h).’’; 

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

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

25 than October 1, 2012, the Office of Manage26 ment and Budget shall’’ and inserting 


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1 ‘‘WEBSITE AND PROGRAM INVENTORY.—The 

2 Director of the Office of Management and 

3 Budget shall’’; 

4 (B) in subparagraph (A), by inserting 

5 ‘‘that includes the information required under 

6 subsections (b) and (c)’’ after ‘‘a single 

7 website’’; and 

8 (C) by striking subparagraphs (B) and (C) 

9 and inserting the following: 

10 ‘‘(B) include on the website described in 

11 subparagraph (A), or another appropriate Fed12 eral Government website where related informa13 tion is made available, as determined by the Di14 rector— 

15 ‘‘(i) a program inventory that shall 

16 identify each program; and 

17 ‘‘(ii) for each program identified in 

18 the program inventory, the information re19 quired under paragraph (3); 

20 ‘‘(C) make the information in the program 

21 inventory required under subparagraph (B) 

22 available as an open Government data asset; 

23 and 

24 ‘‘(D) at a minimum— 


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1 ‘‘(i) update the information required 

2 to be included on the single website under 

3 subparagraph (A) on a quarterly basis; 

4 and 

5 ‘‘(ii) update the program inventory re6 quired under subparagraph (B) on an an7 nual basis.’’; 

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

9 (A) in the matter preceding subparagraph 

10 (A), by striking ‘‘described under paragraph (1) 

11 shall include’’ and inserting ‘‘identified in the 

12 program inventory required under paragraph 

13 (2)(B) shall include, for each program activity 

14 that is a part of a program’’; 

15 (B) by striking subparagraphs (A) and 

16 (C); 

17 (C) by redesignating subparagraph (B) as 

18 subparagraph (A); 

19 (D) in subparagraph (A), as so redesig20 nated— 

21 (i) by striking ‘‘program’’ each place 

22 it appears and inserting ‘‘program activ23 ity’’; and 

24 (ii) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; and 

25 (E) by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(B) a consolidated view for the current 

2 fiscal year and each of the 2 fiscal years before 

3 the current fiscal year of— 

4 ‘‘(i) the amount appropriated; 

5 ‘‘(ii) the amount obligated; and 

6 ‘‘(iii) the amount outlayed; 

7 ‘‘(C) to the extent practicable and per8 mitted by law, links to any related evaluation, 

9 assessment, or program performance review by 

10 the agency, an inspector general, or the Govern11 ment Accountability Office (including program 

12 performance reports required under section 

13 1116), and other related evidence assembled in 

14 response to implementation of the Foundations 

15 for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 

16 (Public Law 115–435; 132 Stat. 5529); 

17 ‘‘(D) an identification of the statutes that 

18 authorize the program activity or the authority 

19 under which the program activity was created 

20 or operates; 

21 ‘‘(E) an identification of any major regula22 tions specific to the program activity; 

23 ‘‘(F) any other information that the Direc24 tor of the Office of Management and Budget 

25 determines relevant relating to program activity 


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1 data in priority areas most relevant to Congress 

2 or the public to increase transparency and ac3 countability; and 

4 ‘‘(G) for assistance listings under which 

5 Federal financial assistance is provided, for the 

6 current fiscal year and each of the 2 fiscal 

7 years before the current fiscal year and con8 sistent with existing law relating to the protec9 tion of personally identifiable information— 

10 ‘‘(i) a linkage to the relevant program 

11 activities that fund Federal financial as12 sistance by assistance listing; 

13 ‘‘(ii) information on the population in14 tended to be served by the assistance list15 ing based on the language of the solicita16 tion, as required under section 6102; 

17 ‘‘(iii) to the extent practicable based 

18 on data reported to the agency providing 

19 the Federal financial assistance, the results 

20 of the Federal financial assistance awards 

21 provided by assistance listing; 

22 ‘‘(iv) to the extent practicable, the 

23 percentage of the amount appropriated for 

24 the assistance listing that is used for man25 agement and administration; 


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1 ‘‘(v) the identification of each award 

2 of Federal financial assistance and, to the 

3 extent practicable, the name of each direct 

4 or indirect recipient of the award; and 

5 ‘‘(vi) any information relating to the 

6 award of Federal financial assistance that 

7 is required to be included on the website 

8 established under section 2(b) of the Fed9 eral Funding Accountability and Trans10 parency Act of 2006 (31 U.S.C. 6101 

11 note).’’; and 

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

13 ‘‘(4) ARCHIVING.—The Director of the Office of 

14 Management and Budget shall— 

15 ‘‘(A) archive and preserve the information 

16 included in the program inventory required 

17 under paragraph (2)(B) after the end of the pe18 riod during which such information is required 

19 to be made available under paragraph (3); and 

20 ‘‘(B) make information archived in accord21 ance with subparagraph (A) available for re22 search via an archiving process that results in 

23 self-service of data access.’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. GUIDANCE, IMPLEMENTATION, REPORTING, AND 

2 REVIEW. 

3 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

4 (1) the term ‘‘Director’’ means the Director of 

5 the Office of Management and Budget; 

6 (2) the term ‘‘program’’ has the meaning given 

7 that term in section 1122(a)(1) of title 31, United 

8 States Code, as amended by section 2 of this Act; 

9 and 

10 (3) the term ‘‘program activity’’ has the mean11 ing given that term in section 1115(h) of title 31, 

12 United States Code. 

13 (b) PLAN FOR IMPLEMENTATION AND RECONCILING

14 PROGRAM DEFINITIONS.—Not later than 180 days after 

15 the date of enactment of this Act, the Director shall sub16 mit to Congress a report that— 

17 (1) includes plan that— 

18 (A) discusses how making available on a 

19 website the information required under sub20 section (a) of section 1122 of title 31, United 

21 States Code, as amended by section 2, will le22 verage existing data sources while avoiding du23 plicative or overlapping information in pre24 senting information relating to program activi25 ties and programs; 


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1 (B) indicates how any gaps in data will be 

2 assessed and addressed; 

3 (C) indicates how the Director will display 

4 such data; and 

5 (D) discusses how the Director will expand 

6 the information collected with respect to pro7 gram activities to incorporate the information 

8 required under the amendments made by sec9 tion 2; 

10 (2) sets forth details regarding a pilot program, 

11 developed in accordance with best practices for effec12 tive pilot programs— 

13 (A) to develop and implement a functional 

14 program inventory that could be limited in 

15 scope; and 

16 (B) under which the information required 

17 under the amendments made by section 2 with 

18 respect to program activities shall be made 

19 available on the website required under section 

20 1122(a) of title 31, United States Code; 

21 (3) establishes an implementation timeline 

22 for— 

23 (A) gathering and building program activ24 ity information; 


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1 (B) developing and implementing the pilot 

2 program; 

3 (C) seeking and responding to stakeholder 

4 comments; 

5 (D) developing and presenting findings 

6 from the pilot program to Congress; 

7 (E) notifying Congress regarding how pro8 gram activities will be aggregated, 

9 disaggregated, or consolidated as part of identi10 fying programs; and 

11 (F) implementing a Governmentwide pro12 gram inventory through an iterative approach; 

13 and 

14 (4) including recommendations, if any, to rec15 oncile the conflicting definitions of the term ‘‘pro16 gram’’ in relevant Federal statutes, as it relates to 

17 the purpose of this Act. 

18 (c) IMPLEMENTATION.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years after 

20 the date of enactment of this Act, the Director shall 

21 make available online all information required under 

22 the amendments made by section 2 with respect to 

23 all programs. 

24 (2) EXTENSIONS.—The Director may, based on 

25 an analysis of the costs of implementation, and after 


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1 submitting to Congress a notification of the action 

2 by the Director, extend the deadline for implementa3 tion under paragraph (1) by not more than a total 

4 of 1 year. 

5 (d) REPORTING.—Not later than 2 years after the 

6 date on which the Director makes available online all in7 formation required under the amendments made by sec8 tion 2 with respect to all programs, the Comptroller Gen9 eral of the United States shall submit to Congress a report 

10 regarding the implementation of this Act and the amend11 ments made by this Act, which shall— 

12 (1) review how the Director and agencies deter13 mined how to aggregate, disaggregate, or consolidate 

14 program activities to provide the most useful infor15 mation for an inventory of Government investments; 

16 (2) evaluate the extent to which the program 

17 inventory required under section 1122 of title 31, 

18 United States Code, as amended by this Act, pro19 vides useful information for transparency, decision20 making, and oversight; 

21 (3) evaluate the extent to which the program 

22 inventory provides a coherent picture of the scope of 

23 Federal investments in particular areas; and 


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1 (4) include the recommendations of the Comp2 troller General, if any, for improving implementation 

3 of this Act and the amendments made by this Act. 

4 SEC. 4. TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. 

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

6 States Code, is amended— 

7 (1) in subsection (b), in the matter preceding 

8 paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘described in subsection 

9 (a)(2)(A)’’ after ‘‘the website’’ each place it appears; 

10 (2) in subsection (c), in the matter preceding 

11 paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘described in subsection 

12 (a)(2)(A)’’ after ‘‘the website’’; and 

13 (3) in subsection (d)— 

14 (A) in the subsection heading, by striking 

15 ‘‘ON WEBSITE’’; and 

16 (B) in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘on 

17 the website’’. 

18 (b) OTHER AMENDMENTS.— 

19 (1) Section 1115(a) of title 31, United States 

20 Code, is amended in the matter preceding paragraph 

21 (1) by striking ‘‘the website provided under’’ and in22 serting ‘‘a website described in’’. 

23 (2) Section 10 of the GPRA Modernization Act 

24 of 2010 (31 U.S.C. 1115 note) is amended— 


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1 (A) in subsection (a)(3), by striking ‘‘the 

2 website described under’’ and inserting ‘‘a 

3 website described in’’; and 

4 (B) in subsection (b)— 

5 (i) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘the 

6 website described under’’ and inserting ‘‘a 

7 website described in’’; and 

8 (ii) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘the 

9 website as required under’’ and inserting 

10 ‘‘a website described in’’. 

11 (3) Section 1120(a)(5) of title 31, United 

12 States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘the website de13 scribed under’’ and inserting ‘‘a website described 

14 in’’. 

15 (4) Section 1126(b)(2)(E) of title 31, United 

16 States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘the website of 

17 the Office of Management and Budget pursuant to’’ 

18 and inserting ‘‘a website described in’’. 

19 (5) Section 3512(a)(1) of title 31, United 

20 States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘the website de21 scribed under’’ and inserting ‘‘a website described 

22 in’’. 

Æ 


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