H.R.2146 -- DATA Act Endorsement of Darrell Issa Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2011: Open Government / Transparency Groups FULL TEXT

Endorsement of Issa Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2011: Open Government / Transparency Groups The Honorable Darrell Issa House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 2157 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 The Honorable Mark Warner 459A Russell Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510June 21, 2011

Dear Chairman Issa and Senator Warner: We, the undersigned organizations, are writing to express our support for efforts to improve federal financial transparency. Chairman Issa, Senator Warner, and President Obama deserve praise for their leadership in building upon the successes of USASpending.gov and the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board as part of an effort to account for every penny of federal spending. Representative Issa’s efforts in the House and Senator Warner's efforts in the Senate, as embodied in the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2011, would have the most transformative effect, as the legislation would establish a federal transparency board with the dual missions of expanding spending transparency to the entire government and identifying government-wide financial data standards. The RATB has demonstrated the importance of the former, especially when it comes to preventing waste, fraud, and abuse. Our own experience with incomplete,incompatible, and incomprehensible government data sets underscores the importance of the government-wide standards

President Obama’s June 13, 2011, Executive Order has the immediate effect of creating a Government Accountability and Transparency Board with the mission applying the lessons of the RATB to the entire federal government. Within 6 months, the Board must present a plan to integrate government spending data. It is long past time to move forward on federal spending transparency.

These are complementary efforts. The Federal Accountability and Spending Transparency Board, as envisioned by Chairman Issa and Senator Warner, will have the opportunity to learn from the report to be issued by President Obama’s Government Accountability and Transparency Board. Similarly, if enacted, the DATA Act will revolutionize federal spending transparency by impelling agency compliance and addressing the thorny but crucial questions of data standardization.

There are improvements to both efforts that our organizations are seeking, although our biggest concern is that the plans have a limited duration. President Obama’s Executive Order has a lifespan of his administration’s willingness to pursue these transparency objectives. Similarly, Chairman Issa and Senator Warner’s legislation would sunset after 7 years, ending both this new effort and pre-existing transparency laws. So long as we have government, we must have transparency. We cannot let the sunset on government openness and accountability. President Obama, Chairman Issa, and Senator Warner should work to extend these transparency programs indefinitely.

We look forward to the mark-up of the DATA Act and the implementation of the Executive Order, and encourage Chairman Issa, Senator Warner, and the President to continue to work with one another, members of the transparency community, and the American people.

If you have any questions, please contact Daniel Schuman of the Sunlight Foundation at 202-742-1520 x 273 or dschuman@sunlightfoundation.com

Sincerely yours,

American Library Association Center for Fiscal Accountability Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington FreeGovInfo Government Accountability ProjectiSolon.org The Participatory Politics Foundation Project on Government Oversight Publish What You Fund The Sunlight Foundation

cc: The Honorable Elijah Cummings, The Honorable Joseph Lieberman, The Honorable Susan CollinsThe Honorable Barack Obama.

H.R.2146 -- DATA Act, Bill Summary & Status 112th Congress (2011 - 2012) H.R.2146.

H.R.2146 -- DATA Act FULL TEXT in PDF FORMAT

Kevin McCarthy Weekly Republican Address TEXT PODCAST VIDEO 10/15/11

Kevin McCarthy Weekly Republican Address TEXT VIDEO 10/15/11 Podcast of the address: Download MP3 for PODCAST || FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPT BELOW. || Download Video MPEG Video || MP4 Video

Delivering the Weekly Republican Address, House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) discusses areas of common ground with President Obama in Republicans’ Plan for America’s Job Creators. These areas of common ground include free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea, which Congress passed this week, and repealing the three percent withholding tax, which the House will vote on later this month. Rep. McCarthy, a former small business owner, highlights eliminating regulatory barriers to small business job creation as another potential area of common ground. Rep. McCarthy is in his third term representing the Central Valley of California. The full text of the address follows.

“Hi, I’m Kevin McCarthy, House majority whip from the Central Valley of California.

“I’m here to talk to you about something you already know: Our country continues to face serious challenges. And while Republicans are working every day to turn our country around, get people working, and restore the American dream, some in Washington continue to cling to the same government ‘stimulus’ strategy that’s led to more debt and fewer jobs. But the American people realize that Washington is not the solution – Washington is the problem.

“You’ve told us that you want accountability and serious leadership. That’s why we’ve said ‘enough is enough.’ We hear you. We get it.

“Let me be clear: we are on the side of the American people. We join with millions of Americans to say no to new taxes, new regulations, more Washington spending and taxes. It hasn’t worked in the past, and it won’t now.

“ Americans deserve progress, not partisanship. Americans deserve a long-term solution to our nation’s spending problem so that we don’t run up trillion-dollar annual deficits.

“We agree with the American people: No more budget tricks, no more accounting gimmicks, no more broken promises - the American people deserve the right to know the truth. And that’s why we support a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution.

“This proposal has had strong bipartisan support in the past, and I’m hopeful we can again work together to pass this Amendment when it comes to the House floor in November.

“Until then, we are actively engaged in pursuing concrete ideas to jumpstart our economy. You can find them in the Republican Plan for America's Job Creators.

“By finding ways to support small business and promote entrepreneurship, we can rev up our economy and grow the jobs we need. And this shouldn’t be an exercise of partisan gamesmanship or credit-claiming.

“That’s why when President Obama expressed a willingness to work on job creation, we looked at our own plan and outlined specific opportunities for both parties to come together.

“The free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea are one such area of common ground. They open the door to thousands of new jobs and billions more in exports across the nation. They remove job-killing barriers to trade by creating a fair playing field between America and these other nations.

“And I am pleased that just days after the President sent those agreements to Congress for approval, the House passed all three trade agreements with strong bipartisan votes and they will become law.

“Another area of common ground is fixing something the IRS calls ‘the three percent withholding tax.’ This rule makes no sense at all. It’s a mandate on small businesses that lets the federal government automatically withhold three percent of payments to companies that contract with the federal government.

“This is a lose-lose proposition. It’s your money, not Washington’s. You should hold it, not Washington. This rule allows government to capture and waste money that entrepreneurs could – and should – be using to innovate new products and hire new workers. That’s why later this month we will hold a vote to put that money back in your hands.

“You’ve also made it clear you need less government red tape standing in the way of getting people back to work. We’ve heard you.

“We’re working to get rid of unnecessary regulations on small businesses, including those that have been handed down as far back as the Great Depression, well before Twitter and Facebook, before cell phones and color TV’s, even before we landed on the moon.

“Of course, there are reasonable regulations that help keep our kids safe and our environment clean. But there are also unreasonable regulations that stifle innovation and impose unnecessary costs on both small business owners and their customers.

“Here’s an example. There’s a rule on the books dating back to 1933 that makes it harder to raise the money to start or expand a small business – so we’re changing it.

“I think back to the decision I made when I was 20 years old to start a small business in my hometown – a deli creatively named ‘Kevin O’s.’ I like to say it was ‘Subway before there was Subway.’ If I’d wanted to expand the business, or open more delis, I wouldn’t have been able to ask people I didn’t know to invest in my business. I would’ve had to register with the federal government first, and I certainly didn’t have the money it would have cost.

“I cringe when I hear from the small business owners across the country who have to jump through these kinds of hoops. I certainly wouldn’t have started Kevin O’s in today’s regulatory environment. Today’s entrepreneurs can be tomorrow’s employers – but not if they have to cope with yesterday’s regulations.

“That’s why I’ve proposed common-sense legislation that will repeal this burdensome 1933 mandate. This way, entrepreneurs can go out and get the resources they need to create the jobs we need. This can and should be another area of common ground.

“The power of your voice is stronger than ever. You want to know that the American Dream will exist for future generations – you want solutions to get people back to work.

“All told, the House has passed more than a dozen bills as part of our plan to get Americans working again. Unfortunately, the Democratic-led Senate has failed to vote on them.

“That is unacceptable. The President needs to get off the sidelines and get involved. The President needs to come off the campaign trail and get to work.




“In the spirit of working together on jobs, I urge the president to call on leaders in his party to follow the House, listen to the American people, stop pushing ideas we know won’t work, and pass these jobs bills.

“And to everyone listening today, let’s seize this moment to build on our common ground and do what’s right for the common good. With vision and hard work, but also with history as our guide, I believe our country can prosper in ways we’ve never seen before. By supporting individual freedoms and entrepreneurship, we can watch our country grow to new heights and restore the American Dream.

“Thanks for listening.”

VIDEO and IMAGE CREDIT: HouseConference

TEXT CREDIT: Speaker of the House John Boehner Contact H-232 The Capitol Washington, DC 20515 P (202) 225-0600 F (202) 225-5117

AUDIO / VIDEO FILES CREDIT: The House Republican Conference - Digital Communications visual.media@mail.house.gov 202-225-5439