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 Com-
mittee 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 com-
mittee 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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Earmark Trans-
parency Act of 2010’’. 
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SEC. 2. UNIFIED AND SEARCHABLE DATABASE FOR CON-
GRESSIONALLY DIRECTED SPENDING ITEMS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Title III of the Congressional 
Budget Act of 1974 is amended by adding at the end the 
following new section: 
‘‘UNIFIED AND SEARCHABLE DATABASE FOR 
CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED SPENDING ITEMS 
‘‘SEC. 316. (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF DATABASE.— 
Within six months after the date of enactment of this sec-
tion, the Clerk of the House of Representatives and the 
Secretary of the Senate shall jointly establish a searchable 
website, available to the public at no cost, listing all re-
quests by Members of Congress for congressionally di-
rected spending items. 
‘‘(b) CONTENT.—The website established under sub-
section (a) shall be comprised of a database including the 
following information for each congressionally directed 
spending item requested by a Member of Congress: 
‘‘(1) The fiscal year in which the item would be 
funded. 
‘‘(2) The number of the bill or joint resolution 
for which the request is made, if available. 
‘‘(3) The amount of the initial request made by 
the Member of Congress. 
‘‘(4) The amount approved by the committee of 
jurisdiction. 
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‘‘(5) The amount carried in the bill or joint res-
olution (or accompanying report) as passed by the 
House, as passed by the Senate, and as transmitted 
to the President, as applicable. 
‘‘(6) The name of the department or agency, 
and the account or program, through which the item 
will be funded. 
‘‘(7) The name and the State or district of the 
Member of Congress who made the request. 
‘‘(8) The name and address of the intended re-
cipient. 
‘‘(9) The type of organization (public, private 
nonprofit, or private for profit entity) of the in-
tended recipient. 
‘‘(10) The project name, description, and esti-
mated completion date. 
‘‘(11) A justification of the benefit to taxpayers. 
‘‘(12) Whether the request is for a continuing 
project and if so, when funds were first appropriated 
for such project. 
‘‘(13) A description, if applicable, of all non- 
Federal sources of funding. 
‘‘(14) Its current status in the legislative proc-
ess, including whether it was carried in any bill or 
joint resolution (or accompanying report) passed by 
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either House, added in a committee of conference 
between the Houses (or joint explanatory statement 
of managers) or in an amendment between the 
Houses, or included in a bill or joint resolution en-
acted into law, including any changes in the final 
dollar amount. 
‘‘(c) ACCESSIBILITY OF DATA.—The website estab-
lished under subsection (a) shall allow the public to— 
‘‘(1) search, sort, and download all information 
in the database in a machine-readable format; 
‘‘(2) ascertain through a single search, by indi-
vidual Member of Congress, the total number and 
dollar value of congressionally directed spending 
items requested by that Member and the total num-
ber and dollar value of such items contained in bills 
or joint resolutions as passed by either House or en-
acted into law by fiscal year; 
‘‘(3) search and aggregate data based on any 
category set forth in subsection (b); and 
‘‘(4) access the website from the home page of 
the website of the Clerk of the House of Representa-
tives and of the Secretary of the Senate. 
‘‘(d) TIMELINESS OF DATA.—(1) Within 5 calendar 
days of receipt of a request for a congressionally directed 
spending item from a Member of Congress, each com-
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