Just when it seemed bipartisanship in Congress is no more than a memory, a House Democrat and Republican have joined together to advance a proposal that, if enacted, would require that virtually all federal spending awards be made public within three days of being authorized.

The proposal — “The Expedited Transparency Act” — requires a mere 81 words, but its enactment could dramatically impact the debate over government spending simply by mandating that the public must be informed no later than three days after an expenditure is officially made. Making public access a matter of a few days instead of a month will enhance the public’s ability to hold public officials accountable for the spending decisions they make.

The bill is co-sponsored by Rep. Jimmie Panetta (D-Calif.) and Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-Okla.) and is to be officially introduced March 18 in the House of Representatives. Also co-sponsoring are Reps. Chip Roy (R-Texas), Nick Begich (R-Alaska), Clay Higgins (R-La.), Michael Cloud (R-Texas), and Byron Donalds (R-Fla.).

“Right now, the American people are forced to wait a month before they can see how their tax dollars are being disbursed, a delay that undermines accountability and leaves the public in the dark,” Panetta told The Washington Stand. “The Expedited Transparency Act closes that gap by requiring federal award information to be posted within three days, ensuring citizens have real-time access to how their government spends their money. With this commonsense reform, we can take a meaningful step toward a more transparent and trustworthy federal government.”

Brecheen told TWS that “currently, it takes weeks for these disbursements to be made public, furthering the divide between taxpayers and transparency. It is essential that we require rapid transparency, as the longer the delay between disbursement and reporting, the harder it is to demand accountability. Agencies will always seek ways to hide their spending, as evidenced by the major discrepancy in agency reporting: some report in a matter of weeks, some in six months, and some not at all. There must be transparency and accountability, not excuses and delays.”

Roy said he is co-sponsoring the proposal because “federal spending is out of control, pushing our nation further and further to the brink. One of the many tools we have to keep it in check is transparency. I am proud to lead with Representatives Brecheen and Panetta on this legislation so that taxpayers can finally get timely accounting of how their tax dollars are being spent.”

The proposal builds on the 2006 landmark Federal Financial Accountability and Transparency Act (FFATA) that required the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to design, launch, and operate the USAspending.gov website to make most federal spending available to every citizen with access to the internet. The FFATA was co-sponsored by Senator Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and then-Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and signed into law by then-President George W. Bush.

The FFATA provides internet access to approximately 70% of all federal spending and requires that expenditures be posted not later than 30 days after being expended. The website is a treasure chest of information about federal spending, contracts, and agencies, based on more than 400 data elements pulled together from multiple government systems in one place.

Brecheen and Panetta introduced their bill during Sunshine Week, the annual celebration by news media organizations of transparency in American government, the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and the U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). March 17 is the birthday of James Madison, the “Father of the Constitution,” co-author of “The Federalist Papers,” author of the Bill Rights, and the nation’s fourth chief executive.

Both men were also co-sponsors of the “Improper Payments Transparency Act” during the 118th Congress that, according to Panetta, is needed because “over the last two decades, the federal government has reportedly made over $2.7 trillion in improper payments that either should not have been made in the first place or were made in the incorrect amount.

“These mistakes can add up, which is why our bipartisan Payments Transparency Act would require the President’s annual budget request to provide additional detail on these improper payments as we continue our work to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars,” Panetta stated. “Transparency is part of good governance, and this bipartisan legislation is a small, but important step to building public trust.”

In related news, the Senate Small Business Committee chaired by retiring Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) is convening a March 18 hearing celebrating Sunshine Week, the importance of maximizing transparency in government and exposing secrecy in spending.

Witnesses will include Justin Goodman, senior vice president of White Coat Waste, John Hart, CEO of Open the Books, Dr. Joshua Miller, director of Public Citizen’s Congress Watch, and Jeff Arkin, director of Strategic Issues of the Government Accounting Office (GAO).

Hart was communications director for Coburn during the campaign that resulted in passage of the FFATA in 2006. More recently, he assumed the CEO duties at Open the Books following the untimely passing in 2024 of the organization’s co-founder and former CEO, Adam Andrzejewski. Andrzejewski was inspired by the FFATA to launch Open the Books with the goal of creating the world’s largest official spending database to ensure the internet posting of “Every Dime [of government spending at all levels in the United States] Online in Real Time.”

Using USAspending.gov, filing more than 50,000 FOIA requests for federal expenditures, as well as state and municipal level public access laws, plus millions of dollars in litigation, Open the Books achieved Andrzejewski’s goal and in the process has become a key asset in the continuing movement to expand government transparency and accountability.

In his testimony before the Ernst committee, Hart will emphasize the non-partisan importance of transparency and accountability.

“Our founders wrote transparency into the Constitution before the Bill of Rights because it is a first principle and a building block of our other freedoms. Had the founders had access to today’s technology, they would have insisted on real-time transparency. The Expedited Transparency Act is a much-needed improvement to USASpending, which was created by Senators Coburn and Obama in 2006,” Hart will tell the Senate panel.

“This bill will dramatically speed up the reporting process and help sunshine overcome secrecy. In a free society, you can’t have accountability without visibility. Americans should be encouraged Representatives Brecheen and Panetta are fighting for this first principle across party lines. There are no Republican facts or Democrat facts. There are simply facts. Taxpayers have the right to know how the government is spending their money in as close to real-time as possible,” Hart continues.