This bill seeks to address a number of areas where disclosure is currently lacking. The first section of Quigley’s bill, addressing personal financial disclosure statements that lawmakers must file annually, would abolish vague value ranges for assets and liabilities they hold. The TGA would also require the reports to be filed electronically within 48 hours of the reporting deadline, and that the reports be made available in a searchable, sortable, downloadable, and machine-readable format. We have long agreed that these reports are not specific enough with respect to the value ranges, and that they need to be truly electronically accessible. These fixes to the reporting regime would not only make Congress more transparent, but make CRP’s searchable database of this information more accurate and timely.

Title III of the TGA would make Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports public, in a searchable and downloadable database. CRS, the taxpayer-funded nonpartisan research unit of Congress, provides lawmakers and their staffs with objective analysis of national policy issues. CRP supports making these reports available to the public.

Title IV takes on lobbying disclosure. The TGA would make a number of changes to the regime that CRP has argued would make the data more transparent, including assigning unique identifiers to lobbyists, which would allow CRP and others to better track lobbyists. It also would require earlier and more frequent reporting. The bill also directs the Attorney General to set up a task force responsible for enforcement of and compliance with the Lobbying Disclosure Act.

The TGA would also:

Amend the Internal Revenue Code to require the IRS to expand e-filing to cover all nonprofits and to publish this data in an electronic, searchable and downloadable format. CRP has supported changes to the way the IRS provides this information. This provision would be a huge asset to CRP’s dark money database that is built largely from sifting through these IRS filings.

Require Supreme Court justices to file their personal financial disclosures electronically.

Make foreign lobbying data searchable and downloadable.

Require all agencies to use the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) online website for tracking FOIA requests.

Require the Supreme Court to provide live audio of hearings.

Improve the quality of federal contracting data on USASpending.gov.

Make congressional committee hearings, votes and schedules available electronically, as well as White House visitor logs. The Transparency in Government Act promotes a number of common-sense transparency measures — and reflects what constituents expect from their government in the 21st century. Help us keep government accountable by making a donation today.

Image: Rep. Mike Quigley after winning his primary in 2009 (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)



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