Mullin Supporting Lankford’s Taxpayers ‘Right-to-Know’ Bill

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 25, 2014

Congressman Mullin Supports Taxpayers Right-to-Know

WASHINGTON – Congressman Markwayne Mullin (OK-2) today voted in favor of legislation to provide more public accountability of federal agencies and to reduce waste and duplication in government agencies.

The Taxpayers Right-to-Know Act, H.R. 1423, was authored by fellow Oklahoman U.S. Rep. James Lankford.

“This legislation is an important step in bringing accountability to federal agencies,” Mullin said. “Quite often these agencies are so bloated and bureaucratic that common sense and good business practices are absent.”

“These agencies forget who funds them in the first place – the American taxpayers,” Mullin continued. “Requiring accountability is a logical step to protect taxpayers. In the private sector detailing this kind of information is common sense standard procedure. Sadly, there is often little common sense in the operation of our federal government.”

The legislation requires every federal agency to provide to taxpayers an annual report of its programs, costs, and expenditures. It also would require a report on the number of program recipients.

Additionally, each federal program would have to estimate the number of employees who administer its programs and the number of employees who assist in administering programs. All of the information would be required to be available on the agency’s website so the public can view this information.

“Under this legislation, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) would be required to publish a report online identifying duplicative programs and recommendations to reduce fraud, abuse and waste,” Mullin added. “There is plenty of overlap and waste in the federal government. By requiring this kind of reporting hopefully it will be easier to zero in on the kind of duplication that is wasting far too much taxpayer money.”

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