Comer, Arrington Probe OMB and Treasury Over Completeness of Spending Transparency Data

WASHINGTON— House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-KY) and House Committee on Budget Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-TX) sent a joint letter to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and U.S. Treasury Department’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service (BFS) after a Government Accountability Office report found agencies failed to provide accurate and timely spending data. In the letter to OMB Director Shalanda Young and BFS Commissioner Timothy Gribben, the Chairmen request a staff-level briefing by February 9, 2024 to assist the Committees in its efforts to ensure federal agency spending reporting to USAspending.gov.

“The Committee on Oversight and Accountability and the Committee on Budget are investigating the lack of completeness of federal spending information on USAspending.gov. In November 2023, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report entitled “Federal Spending Transparency: Opportunities to Improve USAspending.gov Data,” which found 49 agencies did not report or reported inconsistent spending data to USAspending.gov.,” wrote the Chairmen. “GAO’s report raises important questions about the completeness and overall accuracy of the information reported to USAspending.gov.”

USAspending.gov serves as the official authoritative source for the public and Congress to track federal spending, including federal contracts, grants, and loans. The Committees recognize the management challenges faced in ensuring this government-wide spending resource functions as intended under the law. In addition, the Committees also recognize how the recent—and unprecedented—$4.7 trillion in estimated federal spending promulgated by previous COVID-19 pandemic relief packages has stressed these financial transparency mechanisms. USAspending.gov remains vital to Congress’s Constitutional oversight duty to ensure financial transparency throughout the Executive Branch’s spending of taxpayer funds.

“Given the shared role that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Treasury maintain for the policy implementation and management of USAspending.gov, the Committee on Oversight and Accountability and the Committee on Budget are concerned by the lack of progress in ensuring agencies provide accurate, complete, and timely reports under the law,” continued the Chairmen. “We therefore request a staff-level briefing regarding the failure of many agencies to report accurate and timely spending data.”

Read the letter to OMB Director Shalanda Young and BFS Commissioner Timothy Gribben here.