Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on June 18, 2024. Her bill to require disclosure of behind schedule, over-budget government projects is headed to the White House for the president's signature. Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images
House sends the Billion Dollar Boondoggle Act to president's desk
The chamber also approved two other bills to improve oversight of federal agencies.
The House of Representatives on Monday passed, by voice vote, three bills to increase transparency into federal agency operations.
One bill, the Billion Dollar Boondoggle Act, was already approved by the Senate in March.
It would require agencies to report annually to Congress about their projects that are more than five years behind schedule or are $1 billion or more over budget.
Specifically, the measure would require an explanation for the delay or cost increase as well as a justification for any award, incentive fee or other type of bonus awarded with respect to the project.
“It’s a bad day for boondoggles, but a very good one for taxpayers!” bill sponsor Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, said in a statement following House passage.
As an example of a delayed, above budget government-funded project, Ernst pointed to the Veterans Affairs Department’s roll out of its electronic health record system, which was expected to take 10 years and cost $16 billion but is now estimated to last 28 years at $50 billion.
The House also cleared the GOOD Act, which would mandate agencies to post their guidance documents online in a single location on the day they are issued.
“Unfortunately, agency guidance documents are difficult to find, leaving Americans and small businesses guessing, and oftentimes struggling, to comply with the law. The Guidance Out of Darkness Act rights this wrong by requiring federal agencies to be transparent about interpretations of the law through publishing guidance in an easily accessible, online location,” said House Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., who also sponsored the bill, in a statement. “Laws should not be implemented based on guidance that’s kept in the dark.”
It also would require agencies to publish previously issued guidance documents that are still in effect to the same website.
Additionally, the House passed legislation that would require the inspector general of the Housing and Urban Development Department to annually testify before the House Financial Services and Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs committees on their efforts to detect and prevent fraud, waste and abuse.
Rep. Monica De La Cruz, R-Texas, the bill’s sponsor, said the measure is necessary because the inspector general, prior to 2023, had not testified before the House Financial Services Committee for five years, according to a press release.