A murky nonprofit is pouring a million dollars into the New Hampshire airwaves, attacking Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan's fiscal record.
Continue readingOpenGov Voices: Bringing transparency to earmarks buried in the budget
Researchers at the University of Chicago spent the summer training computers to extract all the earmarks from the hundreds of pages of mind-numbing legalese found in each budget.
Continue readingA troubling anti-transparency provision has appeared in the omnibus budget bill
Tucked away within the more than 1,500 pages of the omnibus budget bill is a small paragraph with potentially big effects for transparency efforts.
Continue readingShining a Light on Black Budgets
Last week, the Washington Post reported that new documents leaked by Edward Snowden reveal the budgets of the sixteen United States intelligence agencies. The budgets, which had never previously been revealed to the American public, totaled $52.6 billion, including $14.7 billion for the Central Intelligence Agency, $10.8 billion the National Security Agency, and $10.3 billion for the National Reconnaissance Office.
This revelation shines a badly needed light on the way that our intelligence agencies spend money. We’ve written about the importance of spending transparency many times before. As we’ve argued, “access to government spending information is a fundamental pillar of an accountable government. It provides a basis for citizen participation, promotes government integrity, and encourages greater efficiency.”
Transparency Takes a Hit in CIA Budget Cuts
As part of recent sequestration cuts, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has closed its Historical Collections Division, which had been... View Article
Continue readingObama Pushes Senate E-Filing in Proposed Budget
President Obama’s 2014 budget includes a Sunlight priority that won’t erase the deficit, but will streamline the way that important... View Article
Continue readingPublish all agency reports online – Sen. Coburn intros amendment for vote-o-rama
Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) will introduce an amendment to create a publicly accessible online database containing all unclassified reports to Congress. It... View Article
Continue readingWill lobbyists complicate fiscal cliff deal-making?
As the wheeling and dealing around the “fiscal cliff” continues to envelop Washington, thousands of lobbyists representing more than a billion dollars are watching. After all, any grand bargain on spending and revenue is will go right at the heart of two of the most heavily-lobbied issues in Washington: budget and taxes In the 112th Congress, 2,049 organizations have so far spent $619 million to lobby on tax issues, and 4,576 organizations have so far spent $576 million to lobby on federal budget and appropriations issues (totals are through the second quarter of 2012). Another 1,843 organizations have spent $234 million to lobby on defense issues (under the sequester, half of the cuts are slated for defense). Add it up, and and you have at least $1.3 billion in lobbying devoted to these three issues in the 112th Congress.
Continue readingAn almost live look at today’s H. Leg Branch Approps hearing
Video Blackout of Hearing on Budgets for Legislative Support Agencies
This Tuesday, there will be hearing on budgets for the Library of Congress, the Government Printing Office, the Government Accountability... View Article
Continue reading
59063
