Title: Congressional Budget Justification Transparency Act of 2019
Policy area: Economics and Public Finance

Summary:
Congressional Budget Justification Transparency Act of 2019
This bill requires federal agencies to make budget justification materials available to the public. The bill also requires the Office of Management and Budget to make certain details regarding the materials available to the public, including a list of the agencies that submit budget justification materials to Congress, the dates that the materials are submitted to Congress and posted online, and links to the materials.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2560 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2560

  To amend the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 
 2006, to require the budget justifications and appropriation requests 
                of agencies be made publicly available.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 26, 2019

Mr. Peters (for himself and Mr. Portman) introduced the following bill; 
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security 
                        and Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 
 2006, to require the budget justifications and appropriation requests 
                of agencies be made publicly available.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Congressional Budget Justification 
Transparency Act of 2019''.

SEC. 2. PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF BUDGET JUSTIFICATIONS AND APPROPRIATION 
              REQUESTS.

    (a) In General.--Section 3 of the Federal Funding Accountability 
and Transparency Act of 2006 (31 U.S.C. 6101 note) is amended to read 
as follows:

``SEC. 3. FULL DISCLOSURE OF FEDERAL FUNDS.

    ``(a) In General.--Not less frequently than monthly when 
practicable, and in any event not less frequently than quarterly, the 
Secretary (in consultation with the Director and, with respect to 
information described in subsection (b)(2), the head of the applicable 
Federal agency) shall ensure that updated information with respect to 
the information described in subsection (b) is posted on the website 
established under section 2.
    ``(b) Information To Be Posted.--
            ``(1) Funds.--For any funds made available to or expended 
        by a Federal agency or component of a Federal agency, the 
        information to be posted shall include--
                    ``(A) for each appropriations account, including an 
                expired or unexpired appropriations account, the 
                amount--
                            ``(i) of budget authority appropriated;
                            ``(ii) that is obligated;
                            ``(iii) of unobligated balances; and
                            ``(iv) of any other budgetary resources;
                    ``(B) from which accounts and in what amount--
                            ``(i) appropriations are obligated for each 
                        program activity; and
                            ``(ii) outlays are made for each program 
                        activity;
                    ``(C) from which accounts and in what amount--
                            ``(i) appropriations are obligated for each 
                        object class; and
                            ``(ii) outlays are made for each object 
                        class; and
                    ``(D) for each program activity, the amount--
                            ``(i) obligated for each object class; and
                            ``(ii) of outlays made for each object 
                        class.
            ``(2) Budget justifications.--
                    ``(A) Definitions.--In this paragraph--
                            ``(i) the term `agency' has the meaning 
                        given that term in section 101 of title 31, 
                        United States Code; and
                            ``(ii) the term `budget justification 
                        materials' means the annual budget 
                        justification materials of an agency that are 
                        submitted to Congress in support of the budget 
                        of the agency, in conjunction with the budget 
                        of the United States Government submitted under 
                        section 1105(a) of title 31, United States 
                        Code.
                    ``(B) Information.--The information to be posted 
                shall include the budget justification materials of 
                each agency--
                            ``(i) for the second fiscal year beginning 
                        after the date of enactment of this paragraph, 
                        and each fiscal year thereafter; and
                            ``(ii) to the extent practicable, that were 
                        released for any fiscal year before the date of 
                        enactment of this paragraph.
                    ``(C) Format.--Budget justification materials shall 
                be posted under subparagraph (B)--
                            ``(i) in an open format;
                            ``(ii) in a manner that enables users to 
                        download individual reports, download all 
                        reports in bulk, and download in bulk the 
                        results of a search, to the extent practicable; 
                        and
                            ``(iii) in a structured data format, to the 
                        extent practicable.
                    ``(D) Deadline.--The budget justification materials 
                required to be posted under subparagraph (B)(i) shall 
                be posted not later than 2 weeks after the date on 
                which the budget justification materials are first 
                submitted to Congress.
                    ``(E) Rule of construction.--Nothing in this 
                paragraph shall be construed to authorize an agency to 
                destroy any budget justification materials relating to 
                a fiscal year before the fiscal year described in 
                subparagraph (B)(i).''.
    (b) Information Regarding Agency Budget Justifications.--Section 
1105 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end 
the following:
    ``(i)(1) The Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall 
make publicly available on an internet website, and continuously 
update, a tabular list for each fiscal year of each agency that submits 
to Congress budget justification materials in support of the budget of 
the agency, which shall include--
            ``(A) the name of the agency;
            ``(B) a unique identifier that identifies the agency;
            ``(C) to the extent practicable, the date on which the 
        budget justification materials of the agency are first 
        submitted to Congress;
            ``(D) the date on which the budget justification materials 
        of the agency are posted online under section 3 of the Federal 
        Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (31 U.S.C. 
        6101 note);
            ``(E) the uniform resource locator where the budget 
        justification materials submitted to Congress are published on 
        the website of the agency; and
            ``(F) a single data set that contains the information 
        described in subparagraphs (A) through (E) with respect to the 
        agency for all fiscal years for which budget justifications of 
        the agency are made available under section 3 of the Federal 
        Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (31 U.S.C. 
        6101 note) in a structured data format.
    ``(2)(A) Each agency that submits to Congress budget justification 
materials in support of the budget of the agency shall make the 
materials available on the website of the agency.
    ``(B) The Director of Office of Management and Budget shall 
establish best practices for agencies relating to making available 
materials under subparagraph (A)(i), which shall include guidelines for 
using a uniform resource locator that is in a consistent format across 
agencies and is descriptive, memorable, and pronounceable, such as the 
format of `agencyname.gov/budget'.
    ``(C) If the Director of Office of Management and Budget maintains 
a public website that contains the budget of the United States 
Government submitted under subsection (a) and any related materials, 
such website shall also contain a link to the tabular list required 
under paragraph (1).
    ``(3) In this subsection, the term `budget justification materials' 
has the meaning given that term in section 3 of the Federal Funding 
Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (31 U.S.C. 6101 note).''.
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