Portman applauds House passage of bipartisan budget justification bill

U.S. Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) on Sept. 16 praised passage in the U.S. House of Representatives of its version of his bipartisan bill that would improve government spending transparency by requiring federal agencies to make budget justification materials available to the public.

“I applaud the House for passing this important piece of legislation and urge the Senate to bring this legislation up for a vote soon,” Sen. Portman said. 

The House on Sept. 14 voted 402-1 to advance the Congressional Budget Justification Transparency Act of 2020, H.R. 4894, which the U.S. Senate received on Sept. 15 and placed on its legislative calendar for action. The House version was introduced in October 2019 by U.S. Reps. Doug Collins (R-GA) and Mike Quigley (D-IL), while Sen. Portman and U.S. Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) in September 2019 introduced the original, same-named related bill, S. 2560, in their chamber. 

If enacted, the legislation would improve government transparency by requiring federal agencies to publish easily understandable justifications for their budget requests on a single, central website each year, according to a bill summary provided by Sen. Portman’s office. Congressional budget justifications are plain-language explanations of how agencies propose to spend money that they request from appropriators in Congress.

“Americans have the right to know how the federal government is spending their hard-earned tax dollars,” said Portman. “This bipartisan legislation will help shine a light on government spending practices so that taxpayers can quickly and easily see how their money is being spent.”

Specifically, the measure would amend the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 and would require the Office of Management and Budget to keep an updated list of agencies that are expected to submit budget justifications, the date of submission to Congress, the date the justification is posted online, and a link to the materials online, according to Sen. Portman’s bill summary.