February 10, 2014            
U.S. House of Representatives

Washington, D.C.  20515

Dear Representative,  
  

H.R. 1423, the Taxpayers Right-To-Know Act, sponsored by Rep. James Lankford (R-Okla.), was reported out of the House Oversight and Government Affairs Committee by voice vote and may come up for a vote during the last week of February.  This bipartisan legislation would increase accountability and transparency in government by requiring every federal agency to disclose basic cost and performance information of the programs that they administer.  On behalf of the more than one million members and supporters of the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW), I urge you to cosponsor this legislation.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued three annual reports, in 2011, 2012, and 2013, regarding duplicative and wasteful federal programs.  Collectively, these three reports identified a total of 162 areas in which the executive branch and Congress could take action to address fragmentation, overlap, and duplication or achieve cost savings.  The reports address areas in virtually all major federal departments and agencies, demonstrating the pervasive nature of waste in the federal government.  Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) has estimated that the annual cost of the duplication and overlap identified in GAO’s three reports is $295 billion.

H.R. 1423 would require the head of each federal agency to deliver an annual report card for all of the respective agency’s programs.  Agency heads would identify and describe every program administered, provide the total administrative costs and expenditures for the services of each program, estimate the number of full-time federal and contract employees who administer each program, and identify federal programs with duplicative or overlapping missions, services, and allowable uses of funds.  All of the above information would be published online, along with recommendations from agencies for consolidating duplicative and overlapping programs, eliminating waste and inefficiency, and terminating lower priority, outdated, and unnecessary programs and initiatives.

Enacting Rep. Lankford’s legislation would establish much-needed accountability and transparency in how federal dollars are allocated, and would be a step in the right direction toward reducing the $17.3 trillion national debt.  I urge you to cosponsor the Taxpayers Right-To-Know Act.  All votes on H.R. 1423 will be among those considered in CCAGW’s 2014 Congressional Ratings.


Sincerely,

Tom Schatz


President, CCAGW