U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) last week unveiled legislation aimed at increasing transparency surrounding any U.S. government grant and contract paid to organizations in China and Russia.
The introduction of Sen. Ernst’s bill, the Tracking Receipts to Adversarial Countries for Knowledge of Spending (TRACKS) Act, S. 1775, follows a new analysis that she released with the nonprofit Open the Books that found more than $1.3 billion U.S. tax dollars were sent to China and Russia since 2017 in the form of grants and contracts.
“It is gravely concerning that no one in Washington can actually account for millions sent to Russia and China for pointless projects,” Sen. Ernst said on June 1. “I’m shining a light on this reckless spending, so bureaucrats can no longer cover up their tracks, and taxpayers can know exactly what their hard-earned dollars are funding.”
Sen. Ernst’s office noted that federal agencies do not follow the trail of tax dollars to their final destination, which means the actual amount of U.S. grants and awards to Chinese and Russian entities could be higher than $1.3 billion.
The list of projects funded by U.S. dollars in Russia and China includes $51.6 million from the Department of Defense (DOD), including $6 million for tech support of the military “deployment and distribution command” software, even though the DOD Inspector General has issued warnings about using Chinese IT companies on DOD projects. The list also includes $4.7 million that was sent to a Russian company for health insurance that was sanctioned by the United States in 2022 and $2.4 million on Russian alcohol and addiction research.
The new legislation would amend the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 to require recipients of federal awards to collect and report data granted to entities outside of the United States.
The bill is being considered by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
“Washington’s continued spending is so out of hand, it is losing track of Americans’ hard-earned taxpayer dollars, but I am creating accountability for every penny,” Sen. Ernst added.