Stop Secret Spending Act of 2025

Mr. President, during my 12 years in the Senate, I have exposed many outlandish examples of government waste.

For example, I uncovered that Washington sent nearly $500 million to China to pay for everything from poetry projects to dangerous research on bats.

Another $870 million of U.S. taxpayer money went to Russia. This includes more than $770,000 from the National Institutes of Health sent to a state-run lab in Russia to put cats on treadmills.

How did I uncover these crazy trails of money to our foreign adversary? It is quite simple. For 20 years now, the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act has required unclassified government spending to be put online in a searchable public website, usspending.gov. This allows taxpayers to see for themselves how the money they are sending to Washington is spent.

Bureaucrats, however, have been hiding tens of billions of dollars distributed through secret spending arrangements known as other transaction agreements, or OTAs, by not publicly disclosing these expenditures on USAspending.gov. The Pentagon alone has obligated $77.7 billion for thousands of OTAs over just the past 5 years through over 30,000 hard-to-track contracts.

The lack of transparency with OTAs is having a real impact. According to the Government Accountability Office, the Pentagon ``cannot assess the extent to which OTAs are delivering capabilities to the warfighter.'' The Office of the Inspector General also found the Pentagon doesn't even have an accurate count of OTAs or their dollar values.

OTAs are also being used by the Departments of Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Transportation, Energy, as well as NASA.

We recently learned that NIH's new ARPA-H biomedical research contracts are being processed as OTAs through the Interior Department. This means if you want to know the details behind NIH's biomedical research contracts, you practically have to be a data wizard and know where to look deep in the Department of--where did I say?--Department of the Interior's databases. I know, it makes no sense. As we witnessed last week, we can't get answers from Dr. Fauci about what NIH has been funding because he is hiding behind the Fifth Amendment.

Taxpayers deserve to know how their dollars are being spent in Washington, and we have an obligation here to show them.

In June, the Senate unanimously passed my bipartisan Stop Secret Spending Act to require OTAs to be publicly disclosed on USAspending.gov just like all other government spending.

I very much appreciate Senators Peters and Hassan, whose support was critical for making this happen. I was also delighted last month when the House approved the bipartisan companion bill introduced by Representatives Moore and Panetta, which is now at the desk here in the Senate. We all know Congress can't agree on very much these days, so it makes a very powerful statement when folks on both sides of the aisle and from both Chambers come together by passing this transparency bill to hold Washington accountable for how Americans' tax dollars are being spent. With fraudsters stealing $1.4 billion every single day, we need this information now so we can account for who is taking tax dollars and why they are taking them.

Earlier today, I attended the meeting of the Vice President's Task Force to Eliminate Fraud at the White House, and the success of this effort depends on being able to track how dollars are being spent. Unfortunately, some Governors are impeding anti-fraud efforts by blocking access to spending information about how tax dollars from Washington are being spent in their own States.

We can't stop what we can't see, but we can do our part by passing the Stop Secret Spending Act today. This bill will end the secrecy about how tens of billions of dollars are being spent every single year. There are no excuses for delaying sending this bill to the President today to become law. In fact, the only reason to oppose the Stop Secret Spending Act is if you have something to hide.

As if in legislative session and notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 2069, which was received from the House. I further ask that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

I can appreciate the dilemma that many of us are in as we debate these very important bills, and they are very important bills. So what I have in front of me here at my desk is a list of 59 House bills that have been passed this Congress. They are H.R. bills. They are H.J. Res. 140; H.R. 7147--59 House bills that have already passed through the Senate in this Congress.

Now, I understand that we all have ways that we have to use leverage. I completely understand that. As a matter of fact, the bill that I had passed through this Chamber, you know, I would love to have it as an S. bill, a Senate bill, and I would love to see my name at the top of the bill rather than a House bill.

The companion bill was passed by the House. So, again, I would love to see my name at the top of the bill and it listed as a Senate bill.

I discussed it with my staff. I am in the last 6 months of my final term in the U.S. Senate. I would love to have more of my legacy items with my name on them, but I told my staff that it is more important that we get these bills done. I don't care if it is a House bill. I don't care if this has my name all over it. The important thing is that when we have good pieces of legislation put in front of us and that we worked hard in a bipartisan manner, in a bicameral manner, and it is good for the American people, that we move forward with those bills.

So I am disappointed today that my piece of legislation under the title of a House bill will not be moving, and I know that many of our constituencies will be greatly disappointed.

I do hope in the future that, between the Senate Republican leadership and the House Republican leadership, we can come together on these issues because it is not good for the American people when we have this infighting on good, solid pieces of legislation. We can do better.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2069) to amend the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 to ensure that other transaction agreements are reported to USAspending.gov, and for other purposes.

Madam 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 this measure.

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

Madam Speaker, I support this bill, H.R. 2069, the Stop Secret Spending Act of 2025, which requires Federal agencies to report complete and accurate information to USAspending.gov.

The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act, as later amended by the DATA Act of 2014, established USAspending.gov, a public database of all government spending.

It is critical that government spending is transparent to the American people so that they can be assured that agencies are appropriately using their hard-earned tax dollars.

Transparency is fundamental in building trust in government.

For 20 years, agencies have been required to be more transparent with how they are spending taxpayer dollars, but, unfortunately, gaps have been identified in what gets reported to USAspending.gov by Federal agencies.

Increasingly, Federal agencies have relied upon spending authorities known as other transaction agreements, or OTAs. OTAs are not subject to certain Federal acquisition laws and requirements and, most importantly, are not required to be reported to USAspending.gov under current law.

Agencies use different methods to report the billions of dollars in spending related to OTAs, according to the Government Accountability Office. This has led to inconsistent reporting and unreliable information, resulting in a lack of full transparency over how billions of dollars are spent by Federal agencies.

To be clear, the DATA Act of 2014 intended for all Federal spending to be captured on USAspending.gov.

The Stop Secret Spending Act corrects this issue by requiring OTA spending to be reported to USAspending.gov.

The bill also requires agencies to report annually on types of funding that previously were unreported for a variety of exemptions.

Lastly, it restores the requirement for agency inspectors general to review the entirety of data submitted to USAspending.gov to ensure that it is complete and accurate.

H.R. 2069 will provide more transparency to the American people. It allows taxpayers to hold agencies accountable for how they spend your money.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this very commonsense legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Moore).

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this important governmentwide Federal spending transparency reform bill that will help the public and Congress understand exactly how Federal agencies are using the very limited tax dollars that we have, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Reserving the right to object, I understand that my colleague from Iowa is deeply interested in getting this legislation passed, and I appreciate the diligence and effort she has devoted to this legislation. This is a good bill. I support her bill. Indeed, I voted for her bill, as did every other Member of this body.

But the Senate also has a great many other bills that we are working on, that we have passed, and that have run into a roadblock in the House of Representatives. The House of Representatives currently is refusing to take up Senate-passed bills and, rather, is passing almost exclusively House bills. This is an unreasonable position for the House to take. Indeed, it is not a theoretical position; it is what the House has done on this very bill.

On this bill, Senator Ernst introduced it, the Senate passed it unanimously, it was sent to the House, and what did the House do? They did not pass the Senate-passed bill; instead, they passed essentially the identical bill but as a House measure. Now, mind you, that was not because they had any substantive objections to Senator Ernst's bill but, rather, it was because they were refusing to do their job as another Chamber in this Congress.

Among the bills that the Senate has passed that are sitting, languishing at the House right now is a bill that I have worked very hard to pass called Trey's Law.

Trey's Law is named for Trey Carlock, a beloved citizen of Dallas who tragically, as a young boy, was a victim of sexual assault at a summer camp. Litigation ensued, and Trey ended up signing an NDA where he was blocked by law from sharing the details of the horrific sexual abuse he endured. That silence weighed on Trey powerfully, and he ultimately took his own life at age 28.

Trey's Law is an initiative that has been championed by Trey's sister Elizabeth. Numerous States, including my home State of Texas and including, Mr. President, your home State of Missouri, have passed Trey's Law.

In the Senate, I introduced Trey's Law as bipartisan legislation, and the Senate passed it 100 to none, and it is sitting at the House languishing--not because anyone objects to it but simply because the House has decided not to process Senate bills.

So, as my friend Senator Ernst knows, I have placed a hold on House bills until the House starts taking up and passing Senate bills. I have been actively in negotiation with House leadership, and I am confident this issue will get resolved. The House is going to take up and do their job and pass Senate bills, and the Senate will likewise take up and pass House bills. And I am confident in particular that Senator Ernst will succeed in passing this bill into law this year--with my enthusiastic support.

But often in Congress, the only way to get a change of action is to exercise leverage. That is what I am doing now to get the House to take up and pass important bills, so therefore, at this time at least, I object.

Mr. President, taxpayers deserve to know how the money they send to Washington is being spent. For 20 years now, the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act has required unclassified government spending to be put online in a searchable public website, USAspending.gov. This allows taxpayers to review the receipts for themselves. Bureaucrats, however, have been hiding tens of billions of dollars distributed through secret spending arrangements known as other transaction agreements, or OTAs, by not publicly disclosing these expenditures on USAspending.gov.

With fraudsters stealing $1.4 billion every single day, we need this information now so we can account for who is taking tax dollars and why.

In June, the Senate unanimously passed my bipartisan Stop Secret Spending Act to require OTAs to be publicly disclosed on USAspending.gov, just like all other government spending. Last month, the House approved the bipartisan companion bill introduced by Representatives Moore and Panetta. Democrats and Republicans in both the House and Senate agree that Washington needs to finally end the secrecy about how tens of billions of dollars are being spent every year. That is a win for everyone, especially our taxpayers.

Let's send this bill to the President today so it becomes law.

Mr. President, notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 2069, which was received from the House.

I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Madam Speaker, the American people work hard for every dollar they send to Washington, and they deserve to know how every one of those dollars is spent. That is the simple principle behind the Stop Secret Spending Act.

Federal agencies have been able to spend billions of taxpayer dollars through what are known as other transaction agreements, or OTAs, without fully reporting those expenditures on usaspending.gov.

These agreements may have legitimate uses, but the American people should not have to wonder whether Federal spending is being disclosed or not. When our national debt is approaching $40 trillion, transparency is not optional. It is a responsibility.

This bill closes a loophole that has allowed significant amounts of Federal spending to remain outside the public reporting system. It does not ban OTAs. It does not create unnecessary red tape. It simply requires the agencies to report these agreements so taxpayers can see where their money is going.

Every family in Alabama knows where their money is spent. Farmers know where they money is spent. Small business owners know where their money is spent. The Federal Government should be held to that same standard.

Sunlight is one of the best safeguards against waste, fraud, and abuse. Transparency helps Congress do its job. It helps taxpayers hold Washington accountable, and it helps restore trust in government.

That is common sense. That is accountability. That is exactly what the American people expect from their government.

Madam Speaker, I urge our colleagues to support the Stop Secret Spending Act.