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Openness in the Budget Process
By Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA)
September 20, 2006
When developing the system of governance that has served to guide our nation in the more than two centuries since its founding, our forefathers went to great lengths to preserve America as a nation truly responsive to the people. They had just fought a war against a monarch unwilling to grant them even minimal representation and were understandably wary of forming a government that segregated too much power from the citizens of this new America.
Their response, as we know, was to create a system of checks and balances by distributing the responsibilities of the federal government amongst three separate branches--the executive, the judicial, and the legislative. To the legislature was tasked the business of the American people. This is a solemn responsibility that encompasses a host of duties, high among them being a good and conscientious steward of taxpayer money.
Due to its role as the “people’s branch,” it is imperative that the public’s confidence in Congress does not waver. We, as elected officials, have a responsibility to be clear about the work we are doing, to be approachable and accessible to our constituents, and to make what happens in Congress open to the public. And in passing a recent piece of bipartisan legislation, the Senate has taken an important step towards a budget process that is straightforward, transparent and truly responsive.
Back in the spring, Senators Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Barack Obama (D-IL), introduced the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act. This is a unique and creative piece of legislation, taking advantage of the available technology to help the American people track the ins and outs of government spending. Impressed by the bill, both in idea and execution, I signed on as one of its first cosponsors in June.
Many Americans are familiar with Google, the revolutionary search engine that has achieved a prominent place not only on the internet but in our culture as well. Using a search engine like Google allows us to navigate the vast expanse of the internet with just a few key words as a guide. Senator Coburn’s bill utilizes a similar principle, developing a free, searchable online database that will enable any internet user to follow the distribution of federal dollars. This database will include government grants and contracts, sometimes known as earmarks, and users will be able to search by such categories as company, agency, geographic region and dollar amount. There are other great aspects of this database—users, for example, will be able to see not only what each entity receives in the current year, but the federal dollars they have received in the past.
The unfortunate truth is that some Americans have lost faith in their government, many, sadly, in the people’s branch itself. They wonder where their hard-earned tax dollars are going. They are dismayed by reports of waste, fraud and abuse involving federal funding, and know that there are better ways their money can be spent. It has been said that sunshine is the best disinfectant, and the bill put forth by Senators Coburn and Obama is the most comprehensive effort to shine such light on the distribution of federal dollars I have seen. No longer will last minute additions of projects costing hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars be buried deep in the middle of thousand page bills. No longer will the destination of your money be available solely to Washington insiders. This is a strong bill, a necessary bill, and I am proud to have played a role in its passage.
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