Providing Accountability Through Transparency Act of 2023

Mr. President, I submit to the Senate a budget scorekeeping report. The report, which covers fiscal year 2024, was prepared and submitted as a letter by the Congressional Budget Office pursuant to section 308(b) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974. This information assists the Senate Budget Committee in determining if budgetary points of order lie against pending legislation.

CBO's report shows the effect on spending and revenues of congressional action through April 15, 2024. Between CBO's last report on December 13, 2023, and April 15, 2024, Congress passed eight pieces of legislation with effects on direct spending or revenue. These include two appropriations bills passed in March, P.L. 118-42 and P.L. 118-47, that completed the fiscal year 2024 appropriations cycle in line with the bipartisan agreement enacted last summer.

CBO's report included three tables, tables 1, 2, and 3. Tables 1 and 2 show that current budgetary levels are within allowable amounts for budget authority and outlays. The allowable levels include an adjustment for the Senate-passed national security supplemental, P.L. 118-50, which had not yet

been enacted into law when the table was prepared. These tables also show that revenue is below the allowable amount, due to the rescissions of IRS mandatory funding in the last appropriation bill, P.L. 118-47, which reduces revenue and increases the deficit.

Table 3 shows the Senate's Pay-As-You-Go scorecard, which reflects $36.4 billion of net deficit increase, entirely due to IRS funding rescissions.

The Democratic staff of the Budget Committee prepared three addendum tables to supplement CBO's report, tables A, B, and C.

Table A compares the mandatory spending of each authorizing committee against the enforceable allocations under section 302 of the Congressional Budget Act. It shows that 11 of the 16 authorizing committees are compliant with their allocations, either because no legislation with significant budgetary costs was enacted, the legislation was deficit-neutral and qualified for an allocation adjustment that was subsequently filed, or the legislation reduced spending.

Table B updates CBO's table 1, the Senate current level report for spending and revenues, to reflect the enactment of P.L. 118-50, the national security supplemental, which was passed by the House and Senate and was signed into law by the President after CBO prepared its report.

Table C updates CBO's table 3, updating the Senate Pay-As-You-Go scorecard to reflect six bills that have passed by the House and Senate since the release of CBO's report, five of which have been signed into law by the President.

I ask unanimous consent that CBO's letter, accompanying tables, and the addendum be printed in the Record.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of S. 111, the Providing Accountability Through Transparency Act.

S. 111 would require each agency, in providing notice of a rulemaking, to include a link to a 100-word plain language summary of the proposed rule, to be made available on the website regulations.gov.

Our job here is public service--not for our benefit, but the enrichment of our communities, state, and Nation.

The bills we pass here directly affect the lives of everyday Americans.

Therefore, the public must be able to access and provide their input regarding rules.

For those who may not be experts in the subject matter of the rule, S. 111 provides that a plain-language summary of 100 words or less be made available by agencies at regulations.gov.

Having this clear and simplistic summary will give members of the public the opportunity to provide specific and useful comments to those of us who serve them.

Plain language makes it easier for the public to read, understand, and use government communications.

As a result, Americans understand documents more quickly, call less often for explanations, and make fewer errors filling out forms.

All in all, Americans comply more accurately and quickly with requirements when written in plain language.

Ultimately, this helps improve government transparency and empower greater participation in the democratic process.

Through plain language, Americans are broadly better able to understand their options and the policies their government is pursuing.

Simply put, Americans are better able to participate in the debate once they understand their choices.

In addition, the Congressional Budget Office expects that preparing this short summary of proposed rules would not significantly increase agencies' administrative costs.

Further, this remains true when the costs of implementation are assessed over a five year period, with the Congressional Budget Office estimating no significant costs accruing through implementation of this policy from 2023 through 2028.

In fact, such a measure is likely to save federal government dollars in the long run.

Because Americans understand more immediately, file documents with greater accuracy, and have less need to seek explanations from bureaucrats, plain language saves government employees time and allows them to work more effectively and efficiently.

Multiple studies have shown that plain language improves bottom lines by saving time, personnel resources, and money, all while providing better service to Americans.

I urge my colleagues to support this common-sense measure that improves transparency, accessibility of information, and the ability of Americans to thoughtfully participate in the democratic process.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of S. 111, the Providing Accountability through Transparency Act which the House will be voting on today.

This commonsense bill has been a bicameral effort for several years and I'm hopeful it will pass the House today so it can finally be sent to the President's desk for signature and become law.

Since the creation of the Administrative Procedure Act in 1946, federal agencies have been required to keep the public informed of their respective rulemaking processes. All rules and regulations are also published in the Federal Register, so there's a lot to keep up with.

The federal government produces hundreds of rules, regulations, and laws every year. And most of these government agencies unfortunately have a habit of creating long-winded and convoluted rules that frankly don't make sense unless you're an expert in that field.

American small businesses have enough to worry about--especially in this economy. They don't have the time or resources to keep track of the latest in government red tape or figure out if they need to abide by agency suggestions that are often confused for laws. And that regulatory burden shouldn't be on them.

In my capacity as Vice Chair of the House Small Business Committee, I'm constantly hearing from small business owners who have run into issues like this. And I'm sure many of my colleagues have also heard from constituents who need help navigating the American regulatory maze.

The Providing Transparency Through Accountability Act is a straightforward, commonsense solution to this problem.

This bill would simply require agencies to create a short, plain language summary and a website link to make it easily accessible so that all Americans can easily find and understand the rules being proposed by the administration.

Giving Americans--and especially small businesses--a one-hundred- word, plain language summary for an otherwise convoluted government rulemaking provides much needed streamlining and transparency.

I hope my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will vote for this bill to help the small business owners who create jobs and economic growth nationwide focus on running their businesses, not sifting through long-winded government documents.

I thank Senator Lankford for getting this bill across the finish line in the Senate. I encourage my colleagues to vote in favor of the Providing Accountability Through Transparency Act.

Mr. President, I submit to the Senate a budget scorekeeping report. The report, which covers fiscal year 2024, was prepared by the Congressional Budget Office pursuant to section 308(b) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974. This information enables the Senate Budget Committee to determine if budgetary points of order lie against pending legislation.

CBO's report shows the effect on spending and revenues of congressional action through December 10, 2023, as compared to the levels that I filed on June 21 as authorized by section 121 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, or FRA. Since then, Congress has passed six pieces of legislation with small effects on direct spending. These include two continuing resolutions that were eligible for adjustments to enforceable levels as permitted under the FRA.

Tables 1 and 2 show that current budgetary levels are above allowable amounts for budget authority and within allowable amounts for outlays. The government is currently operating under a bipartisan short-term continuing resolution that extends the previous year's discretionary funding levels through early 2024. The budget authority level shown in the tables is artificially high because it reflects CBO's estimate of the continuing resolution, which for technical reasons is higher than the statutory limits. Enactment of full-year appropriations for fiscal year 2024 consistent with budget agreement surrounding the FRA would bring total budget authority in line with the allowable limits. These tables also reflect that there has been no change to Social Security.

Table 3 shows the Senate's pay-as-you-go-scorecard, which reflects $44 million of net deficit reduction over 10 years.

The Democratic staff of the Budget Committee prepared an addendum table to supplement CBO's report, which compares the mandatory spending of each authorizing committee against the enforceable allocations under section 302 of the Congressional Budget Act. It shows that 15 of the 16 authorizing committees are complying with their allocations, either because no legislation with significant budgetary costs was enacted, the legislation was deficit-neutral and qualified for an allocation adjustment that was subsequently filed, or the legislation reduced spending.

I ask unanimous consent that CBO's letter, accompanying tables, and the addendum be printed in the Record.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 111) to require each agency, in providing notice of a rulemaking, to include a link to a 100-word plain language summary of the proposed rule.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on S. 111.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of S. 111, the Providing Accountability Through Transparency Act of 2023.

We have already spent a lot of time in this Congress exposing the problems of the administrative state. Agencies impose rules on the American people that lack popular support and would never get through the House and Senate to become law.

One of the major problems is that agencies are less transparent and have much less accountability than we do here in Congress.

The Administrative Procedure Act requires agencies to make certain disclosures when they propose those rules. Some of these explanations can be dense and bureaucratic and may not always help Americans quickly grasp what agencies plan to do.

This bill is a commonsense approach to increasing agency transparency and accountability. It requires agencies to provide a link to a plain language summary of 100 words or less for proposed rules.

This requirement is a simple, easy way to help the American people better understand what the rules are that agencies may impose. I urge Members to support this bill. It is good, it is strong, it is simple, and it is bipartisan.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I reiterate my strong support for S. 111, the Providing Accountability Through Transparency Act.

The rules that agencies impose have real-world consequences. Americans should be easily able to understand what a proposed rule does. Instead, they are often left trying to interpret pages of technical and bureaucratic jargon.

This bill is a simple measure that will make Americans' lives easier.

Mr. Speaker, I urge Members to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.