I 
111TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4983 
To amend the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, the Rules of the House 
of Representatives, the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, and the Federal 
Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 to improve access 
to information in the legislative and executive branches of the Govern-
ment, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 25, 2010 
Mr. QUIGLEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Oversight and Government Reform, and in addition to the 
Committees on Rules, House Administration, the Judiciary, and Stand-
ards of Official Conduct, for a period to be subsequently determined by 
the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall with-
in the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To amend the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, the Rules 
of the House of Representatives, the Lobbying Disclosure 
Act of 1995, and the Federal Funding Accountability 
and Transparency Act of 2006 to improve access to 
information in the legislative and executive branches of 
the Government, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Transparency in Gov-
ernment Act of 2010’’. 
SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
The table of contents is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title. 
Sec. 2. Table of contents. 
TITLE I—IMPROVING ACCESS TO INFORMATION ABOUT 
MEMBERS OF CONGRESS 
Sec. 101. Greater disclosure and electronic filing of personal financial informa-
tion. 
Sec. 102. Greater disclosure of travel reports. 
Sec. 103. Greater disclosure of gift reports. 
Sec. 104. Greater disclosure of earmarks. 
TITLE II—ENHANCING PUBLIC ACCESS TO THE WORK OF 
CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES, LEGISLATION, AND VOTES 
Sec. 201. Increase transparency of committee votes. 
Sec. 202. Increase transparency of committee work. 
Sec. 203. Increase transparency of committee schedules through the Clerk. 
Sec. 204. Require all legislation be publicly available 72 hours before consider-
ation. 
Sec. 205. Increased transparency of recorded votes. 
TITLE III—ENHANCING PUBLIC ACCESS TO CONGRESSIONAL 
RESEARCH SERVICE 
Sec. 301. Enhance access to CRS. 
TITLE IV—LOBBYING DISCLOSURE 
Sec. 401. GAO study of lobbyist registration and disclosure. 
Sec. 402. Expedited online registration of lobbyists; expansion of registrants. 
Sec. 403. Disclosure of additional information by lobbyists. 
Sec. 404. Disclosure of political contributions. 
Sec. 405. Effective date. 
TITLE V—TRANSPARENCY IN FEDERAL CONTRACTING 
Sec. 501. Improving application programming interface and website data ele-
ments. 
Sec. 502. Improving data quality. 
Sec. 503. Recipient performance transparency. 
Sec. 504. Improvement of Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Infor-
mation System Database. 
Sec. 505. Requirements relating to reporting of award data. 
TITLE VI—EXECUTIVE BRANCH TRANSPARENCY 
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Sec. 601. Requirement for disclosure of Federal sponsorship of all Federal ad-
vertising or other communications. 
TITLE VII—STRENGTHENING FOIA 
Sec. 701. Digital access to completed responses to the Freedom of Information 
Act. 
Sec. 702. Commission on Freedom of Information Act Processing Delays. 
TITLE VIII—ENFORCEMENT 
Sec. 801. Audits by the Government Accountability Office. 
TITLE I—IMPROVING ACCESS TO 
INFORMATION ABOUT MEM-
BERS OF CONGRESS 
SEC. 101. GREATER DISCLOSURE AND ELECTRONIC FILING 
OF PERSONAL FINANCIAL INFORMATION. 
(a) ADDITIONAL FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE REQUIRE-
MENTS.—(1) Section 102(a)(1)(B) of the Ethics in Gov-
ernment Act of 1978 is amended in clause (iv) by striking 
‘‘$15,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$25,000’’ and by striking 
clauses (v) through (ix) and inserting the following new 
clauses: 
‘‘(v) greater than $25,000 but not 
more than $100,000, round to the nearest 
$10,000, 
‘‘(vi) greater than $100,000 but not 
more than $1,000,000, round to the near-
est $100,000, or 
‘‘(vii) greater than $1,000,000, round 
to the nearest $1,000,000.’’. 
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(2) Section 102(d)(1) of the Ethics in Government 
Act of 1978 is amended by striking ‘‘(3), (4), (5), and 
(8)’’ an inserting ‘‘(5) and (8)’’. 
(3) Section 102(d) of the Ethics in Government Act 
of 1978 is amended by redesignating paragraph (2) as 
paragraph (3) and by inserting after paragraph (1) the 
following new paragraph: 
‘‘(3) The categories for reporting the amount or value 
of the items covered in paragraphs (3) or (4) of subsection 
(a) are as follows: 
‘‘(A) not more than $15,000; 
‘‘(B) greater than $15,000 but not more than 
$25,000; 
‘‘(C) greater than $25,000 but not more than 
$100,000, round to the nearest $10,000; 
‘‘(D) greater than $100,000 but not more than 
$1,000,000, round to the nearest $100,000; and 
‘‘(E) greater than $1,000,000, round to the 
nearest $1,000,000.’’. 
(b) MORE FREQUENT DISCLOSURE OF FINANCIAL 
TRANSACTIONS INVOLVING LARGE SUMS OF MONEY.— 
(1) Section 101 of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 
is amended by adding at the end the following new sub-
section: 
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‘‘(i) In addition to any other report required to be 
filed by a Member of Congress or officer or employee of 
the Congress, each such individual is required to file a 
quarterly report on April 30, July 30, October 30, and 
January 30 of each year covering the preceding calendar 
quarter if that individual (or the spouse or any dependent 
child of that individual) purchased, sold, or exchanged any 
property described in subsection (a)(5) valued at not less 
than $250,000 during that calendar quarter. For any such 
transaction of not less than $250,000, such report shall 
contain all of the information required under subsection 
(a)(5).’’. 
(2)(A) Clause 1 of rule XXVI of the Rules of the 
House of Representatives is amended by inserting ‘‘(a)’’ 
after ‘‘1.’’ and by adding at the end the following new 
paragraphs: 
‘‘(b) If any report is filed with the Clerk for a 
calendar quarter pursuant to section 101(i) of the 
Ethics in Government Act of 1978, the Clerk shall 
compile all such reports sent to the Clerk by Mem-
bers and have them printed as a House document, 
which shall be made available to the public, as soon 
as practicable. 
‘‘(c) Each individual required to file a report 
with the Clerk under title I under the Ethics in Gov-
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ernment Act of 1978 shall file and maintain such re-
port in electronic form.’’. 
(B) Comparable language to be added by the Senate. 
(c) AVAILABILITY ON THE INTERNET OF REPORTS 
FILED UNDER THIS TITLE WITH THE CLERK OF THE 
HOUSE OR THE SECRETARY OF THE SENATE.—Section 
103 of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 is amended 
by adding at the end the following new subsection: 
‘‘(l) The Clerk of the House of Representatives and 
the Secretary of the Senate shall each make available any 
report filed with them under this title within 48 hours of 
the applicable submission deadline on the website of the 
Clerk or the Secretary, as applicable, in a searchable, sort-
able, downloadable format.’’. 
(d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
this section shall apply to reports filed for calendar years 
or calendar quarters beginning after the date of enactment 
of this Act. 
SEC. 102. GREATER DISCLOSURE OF TRAVEL REPORTS. 
(a) FOREIGN TRAVEL.—Clause 8(b)(3) of rule X of 
the Rules of the House of Representatives is amended by 
adding at the end the following new sentence: ‘‘Within 48 
hours after any such report is filed with the chair of a 
committee, the chair shall post the report on the Internet 
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site of the committee in a searchable, sortable, 
downloadable format.’’. 
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 
subsection (a) shall apply to travel commencing after the 
date of enactment of this Act. 
SEC. 103. GREATER DISCLOSURE OF GIFT REPORTS. 
(a) REQUIRING CLERK OF THE HOUSE TO POST RE-
PORTS
ON INTERNET NOT LATER THAN 48 HOURS 
AFTER RECEIPT.—(1) Clause 5(b)(5) of rule XXV of the 
Rules of the House of Representatives is amended— 
(A) by striking ‘‘shall make available’’ and 
inserting ‘‘shall post on the public Internet site 
of the Clerk and otherwise make available’’; and 
(B) by striking ‘‘as possible’’ and inserting 
the following: ‘‘as possible, but in no event later 
than 48 hours,’’. 
(2) Comparable language to be added by the Senate. 
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 
subsection (a) shall apply with respect to reports filed on 
or after the date of the adoption of this resolution. 
SEC. 104. GREATER DISCLOSURE OF EARMARKS. 
(a) ELECTRONIC DISCLOSURE BY MEMBERS.—(1) 
Rule XXIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives 
is amended by redesignating clause 18 as clause 19 and 
by inserting after clause 17 the following: 
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‘‘18. A Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner 
who requests a congressional earmark, a limited tax ben-
efit, or a limited tariff benefit shall, within 24 hours after 
making such request— 
‘‘(1) post on his or her public website for the 
remainder of the Congress the following— 
‘‘(A) the name and address of the intended 
recipient; 
‘‘(B) whether the intended recipient is a 
for-profit or not-for-profit entity; 
‘‘(C) the requested amount (only in the 
case of congressional earmarks); and 
‘‘(D) an explanation of the request, includ-
ing the purpose, and why it is a valuable use 
of taxpayer funds; 
‘‘(2) electronically submit to the committee of 
subject-matter jurisdiction the webpage address 
where such information is posted; 
‘‘(3) identify each request as having been sub-
mitted to the committee of subject-matter jurisdic-
tion; and 
‘‘(4) display on the homepage of such website a 
hypertext link that contains the words ‘Earmarks’, 
‘Appropriations Requests’, ‘Limited Tax Benefits’, 
or ‘Limited Tariff Benefits’ and that directs to such 
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webpage address, and maintain that link for at least 
30 calendar days after the last such request is made 
during the Congress.’’. 
(2) The last sentence of clause 16 of rule XXIII of 
the Rules of the House of Representatives is amended by 
striking ‘‘and clause 17’’ and inserting ‘‘, clause 17, and 
clause 18’’. 
(b) ELECTRONIC DISCLOSURE BY COMMITTEES.— 
Rule XI of the Rules of the House of Representatives is 
amended by adding at the end the following new clause: 
‘‘ Earmark disclosure websites 
‘‘(s)(1) Any committee that accepts any request of 
a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner for a con-
gressional earmark, a limited tax benefit, or a limited tar-
iff benefit shall maintain a public website with an earmark 
disclosure webpage that contains the following for each 
such request— 
‘‘(A) the bill name; 
‘‘(B) the name, State, and district of that indi-
vidual; 
‘‘(C) the name and address of the intended re-
cipient; 
‘‘(D) whether the intended recipient is a for- 
profit or not-for-profit entity; 
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‘‘(E) the requested amount (only in the case of 
congressional earmarks); 
‘‘(F) a brief description; and 
‘‘(G) the applicable department or agency of the 
Government, and the account or program (if pro-
vided to the committee in the request); 
and is in a downloadable format that is searchable and 
sortable by such characteristics. 
‘‘(2) Any written statement received by a committee 
under clause 17(a) of rule XXIII shall be posted on the 
earmark disclosure webpage of the committee. 
‘‘(3) The earmark disclosure webpage of a committee 
shall list the names of any Member, Delegate, and Resi-
dent Commissioner who requests a congressional earmark, 
a limited tax benefit, or a limited tariff benefit and link 
directly to their webpage addresses referred to in clause 
18(2) of rule XXIII. 
‘‘(4) The earmark disclosure webpage of a committee 
shall post the information required under subparagraphs 
(1) through (3) within one week of receipt, and shall main-
tain that information on that webpage for the remainder 
of the Congress. 
‘‘(5) For purposes of this paragraph, the terms ‘con-
gressional earmark’, ‘limited tax benefit’, and ‘limited tar-
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iff benefit’ shall have the meaning given them in clause 
9 of rule XXI.’’. 
(c) POINT OF ORDER.—Clause 9 of rule XXI of the 
Rules of the House of Representatives is amended by re-
designating paragraphs (e), (f), and (g) as paragraphs (f), 
(g), and (h), respectively, and by inserting after paragraph 
(d) the following: 
‘‘(e) It shall not be in order to consider any bill or 
joint resolution, or an amendment thereto or conference 
report thereon, that carries a congressional earmark, lim-
ited tax benefit, or limited tariff benefit for which a Mem-
ber, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner failed to comply 
with any applicable requirement of clause 18 of rule 
XXIII.’’. 
(d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
this section shall apply to requests for congressional ear-
marks, limited tax benefits, and limited tariff benefits 
made after the date this resolution is agreed to. 
(e) CENTRALIZED DATABASE FOR EARMARKS, LIM-
ITED TAX BENEFITS, AND LIMITED TARIFF BENEFITS.— 
(1) The Clerk of the House of Representatives, the Sec-
retary of the Senate, and the chairs of the Committee on 
Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the 
Senate and of the Committee on Transportation and In-
frastructure of the House of Representatives and the Com-
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mittee on Environment and Public Works of the Senate 
shall collaborate to create one centralized database where 
all requests for earmark, limited tax benefits, and limited 
tariff benefits are available on the Internet in a search-
able, sortable, downloadable format to the public. The 
data available to the public for each earmark should in-
clude— 
(A) an identification of the bill into which the 
earmark is to be inserted; 
(B) the name, State, and district of the Mem-
ber of Congress requesting the earmark; 
(C) the name and address of the intended re-
cipient; 
(D) whether the intended recipient is a for-prof-
it or not-for-profit entity; 
(E) the requested amount (only in the case of 
congressional earmarks); 
(F) a brief description of the earmark; and 
(G) the applicable department or agency of the 
Government, and the account or program (if pro-
vided to the committee in the request). 
(2) The centralized database for earmarks referred 
to in paragraph (1) shall be implemented within six 
months after the date of enactment of this Act. 
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TITLE II—ENHANCING PUBLIC 
ACCESS TO THE WORK OF 
CONGRESSIONAL 
COMMIT-
TEES, 
LEGISLATION, 
AND 
VOTES 
SEC. 
201. 
INCREASE 
TRANSPARENCY 
OF 
COMMITTEE 
VOTES. 
Clause 2(e)(1)(B)(i) of rule XI of the Rules of the 
House of Representatives is amended— 
(1) in the first sentence, by inserting ‘‘and 
within 24 hours of such record vote on its Web site 
on the Internet’’ before the period at the end there-
of; and 
(2) in the second sentence, by inserting ‘‘and 
information so available on its Web site’’ before 
‘‘shall’’. 
SEC. 
202. 
INCREASE 
TRANSPARENCY 
OF 
COMMITTEE 
WORK. 
(a) IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.—Clause 
1 of rule XI of the Rules of the House of Representatives 
is amended by adding at the end the following new para-
graph: 
‘‘(e)(1) Each committee shall post on its Internet 
website the public hearings and markup schedules of the 
committee and each of its subcommittees at the same time 
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that information is made available to members of the com-
mittee. 
‘‘(2) For each hearing and markup for which infor-
mation is posted under subparagraph (1), the committee 
shall post on its Internet website as soon as practicable 
the following: the topic, related legislation, testimony of 
witnesses, opening statements of the chair and ranking 
minority member, transcripts, and audio and video record-
ings. 
‘‘(3) Within 24 hours after a committee or sub-
committee orders any bill or resolution to be reported, the 
committee or subcommittee, as applicable, shall post on 
its Internet website all amendments that were agreed to, 
except for technical and conforming changes authorized by 
the committee or subcommittee.’’. 
(b) IN THE SENATE.—Comparable language to be 
added by the Senate. 
SEC. 
203. 
INCREASE 
TRANSPARENCY 
OF 
COMMITTEE 
SCHEDULES THROUGH THE CLERK. 
Clause 2 of rule II of the Rules of the House of Rep-
resentatives is amended by adding at the end the following 
new paragraph: 
‘‘(l) The Clerk shall require the House to pro-
vide, in a structured data format, a complete list of 
all public hearing and markup schedules of commit-
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tees and subcommittees as soon as publically avail-
able, including links to committee websites.’’. 
SEC. 204. REQUIRE ALL LEGISLATION BE PUBLICLY AVAIL-
ABLE 72 HOURS BEFORE CONSIDERATION. 
(a) AVAILABILITY OF LEGISLATION.—(1) Clause 4 of 
rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives 
is amended— 
(A) in its side heading, by inserting ‘‘legislation 
and’’ before ‘‘reports’’; 
(B) in paragraph (a) by striking subparagraph 
(1) and inserting the following new subparagraph: 
‘‘(1) Except as specified in subparagraph (2), it shall 
not be in order to consider in the House a measure or 
matter until 72 hours (excluding Saturdays, Sundays and 
holidays except when the House is in session on such a 
day) after the text of such measure or matter (and, if the 
measure or matter is reported, the text of all accom-
panying reports) have been made available to Members, 
Delegates, the Resident Commissioner, and the general 
public pursuant to subparagraph (3).’’; 
(C) by adding at the end of paragraph (a) the 
following new subparagraph: 
‘‘(3) Without further amendment before floor consid-
eration, the full text of the measure or matter and each 
committee report thereon shall be posted continuously by 
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means of the Internet in such a manner that they are con-
veniently accessible using existing technology, anony-
mously and at no cost, in a format that is searchable by 
text.’’; and 
(D) in paragraph (c), by striking ‘‘the third cal-
endar day’’ and inserting ‘‘at least 72 hours’’ and by 
striking ‘‘on’’ and inserting ‘‘after’’. 
(2) Rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Rep-
resentatives is further amended— 
(A) in clause 5(b), by striking ‘‘and the 
Resident Commissioner’’ and inserting ‘‘the 
Resident Commissioner, and the general pub-
lic’’; and 
(B) in clause 6(c), by striking ‘‘or’’ at the 
end of subparagraph (1), by striking the period 
at the end of subparagraph (2) and inserting ‘‘; 
or’’, and by inserting before the period ‘‘a rule 
or order proposing a waiver of clause 4(a) of 
rule XIII or of clause 8(a) or 8(b) of rule XXII, 
unless a question of consideration of the rule is 
adopted by a vote of two-thirds of the Members 
voting, a quorum being present’’. 
(b) AVAILABILITY
OF CONFERENCE REPORTS.— 
Clause 8 of rule XXII of the Rules of the House of Rep-
resentatives is amended— 
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(1) by striking subparagraph (a) and inserting 
the following new paragraph: 
‘‘(a)(1) It shall not be in order to consider a con-
ference report until 72 hours (excluding Saturdays, Sun-
days and holidays except when the House is in session on 
such a day) after the conference report and the accom-
panying joint explanatory statement have been available 
to Members, Delegates, the Resident Commissioner, and 
the general public pursuant to subparagraph (2). 
‘‘(2) Without further amendment before floor consid-
eration, the full texts of the conference report and the ac-
companying signed joint explanatory statement shall be 
posted continuously by means of the Internet in such a 
manner that they are conveniently accessible using exist-
ing technology, anonymously and at no cost, in a format 
that can be searched by text.’’; 
(2) in paragraph (b), by striking subparagraphs 
(1) and (2) and inserting the following new subpara-
graphs: 
‘‘(1) It shall not be in order to consider a mo-
tion to dispose of a Senate amendment reported in 
disagreement by a conference committee until at 
least 72 hours (excluding Saturdays, Sundays and 
holidays except when the House is in session on such 
a day) after the report in disagreement and any ac-
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companying statement have been available to Mem-
bers, Delegates, the Resident Commissioner, and the 
general public pursuant to subparagraph (2). 
‘‘(2) Without further amendment before floor 
consideration, the full texts of a Senate amendment 
reported in disagreement and any accompanying 
statement shall be posted continuously by means of 
the Internet in such a manner that they are conven-
iently accessible using existing technology, anony-
mously and at no cost, in a format that can be 
searched by text.’’. 
(c) PROTECTION OF CLASSIFIED INFORMATION.— 
Nothing in this section or any amendment made by it shall 
be interpreted to require or permit the declassification or 
posting on the Internet of classified information in the 
custody of the House of Representatives. Such classified 
information shall be made available to Members in a time-
ly manner as appropriate under existing laws and rules. 
(d) IN THE SENATE.—Comparable language to be 
added by the Senate. 
SEC. 205. INCREASED TRANSPARENCY OF RECORDED 
VOTES. 
(a) ADDITIONAL DUTIES OF THE CLERK OF THE 
HOUSE AND THE SECRETARY OF THE SENATE.—The 
Clerk of the House of Representative and the Secretary 
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of the Senate shall post on the public Internet site of the 
Office of the Clerk or of the Secretary, respectively, a 
record, organized by the name of each Member or Senator, 
in a structured data format, of the recorded votes of that 
Member or Senator, including the roll, date, issue, ques-
tion, result, and title or description of the vote, and any 
cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office related 
to the vote. 
(b) WEB LINK.—Each Member shall provide a link 
to the Clerk of the House of Representatives of a list of 
recorded votes from that Member’s web site, and each 
Senator shall provide a link to the Secretary of the Senate 
of a list of recorded votes from that Senator’s web site. 
(c) DEFINITION.—As used in this section, the term 
‘‘Member’’ means a Representative in Congress, a delegate 
to Congress, or the Resident Commissioner from Puerto 
Rico. 
(d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall apply to 
recorded votes occurring after the date of enactment of 
this Act. 
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TITLE III—ENHANCING PUBLIC 
ACCESS TO CONGRESSIONAL 
RESEARCH SERVICE 
SEC. 301. ENHANCE ACCESS TO CRS. 
(a) AVAILABILITY OF CRS INFORMATION ON THE 
INTERNET.—Except as provided by subsection (b) and (c), 
the Clerk of the House of Representatives, in consultation 
with the Director of Congressional Research Service (here-
after in this section referred to as ‘‘CRS’’), shall make 
publically available on the Internet the following CRS in-
formation: 
(1) CRS Issue Briefs; 
(2) CRS Reports that are available to Members 
of Congress through the CRS website; and 
(3) CRS Authorization of Appropriations and 
Appropriations Products. 
(b) EXEMPTION
FOR
CONFIDENTIAL
INFORMA-
TION.—Information deemed confidential by the Director 
of CRS or the head of the Federal department or agency 
that provided that information to CRS and any document 
that is a confidential research request made by an indi-
vidual, office, or committee shall be exempt from disclo-
sure under subsection (a). 
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(c) ADDITIONAL EXEMPTIONS.—The Clerk of the 
House of Representatives, in consultation with the Direc-
tor of CRS, shall— 
(1) remove the personal information of CRS 
employees, including names and phone numbers; 
(2) remove material that may infringe the copy-
right of a work protected under title 17, United 
States Code; and 
(3) make any changes to information that s/he 
deems necessary to ensure its accuracy and cur-
rency. 
(d) CONFORMING PROVISION.—Nothing in this sec-
tion shall be construed to require the Director of CRS to 
respond to any inquiry made by a member of the public 
respecting the information covered by this section. 
(e) ACCESS TO CRS WEBSITE.—Members and stand-
ing committees of the House of Representatives shall pro-
vide a link to the CRS database on their websites. 
(f) ESTABLISHING, MAINTAINING, AND UPDATING 
THE DATABASE.—Within 6 months after the date of en-
actment of this Act, the Clerk of the House of Representa-
tives shall establish the database necessary to carry out 
this section. The Clerk shall be responsible for maintain-
ing and updating the information on that database. 
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TITLE IV—LOBBYING 
DISCLOSURE 
SEC. 401. GAO STUDY OF LOBBYIST REGISTRATION AND 
DISCLOSURE. 
(a) STUDY.—The Comptroller General shall, begin-
ning not later than 90 days after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, conduct a study to examine the following: 
(1) Whether and to what extent persons exert-
ing substantial influence on the legislative process 
and executive branch decisionmaking are avoiding 
the registration and reporting requirements under 
the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995. 
(2) Whether all individuals who fall within the 
definition of ‘‘lobbyist’’ under the Lobbying Disclo-
sure Act of 1995 (or the organizations employing 
such individuals) are registering as required under 
section 4 of that Act and filing reports under section 
5 of that Act, and whether such definition should be 
amended to avoid evasion of such registration and 
reporting requirements. 
(b) REPORT.—Not later than one year after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall 
submit to Congress a report on the findings of the study 
conducted under subsection (a), and shall include any rec-
ommendations the Comptroller General has to ensure that 
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all persons exerting substantial influence on the legislative 
process and executive branch decisionmaking and all indi-
viduals qualifying as lobbyists (or the organizations em-
ploying such individuals) are complying with the registra-
tion and reporting requirements of the Lobbying Disclo-
sure Act of 1995. 
SEC. 402. EXPEDITED ONLINE REGISTRATION OF LOBBY-
ISTS; EXPANSION OF REGISTRANTS. 
Section 4(a) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 
(2 U.S.C. 1603(a)) is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (1)— 
(A) by striking ‘‘45 days’’ and inserting 
‘‘72 hours’’; 
(B) by striking ‘‘, or on the first business 
day after such 45th day if such 45th day is not 
a business day,’’ and inserting ‘‘, or on the first 
business day occurring after such 72nd hour if 
such 72nd hour does not occur on a business 
day,’’; and 
(C) by inserting ‘‘online’’ after ‘‘shall reg-
ister’’; and 
(2) 
in 
paragraph 
(3)(A)(ii), 
by 
striking 
‘‘$10,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$5,000’’. 
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SEC. 403. DISCLOSURE OF ADDITIONAL INFORMATION BY 
LOBBYISTS. 
Section 5(b)(2)(A) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 
1995 (2 U.S.C. 1604(b)(2)(A)) is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘(A)’’ and inserting ‘‘(A)(i)’’; 
(2) by adding ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(ii) for each issue listed under clause (i), 
a list identifying— 
‘‘(I) each covered executive branch of-
ficial with whom the lobbyist engaged in 
lobbying activities; and 
‘‘(II) each covered legislative branch 
official with whom the lobbyist engaged in 
lobbying activities and— 
‘‘(aa) if the official is an em-
ployee of a Member of Congress, the 
name of that Member of Congress; or 
‘‘(bb) if the official is an em-
ployee described in clause (ii), (iii), 
(iv), or (v) of section 3(4), the name 
of the Member or Members of Con-
gress who hired the official or for 
whom the official performs duties as 
such official;’’. 
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SEC. 404. DISCLOSURE OF POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS. 
Section 5(d) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 
(2 U.S.C. 1604(d)) is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (1)— 
(A) in the matter preceding subparagraph 
(A), by striking ‘‘30 days after’’ and all that 
follows through ‘‘30th day is not’’ and inserting 
‘‘20 days after the end of the quarterly period 
beginning on the first day of January, April, 
July, and October of each year, or on the first 
business day after such 20th day if such 20th 
day is not’’; 
(B) by striking ‘‘semiannual period’’ each 
place it appears and inserting ‘‘quarterly pe-
riod’’; 
(C) by redesignating subparagraphs (F) 
and (G) as subparagraphs (G) and (H), respec-
tively; and 
(D) by inserting after subparagraph (E) 
the following: 
‘‘(F) the date, recipient, and amount of 
bundled contributions made within the quar-
terly period;’’; and 
(2) by amending paragraph (2) to read as fol-
lows: 
‘‘(2) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 
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‘‘(A) LEADERSHIP PAC.—The term ‘leader-
ship PAC’ has the meaning given that term in 
section 304(I)(8)(B) of the Federal Election 
Campaign Act of 1971. 
‘‘(B) 
BUNDLED
CONTRIBUTION.—The 
term ‘bundled contribution’ means a bundled 
contribution 
as 
defined 
in 
section 
304(I)(8)(A)(i) of the Federal Election Cam-
paign Act of 1971.’’. 
SEC. 405. EFFECTIVE DATE. 
(a) SECTION 401.—Section 401 takes effect on the 
date of the enactment of this Act. 
(b) AMENDMENTS.—The amendments made by sec-
tions 402, 403, and 404 take effect on the first day of 
the first quarterly period described in section 5(a) of the 
Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1604(a)) that 
begins after the end of the 90-day period beginning on 
the date of the enactment of this Act. 
TITLE V—TRANSPARENCY IN 
FEDERAL CONTRACTING 
SEC. 501. IMPROVING APPLICATION PROGRAMMING INTER-
FACE AND WEB SITE DATA ELEMENTS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 2 of the Federal Funding 
Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (Public Law 
109–282; 31 U.S.C. 6101 note) (referred to in this Act 
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as the ‘‘Act’’ for purposes of any amendment) is amend-
ed— 
(1) in subsection (a)— 
(A) in paragraph (2)(A)(ii), by striking 
‘‘and delivery orders’’ and inserting ‘‘lease 
agreements and assignments, and delivery or-
ders’’; and 
(B) in paragraph (3)— 
(i) in subparagraph (C), by striking 
‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; 
(ii) in subparagraph (D), by striking 
the period and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 
(iii) by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(E) programmatically search and access 
all data in a serialized machine readable format 
(such as XML) via a web-services application 
programming interface.’’; and 
(2) in subsection (b)(1)— 
(A) in subparagraph (F), by striking the 
period at the end and inserting a semicolon; 
(B) by redesignating subparagraph (G) as 
subparagraph (J); and 
(C) by inserting after subparagraph (F) 
the following: 
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‘‘(G) to the extent possible, the agency and 
department as well as subagencies and sub-
offices that have authorized the Federal award; 
‘‘(H) after January 1, 2012, for all con-
tracts, subcontracts, purchase orders, task or-
ders, lease agreements and assignments, and 
delivery orders— 
‘‘(i) information about the extent of 
competition in making the award, includ-
ing the number of bids or proposals deter-
mined to be responsive and responsible 
during the competitive process, and if the 
award was not competed, the legal author-
ity and specific rationale for making the 
award without full and open competition; 
‘‘(ii) the full amount of money that is 
awarded under a contract or, in the case of 
lease agreements or assignments, the 
amount paid to the Government, and the 
full amount of any options to expand or 
extend under a contract; 
‘‘(iii) the amount and nature of the 
profit incentive, such as award fees, of-
fered to contractors for achieving or ex-
ceeding specified goals such as fixed price, 
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cost plus pricing, labor hour contracts, and 
time and materials contracts; 
‘‘(iv) an indication if the contract is 
the result of legislative mandates, set- 
asides, preference program requirements, 
or other criteria, and whether the contract 
is multiyear, consolidated, or performance 
based; and 
‘‘(v) an indication if the contract is a 
congressionally directed spending item as 
defined in Public Law 110–81; 
‘‘(I) after January 1, 2011, for all grants, 
subgrants, loans, awards, cooperative agree-
ments, and other forms of financial assistance, 
an indication if the funding is a congressionally 
directed spending item as defined in Public Law 
110–81; and’’. 
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Except as otherwise pro-
vided, amendments made by subsection (a) shall be imple-
mented not later than 6 months after the date of enact-
ment of this Act. 
SEC. 502. IMPROVING DATA QUALITY. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Act is amended by adding at 
the end the following: 
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‘‘SEC. 5. IMPROVING DATA QUALITY. 
‘‘The Director of the Office of Management and 
Budget shall ensure the following: 
‘‘(1) A simple method for the public to report 
errors is available on the website created by this Act 
which should— 
‘‘(A) allow the public to report errors on 
single records as well as problems affecting 
multiple records; 
‘‘(B) require the public to provide contact 
information, including e-mail address, mail ad-
dress, or telephone number, to be used for in-
forming the reporter of the outcome of the 
records review; 
‘‘(C) send copies of the error report to 
both an official responsible for the data quality 
at the agency that generated the data and to 
the Office of Management and Budget; and 
‘‘(D) maintain a public record organized by 
agency of the total number of records which 
have had nonfrivolous reports of errors, the 
number of records which have been corrected, 
and number of records for which error reports 
remain unresolved. 
‘‘(2) The data used on the website created by 
this Act is audited for quality annually by an exter-
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nal auditor, in compliance with generally accepted 
Government auditing standards, with the audit to 
include at least the following steps: 
‘‘(A) Review and report publicly on the ac-
tivity in the error reporting system created by 
this section with an analysis for each agency 
and combined for agencies that includes at least 
the following indicators: 
‘‘(i) Number of errors reported. 
‘‘(ii) Number of reported errors re-
solved. 
‘‘(iii) Number of reported errors that 
remain unresolved. 
‘‘(iv) Number of reported errors that 
led to corrections. 
‘‘(v) Number of reported errors on 
records that proved to be correct. 
‘‘(vi) Average number of days to re-
solve error report. 
‘‘(vii) Longest number of days to re-
solve an error report. 
‘‘(viii) Longest held reported error 
that remains unresolved. 
‘‘(B) An independent review annually of 
data used for the website to verify accuracy of 
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the data and assess the process used for im-
proving data quality with an ability for the pub-
lic to review these findings. 
‘‘(C) Identify and report new standards 
that should be implemented by agencies to im-
prove data quality. 
‘‘(3) Each agency inspector general— 
‘‘(A) reviews a statistically representative 
sample of agency Federal awards every 6 
months for the first three years following enact-
ment of this section, and annually thereafter, to 
determine whether agencies have appropriate 
measures in place to review Federal Funding 
Accountability and Transparency data submis-
sions for accuracy and completeness; 
‘‘(B) reports to the Director of the Office 
of Management and Budget and the head of the 
agency the findings of the review, including rec-
ommendations for corrective action; and 
‘‘(C) makes publicly available, including 
through the website created by this Act, the 
findings of the review.’’. 
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Except as otherwise pro-
vided, the amendments made by subsection (a) shall be 
implemented not later than June 30, 2011. 
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SEC. 503. RECIPIENT PERFORMANCE TRANSPARENCY. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Act as amended by section 
502 is amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘SEC. 6. RECIPIENT PERFORMANCE TRANSPARENCY AND 
PAST PERFORMANCE. 
‘‘The Director of the Office of Management and 
Budget shall ensure that the unique identifier required in 
section 2(b)(1)(E) that is used to link information about 
the entity receiving the award on the website described 
in section 2 is also used to link information about that 
entity on the Federal Awardee Performance Integrity In-
formation System.’’. 
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 
subsection (a) shall be implemented not later than June 
30, 2011. 
SEC. 504. IMPROVEMENT OF FEDERAL AWARDEE PER-
FORMANCE AND INTEGRITY INFORMATION 
SYSTEM DATABASE. 
(a) REQUIREMENT TO MAKE DATABASE AVAILABLE 
TO PUBLIC.—Section 872 of the Duncan Hunter National 
Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009 (Public 
Law 110–417; 122 Stat. 4555) is amended in subsection 
(e) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(3) PUBLIC
AVAILABILITY.—The database 
shall be made available to the public on the Internet 
in a searchable, sortable, downloadable format.’’. 
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(b) REQUIREMENT TO INCLUDE IN DATABASE 10 
YEARS OF INFORMATION ON CERTAIN PERSONS AWARD-
ED FEDERAL CONTRACTS OR GRANTS.—Section 872 of 
such Act is amended in subsection (c) by striking ‘‘5-year’’ 
and inserting ‘‘10-year’’. 
(c) REQUIREMENT TO INCLUDE INFORMATION IN 
DATABASE REGARDING CERTAIN JUDGMENTS AND SET-
TLEMENTS.—Section 872 of such Act is further amended 
in subsection (c)(1) by adding at the end the following 
new subparagraphs: 
‘‘(E) In an administrative proceeding, any 
administrative judgment that does not contain 
an explicit finding or acknowledgment of fault. 
‘‘(F) In a civil proceeding, any settlement 
that does not contain an explicit finding or ac-
knowledgment of fault.’’. 
SEC. 505. REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO REPORTING OF 
AWARD DATA. 
(a) SUBAWARD DATA COLLECTION AND REPORT-
ING.—The Director of the Office and Management and 
Budget shall develop and implement a specific plan for 
the collection and reporting of subaward data on Federal 
contracts, including a time frame for including subaward 
data on USAspending.gov. 
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(b) PROCESS TO ENSURE AGENCY COMPLIANCE 
WITH REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.—The Director of the 
Office of Management and Budget shall develop and im-
plement a process to regularly ensure that all Federal 
agencies 
report 
required 
award 
information 
to 
USAspending.gov. 
(c) REVISION OF GUIDANCE.—The Director of the 
Office of Management and Budget shall revise the Office’s 
guidance to Federal agencies on reporting Federal awards 
to clarify— 
(1) the requirement that award titles describe 
the award’s purpose; and 
(2) requirements for validating and docu-
menting agency award data submitted by Federal 
agencies. 
(d) INCLUSION OF CITY INFORMATION.—The Direc-
tor of the Office of Management and Budget shall include 
information on the city where work is performed in the 
Office’s public reporting of the completeness of agency 
data submissions. 
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TITLE VI—EXECUTIVE BRANCH 
TRANSPARENCY 
SEC. 601. REQUIREMENT FOR DISCLOSURE OF FEDERAL 
SPONSORSHIP 
OF 
ALL 
FEDERAL 
ADVER-
TISING OR OTHER COMMUNICATIONS. 
(a) REQUIREMENT.—Every advertisement or other 
communication paid for by an Executive agency, either di-
rectly or through a contract awarded by the Executive 
agency, shall include a prominent notice informing the tar-
get audience that the advertisement or other communica-
tion is paid for by that Executive agency. 
(b) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘adver-
tisement or other communication’’ includes— 
(1) an advertisement disseminated in any form, 
including print or by any electronic means; and 
(2) a communication by an individual in any 
form, including speech, print or by any electronic 
means. 
TITLE VII—STRENGTHENING 
FOIA 
SEC. 701. DIGITAL ACCESS TO COMPLETED RESPONSES TO 
THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT. 
(a) REQUIREMENT.—(1) Each agency shall make 
available all materials contained in the agency’s completed 
response to a request under section 552 of title 5, United 
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