Cato’s “Deepbills” Project Advances Government Transparency by Jim Harper.
From the post:
But there’s no sense in sitting around waiting for things to improve. Given the incentives, transparency is something that we will have to force on government. We won’t receive it like a gift.
So with software we acquired and modified for the purpose, we’ve been adding data to the bills in Congress, making it possible to learn automatically more of what they do. The bills published by the Government Printing Office have data about who introduced them and the committees to which they were referred. We are adding data that reflects:
– What agencies and bureaus the bills in Congress affect;
– What laws the bills in Congress effect: by popular name, U.S. Code section, Statutes at Large citation, and more;
– What budget authorities bills include, the amount of this proposed spending, its purpose, and the fiscal year(s).
We are capturing proposed new bureaus and programs, proposed new sections of existing law, and other subtleties in legislation. Our “Deepbills” project is documented at cato.org/resources/data.
This data can tell a more complete story of what is happening in Congress. Given the right Web site, app, or information service, you will be able to tell who proposed to spend your taxpayer dollars and in what amounts. You’ll be able to tell how your member of Congress and senators voted on each one. You might even find out about votes you care about before they happen!
Two important points:
First, transparency must be forced upon government (I would add businesses).
Second, transparency is up to us.
Do you know something the rest of us should know?
On your mark!
Get set!
Go!
I first saw this at: Harper: Cato’s “Deepbills” Project Advances Government Transparency.