II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3836 

To establish within the Executive Office of the President the Taxpayer 

Watchdog Office. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 15, 2022 

Ms. ERNST introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To establish within the Executive Office of the President 

the Taxpayer Watchdog Office. 

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 Watchdog Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

6 In this Act: 

7 (1) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ means— 

8 (A) an Executive agency, as defined in sec9 tion 105 of title 5, United States Code; and 


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1 (B) an independent regulatory agency, as 

2 defined in section 3502 of title 44, United 

3 States Code. 

4 (2) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

5 the Director of Openness in Government appointed 

6 under section 3(b). 

7 (3) FEDERAL TRANSPARENCY LAWS.—The 

8 term ‘‘Federal transparency laws’’ means trans9 parency laws of the Federal Government, includ10 ing— 

11 (A) section 552 of title 5, United States 

12 Code; 

13 (B) section 552b of title 5, United States 

14 Code; 

15 (C) the Federal Funding Accountability 

16 and Transparency Act of 2006 (31 U.S.C. 6101 

17 note); 

18 (D) the program inventory of each Federal 

19 agency required under section 1122(a) of title 

20 31, United States Code; 

21 (E) section 2374b of title 10, United 

22 States Code; 

23 (F) section 11319 of title I of the Infra24 structure Investment and Jobs Act (Public Law 

25 117–58); and 


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1 (G) any requirement included in an annual 

2 appropriations Act for a grant recipient of Fed3 eral funds to include in statements, press re4 leases, requests for proposals, bid solicitations, 

5 or other documents describing projects or pro6 grams funded in whole or in part with Federal 

7 money— 

8 (i) the percentage of the total costs of 

9 the program or project which will be fi10 nanced with Federal money; 

11 (ii) the dollar amount of Federal 

12 funds for the project or program; or 

13 (iii) the percentage and dollar amount 

14 of the total costs of the project or program 

15 that will be financed by non-governmental 

16 sources. 

17 (4) OFFICE.—The term ‘‘Office’’ means the 

18 Taxpayer Watchdog Office established under section 

19 3(a). 

20 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF TAXPAYER WATCHDOG OF21 FICE. 

22 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established within 

23 the Executive Office of the President the Taxpayer Watch24 dog Office. 


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1 (b) DIRECTOR.—The Director shall be the head of 

2 the Office and shall be appointed by the President. 

3 (c) STAFF RESOURCES.—The Director of the Office 

4 of Management and Budget shall ensure that the Office 

5 has sufficient staff resources to enable the Director to ful6 fill the duties described in section 4. 

7 SEC. 4. DUTIES OF THE OFFICE. 

8 (a) OVERSIGHT.— 

9 (1) IMPLEMENTATION OF GOVERNMENT TRANS10 PARENCY LAWS.—The Director shall oversee the im11 plementation of Federal transparency laws. 

12 (2) COMPLAINTS.—The Director shall accept 

13 and review complaints about a failure of an agency 

14 to comply with a Federal transparency law. 

15 (3) EVALUATION.—The Director shall develop a 

16 standard compliance and performance scoring meth17 odology using a 100-point scale and shall evaluate 

18 and grade each agency according to the scale by con19 sidering— 

20 (A) the compliance of the agency with Fed21 eral transparency laws, including the accuracy, 

22 thoroughness, and timeliness of the agency in 

23 providing the public the information required by 

24 those laws; and 


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1 (B) any other action taken by the agency 

2 to increase openness in the Federal Govern3 ment. 

4 (4) COOPERATION.— 

5 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Director may col6 lect necessary information from agencies to de7 termine whether an agency is in compliance 

8 with Federal transparency laws. 

9 (B) AGENCY COOPERATION.—Each agency 

10 shall cooperate with the Office to provide infor11 mation necessary to complete the evaluation re12 quired under paragraph (3). 

13 (b) INFORMATION TO THE PUBLIC.—The Director 

14 shall— 

15 (1) with respect to information to which the 

16 public is required to be provided access under Fed17 eral transparency laws— 

18 (A) compile and maintain on a searchable 

19 public website an up-to-date summary of the in20 formation and the manner in which the infor21 mation may be accessed; and 

22 (B) compile a summary of the legal limita23 tions to accessing the information, including 

24 limitations relating to personal privacy, national 


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1 security, law enforcement, and privileged com2 munications; and 

3 (2) compile case law on the interpretation of 

4 Federal transparency laws. 

5 (c) REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS.— 

6 (1) ANNUAL REPORT.—Not later than 1 year 

7 after the date of enactment of this Act, and annually 

8 thereafter, the Director shall make available to the 

9 public a report— 

10 (A) listing— 

11 (i) each Federal transparency law; 

12 and 

13 (ii) the compilation of information re14 lating to Federal transparency laws re15 quired under subsection (b)(1); 

16 (B) summarizing the evaluations required 

17 under subsection (a)(3); 

18 (C) detailing how the Federal transparency 

19 laws apply to— 

20 (i) each agency; and 

21 (ii) each entity receiving Federal fi22 nancial assistance, including grants, sub23 grants, loans, contracts, and tax expendi24 tures; 


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1 (D) providing statistics on the timeliness 

2 and completeness of agency reporting and dis3 closure of information required to be provided 

4 or disclosed under Federal transparency laws; 

5 and 

6 (E) including any agency response to the 

7 evaluation in the report. 

8 (2) RECOMMENDATIONS.—Not later than 2 

9 years after the date of enactment of this Act, and 

10 not less frequently than every 2 years thereafter, the 

11 Director shall submit to the President, the heads of 

12 agencies, and Congress recommendations for im13 provements to increase transparency in the activities 

14 and missions of, and supported by, the Federal Gov15 ernment. 

16 SEC. 5. OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES. 

17 The Director may appoint and terminate such offi18 cers and employees as may be necessary to enable the Of19 fice to perform the duties of the Office. 

20 SEC. 6. FUNDING. 

21 The Office shall be funded through the Office of Man22 agement and Budget. 

Æ 


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