H.R. 598: Taxpayers Right-To-Know Act

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H.R. 598: Taxpayers Right-To-Know Act

114th Congress · introduced 2015-01-28 · Government Operations and Politics · Latest: Read twice. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 350.

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Official title

Taxpayers Right-To-Know Act

Plain summary

Taxpayers Right-To-Know Act (Sec. 2) This bill requires that the website of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) include a program inventory that identifies each program of the federal government for which there is more than $1 million in annual budget authority. Such inventory shall include: (1) any activity that is commonly referred to as a program by a federal agency, and (2) any activity that is referenced in law as a program after June 30, 2019. For programs identified in such inventory for which there is more than $1 million and not more than $10 million in annual budget authority (smaller programs), the inventory must include: an identification of the program activities that are aggregated, disaggregated, or consolidated as part of identifying programs; for each such program activity, the amount of funding for the current fiscal year and the previous two fiscal years; an identification of the statutes that authorize the program and any major regulations specific to the program; a description of the individuals served by a program and beneficiaries who received financial assistance under a program for the most recent fiscal year; and links to any evaluation, assessment, or program performance reviews by the agency, an Inspector General, or the Government Accountability Office released during the preceding five years. For programs identified in such inventory for which there is more than $10 million in annual budget authority (larger programs), the inventory must include: an identification of the program activities that are aggregated, disaggregated, or consolidated as part of identifying programs; for each program activity, the amount of funding for the current fiscal year and the previous two fiscal years; an estimate of the amount of funding for the program; an identification of the statutes that authorize the program and any major regulations specific to the program; a description and estimate of the number of individuals served by a program and beneficiaries who received financial assistance under a program for the most recent fiscal year; a description of the federal employees who administer the program and other individuals whose salary is paid in full or in part by the federal government through a grant, contract, cooperative agreement, or another form of financial award or assistance; links to any evaluation, assessment, or program performance reviews by the agency, an Inspector General, or the Government Accountability Office released during the preceding five years; and financial and other information for each program activity required to be reported under the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006. The OMB shall: (1) archive and preserve the information included in the program inventory; and (2) not later than February 1 of each fiscal year, publish on a public website the total amount of undisbursed grant funding remaining in grant accounts for which the period of availability to the grantee has expired. (Sec. 3) The bill requires the OMB, not later than June 30, 2018, to: (1) prescribe guidance to implement this Act, and (2) issue guidance to assist agencies in identifying how the program activities used in budget or appropriations accounts correspond with programs identified in the program inventory required by this Act. The OMB may: (1) issue guidance to agencies to ensure that programs are presented at a similar level of detail across agencies and are not duplicative or overlapping; (2) exempt from the requirements of this Act, based on an analysis of the costs of implementation, agencies that are not required to have a chief financial officer and that have not more than $10 million in budget authority; and (3) extend the Act's implementation deadline by not more than one year. Implementation of the requirements in this bill must be completed not later than June 30, 2019. (Sec. 4) No additional funds may be authorized to carry out the requirements in this bill.

Congressional Research Service summary (Passed House amended), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.

What a vote does

PSI Sci description of the legislative step (not an opinion).

The strongest published arguments

Alternatives

Needs sources: no published alternatives yet (for example a different bill, a law instead of an amendment, or keeping current law). We only show items backed by a published source. Suggest one.

How did my representative vote? · This bill's floor votes

Officials and money

Sponsor: Rep. Walberg, Tim [R-MI-7] · 10 cosponsors

Cost estimate: CBO cost estimate: H.R. 598, Taxpayers Right-To-Know Act (2015-08-13)

Cosponsors on this site

Mike Bost (R-IL), Mike Kelly (R-PA), Jim Costa (D-CA)

Sponsor's campaign money: Rep. Walberg, Tim [R-MI-7] reported raising $2.2 million (2025–2026). Details. Shown for context only; it does not mean any donor supported this bill.

Recorded votes

• House roll call 34 (2016): On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass, as Amended, HR598 (2016-01-11): Passed

Sources

• Congressional Research Service summary (Passed House amended)
• Congress.gov
• Data: GovInfo BILLSTATUS bulk data (Library of Congress), BILLSTATUS-114hr598.xml <https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/114/hr>

Record fed-us-cong114-hr598 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong114 · updated 2026-11-15 by psicol fed-bills-cong114