White House scraps public spending database
Source: Roll Call
Posted March 24, 2025 at 1:02pm, Updated at 2:50pm
The White House budget office has taken down its website where approvals of federal funding provided in appropriations laws are statutorily required to be posted for public viewing, a move likely to face major blowback from members of Congress and government watchdogs.
As of Monday morning, the Office of Management and Budget was no longer making “apportionments” of previously enacted appropriations available on the website it set up for that purpose after Congress mandated the requirement starting in 2022. The site now simply says: “Page not found.” Sources familiar with the decision said it was made because preliminary information was being disclosed on the site. They added that making apportionments public could include sensitive data that might pose a risk to national security.
Disclosures of apportionment data can be premature because they represent interim decisions which are subject to change, the sources said. Making the information public could also undermine the OMB’s relationships with agencies and ability to supervise federal spending, they said, adding that apportionment data would still be available to lawmakers if needed.
But open government groups seem likely to challenge the decision in court, given it appears to flout the 2022 law. “This is in direct violation of federal law,” said Faith Williams, director of the effective and accountable government program at the Project on Government Oversight, known as POGO. “The apportionments database is a critical tool for Congress and the public to hold the executive branch accountable for its spending.”
Read more: https://rollcall.com/2025/03/24/white-house-scraps-public-spending-database/
Yet another violation of law.
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