# Congressional Budget Office Data Access Act

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is a nonpartisan agency that analyzes the costs and effects of proposed legislation for Congress. Right now, when the CBO produces reports and data about how bills would affect the economy, the budget, or specific industries, that information isn't always easily accessible to the public or even to researchers who want to study it. This bill aims to change that by requiring the CBO to make more of its data and analysis publicly available in formats that people can actually use and understand.

Specifically, the bill would require the CBO to publish its underlying data, models, and methodologies so that outside researchers, think tanks, journalists, and interested citizens can access the same information Congress uses when making decisions. Instead of just reading a final CBO report, people could dig into the actual numbers and assumptions behind those reports. The data would need to be released in formats that computers can read and analyze, not just as static documents. This is similar to how other government agencies already share their data publicly.

The practical effect is greater transparency in how Congress evaluates the financial impact of legislation. When you can see the CBO's raw data and reasoning, you can better understand whether a bill will actually cost what lawmakers claim it will cost, or whether it will truly help the economy the way supporters say it will. This could help voters make more informed decisions about which politicians to support and could give independent experts better tools to fact-check political claims about legislation. For Congress itself, it could improve the quality of debate by allowing members to see exactly how the CBO reached its conclusions and potentially challenge or verify those findings with their own analysis.

Congressional Budget Office Data Access Act

Peters, Gary C.

Congressional Budget Office Data Access Act This bill exempts the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) from the Privacy Act of 1974 to expedite the sharing of data and information between CBO and federal agencies. Under current law, the Privacy Act of 1974 generally prohibits federal agencies from disclosing certain records pertaining to an individual without the individual's prior written consent. This bill allows federal agencies to disclose such records to CBO (or to an authorized representative of CBO) without obtaining the prior written consent of the individual. Several agencies, including the Government Accountability Office and the National Archives and Records Administration, are currently exempt from these requirements, and this bill adds CBO to the list of exemptions.