Congressman Josh Brecheen introduced the Expedited Transparency Act on March 18, aiming to require that all taxpayer disbursements be made public on USASpending.gov within three business days. The legislation seeks to amend the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act to ensure quicker disclosure of how federal funds are spent.
The proposed bill is intended to address delays in reporting government expenditures, which currently can take weeks or even months. Supporters say this delay hinders accountability and transparency for taxpayers. Co-leads of the legislation include Congressmen Jimmy Panetta and Chip Roy, with several other representatives as original cosponsors. The bill has also received support from organizations such as the Project on Government Oversight, Americans for Tax Reform, State Financial Officer Foundation, and American Action Forum.
“It is an honor to introduce the Expedited Transparency Act, which will update late-Senator Coburn’s Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act to require that all disbursements of federal taxpayer dollars be viewable on USASpending within three days. This means that whenever appropriated monies are spent, the agencies will be required to make this disbursement public within three days,” said Congressman Josh Brecheen. He added that current delays further divide taxpayers from transparency and make it harder to demand accountability.
John Hart, CEO of Open the Books, said: “Our founders wrote transparency into the Constitution before the Bill of Rights because it is a first principle and a building block of our other freedoms. Had the founders had access to today’s technology, they would have insisted on real-time transparency. The Expedited Transparency Act is a much-needed improvement to USASpending, which was created by Senators Coburn and Obama in 2006. This bill will dramatically speed up the reporting process and help sunshine overcome secrecy. In a free society, you can’t have accountability without visibility. Americans should be encouraged Representatives Brecheen and Panetta are fighting for this first principle across party lines. There are no Republican facts or Democrat facts. There are simply facts. Taxpayers have the right to know how the government is spending their money in as close to real-time as possible.” Congressman Jimmy Panetta said: “Right now, the American people are forced to wait a month before they can see how their tax dollars are being disbursed, a delay that undermines accountability and leaves the public in the dark… With this commonsense reform, we can take a meaningful step toward a more transparent and trustworthy federal government.” Congressman Chip Roy added: “Federal spending is out of control… One of the many tools we have to keep it in check is transparency.”
Brecheen has represented Oklahoma’s 2nd district in Congress since 2023 after replacing Markwayne Mullin according to Ballotpedia. He previously served in the Oklahoma Senate from 2010 until 2018 as reported by Congress.gov. Born in Ada in 1979, Brecheen currently lives in Coalgate at age 43 according to Vote Smart. He graduated from Southeastern Oklahoma State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1997 as noted by OK House.
The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act was originally passed in 2006 as a bipartisan effort led by Senator Tom Coburn and then-Senator Barack Obama. It established USASpending.gov so taxpayers could track federal expenditures online.
Supporters believe that if enacted, this new legislation would fulfill early American principles about open government while providing timely information about federal spending.
