Description:
H.R. 598 would amend federal law to increase the amount of information about federal programs that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) provides online. The legislation would require that each federal program be described on OMB’s website, including the number of people served by or benefiting from the program, the number of federal employees and contract staff involved, and links to reviews of the program including those by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and Inspectors General.
Based on information from several agencies, CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 598 would cost $82 million over the 2016-2020 period, assuming appropriation of the necessary amounts. Enacting H.R. 598 could affect direct spending by some agencies (such as the Tennessee Valley Authority) because they are authorized to use receipts from the sale of goods, fees, and other collections to cover their operating costs; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. Because most of those agencies can make adjustments to the amounts collected based on changes in spending, CBO estimates that any net changes in direct spending would not be significant. Enacting the bill would not affect revenues.
H.R. 598 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal governments.
