OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – After years of work on the Taxpayers Right-to-Know Act, Senator James Lankford (R-OK) applauded the public launch of the resource that will provide a federal inventory of programs provided by the federal government to ensure it is more transparent and accessible to the American people. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) launched the Federal Program Inventory (FPI) last week.
“Since my first day in Congress, I have focused on exposing government waste, fraud, and the blatant lack of transparency. Today is another win for ending waste and allowing the American people to see how their tax dollars are spent with the launch of the Federal Program Inventory. For the first time, there is now an online tool that allows Americans to quickly and easily search for information about every federal program that provides grants, loans, or direct payments.
“A new search tool may seem like a long overdue commonsense solution to many Americans, because it is. You cannot change what you cannot see, as of today Americans can now see the duplication and spending in their government which is the first step to making real change.”
Background
As a major priority, Lankford has worked on legislation to ensure completion of a federal program inventory since 2011, his first year in Congress. During the 112th Congress, Lankford introduced the bill in December 2011 while the late-Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn carried the Senate companion bill the same year. During the 113th Congress, Lankford introduced the bill, and it passed the House unanimously. However, the Senate never fully considered it. In January of 2015, as a Senator, Lankford introduced a similar version, and the House unanimously passed its version of the bill, which was sponsored by Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI), but the bill never received a vote in the full Senate. In 2017, Lankford reintroduced the bill, and it once again passed the House unanimously but failed to receive full consideration in the Senate.
After the bill became law, Lankford remained engaged with OMB to push them to launch the federal spending database so taxpayers and Congress can see what needs to be fixed. In January 2021, Lankford applauded final passage of his Taxpayers Right-to-Know Act. The Taxpayers Right-to-Know Act ensures completion of a functional federal program inventory that can be used as a tool for oversight of federal spending; to highlight good stewardship of tax dollars; and to provide greater transparency of duplication, inefficiency, and waste. Lankford has long maintained that government transparency is something we should all agree on. Lankford highlighted the need to get the database up and running on the Senate floor.
Lankford’s government waste report, Federal Fumbles, continues to highlight the need for transparency in spending and being able to root out waste, fraud, abuse, and duplication in order to address our skyrocketing $30 trillion+ national debt and Washington’s constant spending appetite we can’t afford.