Sunlight Foundation

Ensuring public access to accurate, timely, and complete data about the money spent by government is among the Sunlight Foundation’s highest priorities. Understanding where the money goes is one of the most effective ways to hold public officials accountable and good data is key to that.

The Sunlight Foundation has been advocating for more transparent federal spending information for years. Sunlight’s Clearspending project showed that the publicly reported data about government grants posted on USASpending.gov has significant issues with consistency, accuracy and completeness.

Since first conducting Clearspending, Sunlight has been advocating for necessary reforms to government spending transparency programs. Sunlight was among the earliest supporters of the DATA Act, recently passed legislation that aims to standardize federal spending reporting and publish more and more accurate data online.

• Sunlight's Position

  • DATA Act passes Senate, Presidents desk on the horizon

  • Testifying Before House Committee on Clearspending

  • Only Congressional Pressure Can Drive Real Federal Spending Transparency Reforms

  • DATA Act: From OGR to HSGAC, or how I learned to love the budget (and you can too)

• Projects

  • Clearspending.org – Keeping Tabs on USASpending.gov

  • The DATA Act and Beyond: An Event Exploring Government Spending Transparency

• Reporting

  • Senators Show Commitment to DATA Act Implementation…will OMB Follow Suit?

  • OMB's DATA Act Power Grab

  • DATA Act Signed Into Law (After C.O.B on Friday)

• Editorials

  • Roll Call: DATA Act is a Victory for Open Government

  • Daily Dot: How the DATA Act Passed — and Why You Should Care

• Articles

  • Vox: Beating the odds: Why one bill made it through a gridlocked Congress — and so many don't