Today, Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill., introduced the Transparency in Government Act (TGA), an omnibus transparency bill that addresses topics ranging from lobbying reform to federal spending transparency and everything in between. We applaud Quigley for his continued commitment to shining light on the work of Congress and the executive branch, as well as on the outside forces that influence government.

The Sunlight Foundation has been a strong supporter of Quigley’s efforts since he introduced the first version of the TGA in 2010. As we noted at the time, the original bill was inspired in part by model transparency legislation put together on PublicMarkup.org, a project of the Sunlight Foundation.

The 2014 version of the TGA includes a number of Sunlight Foundation priorities including, but not limited to, enhanced access to the work of congressional committees and Congressional Research Service reports, improvements to the current lobbying disclosure regime as well as increased transparency in federal contracting, grants and loans.

This morning, Quigley spoke eloquently on the floor of the House about transparency’s ability to inspire trust in government. If passed, the Transparency in Government Act would go a long way towards this goal.