S. 872 would increase the amount of information that the Department of the Treasury must publish each year about certain federal spending. The bill also would direct the Department of the Treasury and the Office of Management and Budget to establish standards to ensure that federal agencies report complete, accurate financial data, and would require agencies’ inspectors general to report to the Congress every two years on the quality of those data. Finally, S. 872 would require the Government Accountability Office to recommend ways to incorporate information on executive compensation into federal financial spending reports.
Because the government currently collects information for the database on federal spending, USAspending.gov, CBO estimates that increasing the amount of data reported would increase federal administrative costs by less than $500,000 over the 2026-2030 period. Any related spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.
Enacting S. 872 could affect direct spending by some agencies that are allowed to use fees, receipts from the sale of goods, and other collections to cover operating costs. CBO estimates that any net changes in direct spending by those agencies would be negligible because most of them can adjust amounts collected to reflect changes in operating costs.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Matthew Pickford. The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Director of Budget Analysis.
