Senator Lankford’s Taxpayers Right To Know Act Passes The House Unanimously

WASHINGTON, DC – The Taxpayers Right To Know Act, a transparency bill championed by Senator James Lankford (R-OK) for several years, passed the House of Representatives Monday evening by a unanimous vote of 413-0.

“I applaud the House for passing the Taxpayers Right To Know Act and I call on my colleagues in the Senate to bring it up for a vote right away,” said Lankford. “We need to put this type of transparency legislation on the President’s desk for his signature. The American people deserve to know more about how their tax dollars are being spent and this is the legislation to do it. To eliminate the duplication in government, step one is to expose it.”

Lankford introduced the Taxpayers Right To Know Act (S. 282) on January 28, as his first bill as a lead sponsor in the Senate. The bill would require the federal government to make public the details, costs, and performance metrics of every federal program. Specifically, the bill would create a central database for financial data and performance metrics for every federal program above $1 million, requiring every federal agency to provide taxpayers an annual report card for all of its programs.

As a U.S. Representative, Lankford introduced the bill (HR 1423) in 2014 and it passed the House by voice vote. In the Senate, the bill was introduced by former Senator Tom Coburn. It cleared the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, however, then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid did not bring the bill up for a vote before the full Senate.

This Congress’ House companion bill of the Taxpayers Right To Know Act (HR 598) was introduced by Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI) and approved by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on July 22, 2015. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approved this bill on May 6, 2015.

Lankford is the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs and Federal Management within the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Management of the federal agencies and its workforce falls under Lankford’s Subcommittee jurisdiction. 

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