Open-government groups want E-Gov fund restored

By Gautham Nagesh - 06/13/11 02:31 PM ET

A coalition of transparency and good-government groups wrote to the leadership of the House Appropriations Committee's Financial Services subpanel urging them to restore funding for websites such as USASpending.gov, Data.gov and the IT Dashboard.

The groups, which include OMB Watch, the Sunlight Foundation and the New America Foundation asked the lawmakers to restore funding for the Electronic Government (E-Gov) Fund, which they argue has produced projects that have increased the government's efficiency and transparency.

A budget agreement reached earlier this year slashed funding for fiscal 2011 from $34 million to $8 million, jeopardizing many of the sites' futures. The groups argue that a failure to restore funding could end up costing the government more money in the long run.

“These sites are critical tools for identifying waste and inefficiencies,” said Craig Jennings, Director of Federal Fiscal Policy at OMB Watch.

“Americans are looking for long-term solutions to reduce the deficit, not short-term gimmicks. The E-Gov Fund results in savings far above its cost. Cutting the E-Gov Fund may be penny-wise, but it’s pound-foolish.”

However, the situation is complicated by a pair of new proposals unveiled Monday that would overhaul how federal spending data is published online.

An executive order from President Obama would create a spending transparency board based on the Recovery Board that tracked stimulus spending.

The board would issue recommendations in six months on how to integrate the collection and display of government spending data. It would likely draw from Recovery.gov, the public website used to track stimulus spending.

Recovery.gov drew some early criticism for the accuracy of its data along with a charge from House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) that the site was used to disseminate Democratic propaganda.

Issa unveiled his own spending transparency legislation on Monday, which would go a step further and empower an accountability board to craft data reporting standards that agencies would be forced to comply with. His bill would eliminate USASpending.gov as well as Recovery.gov.

Despite his criticism of the stimulus tracking site, Issa also cited the Recovery Board as the model for using transparency to root out cases of fraud and abuse.

He issued a statement claiming he and the White House are "on the same page" with regards to spending transparency and said there is bipartisan support for legislation in both chambers of Congress.