PRESS RELEASE --For Immediate Release-- Contact: Anna Oman, 202/234-8494, aoman@ombwatch.org OMB Watch Testifies in Support of Senate's Federal Spending Transparency Effort WASHINGTON, July 18 - Gary Bass, executive director of OMB Watch, testified today before the financial and information management subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Bass was among a group of witnesses with vastly different views on government that testified in support of a new bill that would shed light on government spending. The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (S. 2590), co-sponsored by Sens. Coburn (R-OK), Obama (D-IL), Carper (D-DE), and McCain (R-AZ), would create a searchable, easy-to-use database of government contracts and grants that would be free to the public. "OMB Watch strongly supports S. 2590," Bass testified, "because of the principles of transparency and accountability that it brings to bear on federal fiscal matters and because of the step forward in usable federal grant and contract data the legislation would clearly produce." The Coburn-Obama bill is needed, according to Bass, because "[t]he current government systems to provide access to this information simply don't work." The bill would combine information currently found in three disparate sources, and add quality control, more stringent gathering guidelines, and a reliable, easy-to-use search feature. Along with his praise of the bill, Bass cautioned that "such legislation should be perceived as a first step in a much larger effort to enhance transparency in federal spending." Bass suggested revisions to the bill that OMB Watch believes would strengthen its ability to inform the public, while stressing that these concerns should not hold up passage of this important bipartisan effort. Bass's recommendations included measures to increase usability for novice users and opportunities for public feedback, and improve the quality of contract data (which is often incomplete and uninformative). Possibly most importantly, OMB Watch suggests that the bill's requirement to disclose sub-grants be delayed and implemented initially as a smaller pilot project. Because federal grants are so often combined with state resources and then re-granted, the requirement would be next to impossible for grant recipients, and state and local governments to comply with unless new ways of handling intergovernmental fund transfers are developed. As questions of Congressional ethics and controversial spending, including earmarks, have gained attention recently, the Coburn-Obama bill and a competing bill in the House have been gaining attention as well. While both bills require public access to information on federal grants and loans, the House bill, which passed on a voice vote on June 21, would ignore federal contracts completely despite contracts accounting for over $345 billion in federal spending in 2005. The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act will likely come before the full Senate later this year. ### Gary Bass's testimony: /files/pdfs/S2590_testimony_OMBW.pdf. OMB Watch is a nonprofit government watchdog organization located in Washington. Our mission is to promote open government, accountability and citizen participation. Learn more at http://www.ombwatch.org.