We just posted about the impending doom of the Consolidated Federal Funds Report (CFFR). Well guess what I found in my latest weekly email update from the Project on Government Oversight (POGO)? I found an announcement for a hearing of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on July 18, 2012 (Location: SD-342) entitled — get this! — “Show Me the Money: Improving the Transparency of Federal Spending.” It seems to me that the quickest and easiest way to improve the transparency in federal funding is to re-fund the Federal Financial Statistics program and the Consolidated Federal Funds Report (CFFR).
I hope all of our readers — and especially those from states with Senators sitting on that committee (CT, ME, MI, HI, DE, AR, LA, MO, MT, AK, OK, MA, AZ, WI, OH, KY, KS) — will contact Senator Joe Lieberman (Committee Chairman) and Senator Susan Collins (Ranking member) and ALL of the other Senators and request that the CFFR be reinstated.
Here’s sample email text to copy/paste:
Dear Senator ______________,I see that the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs will be holding a hearing on July 18th entitled “Show Me the Money: Improving the Transparency of Federal Spending.” You may be aware that the Census Bureau’s Federal Financial Statistics program will be shut down on July 31, 2012 due to budget cuts. This includes the critical publication “Consolidated Federal Funds Report (CFFR)” [http://www.census.gov/govs/cffr/]. According to the Census Website, the CFFR contains “virtually all Federal expenditures, including grants, loans, direct payments, insurance, procurement, salaries and wages and other awards (such as price supports and research awards). Data represent actual expenditures (or outlays).”
As a government information librarian at _________________________, I can attest that this publication is highly sought after by researchers, faculty, students, and the public looking into federal spending. Reinstating the Federal Financial Statistics Program and continuing publication of the CFFR would be a very large step in the right direction toward greater transparency in federal funding — which I believe is the goal of this upcoming hearing.
Thank you for your attention to the important issue of government transparency and responsible spending.
Sincerely,
NAME
CONTACT
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