# Congressional Budget Justification Transparency Act of 2021

This bill requires federal agencies to make their budget justification documents publicly available online. Right now, when agencies request money from Congress, they submit detailed explanations of what they need the funds for—these are called budget justifications. The problem is that these documents are often hard for regular people to find or access, even though they're paid for with taxpayer money and contain important information about how the government plans to spend your money.

The bill would change that by requiring agencies to post these budget justification documents on their websites in a format that's easy to search and download. This means if you want to know why the Department of Defense is asking for a certain amount of money, or how the Environmental Protection Agency plans to use its budget, you could actually find that information without having to file special requests or dig through government databases. It's about making government spending decisions more transparent and accessible to citizens, journalists, and researchers who want to understand where federal dollars are going.

The practical effect is that Congress members, their staff, and the public would have better access to the reasoning behind budget requests. This could help people understand government priorities, identify potential waste, and have more informed conversations about how tax dollars should be spent. It's a transparency measure designed to pull back the curtain on federal budgeting, which typically happens behind closed doors with information that's difficult for ordinary people to obtain.

Congressional Budget Justification Transparency Act of 2021

Peters, Gary C.

Congressional Budget Justification Transparency Act of 2021 This bill requires federal agencies to post budget justification materials on certain public websites, including a single searchable website (e.g., USAspending.gov) and each agency's website. The materials most be posted in an open format that enables users to download individual reports, all reports in bulk, and the results of a search. In addition, the materials must be posted no later than two weeks after they are first submitted to Congress. The bill also requires the Office of Management and Budget to maintain a public website that includes details regarding the materials, including a list of the agencies that submit budget justification materials to Congress, the dates that the materials were submitted to Congress and posted online, and links to the materials.