As Americans watch their lawmakers bicker andĀ pontificateĀ on how to fix the budget, we thought it would be helpful to gather some of the possible services that would slow or stall if the government shuts down.
Continue readingBudget Technopocalypse Deepens: Transparency Sites Will Go Dark In A Few Months
Federal News Radio has an interesting follow-up to my interview with them yesterday on the budget technopocalypse. I wrote last... View Article
Continue readingKey Dates in the Fiscal 2011 Budget Process
When it comes to open, transparent government, there are few things more important to many of our readers than shining some sunlight on the federal budget. Put simply, people want to know how our money is spent - especially since just about every dollar we make between January and May is "spent" on our taxes. And for all that "investment" in our government, it's one of the only things in our lives we don't get a receipt for.
Continue readingAppropriators Want to Hog Transportation Spending Documents
Call it the Opaqueness in Government Act. A provision slipped into H.R. 3074 of the Transportation/Housing and Urban Development Appropriations bill would bar the Department of Transportation from "using any funds from this Act to provide a congressional budget spending any delay public access to the budget justifications--which provide specific descriptions of and reasons to spend taxpayer money on specific projects--for several months after they're released. Members of the Appropriations Committee, by contrast, would get the documents right away. In other words, congressional appropriators are saying, "Now we see it, now you don't." Well, it's not as if average citizens across the country have much of an interest in finding out if adequate funds will be available to maintain the roads and bridges, airports and so on in their own districts... Some more background on the provision is available here.
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