COST Act

New federal funding disclosure rules

This bill would require Executive and independent regulatory agencies, and any person or group running a program paid with federal money, to disclose funding details when publicly describing the program. Except for messages under 280 characters, documents would have to state: (1) the percent of total costs paid by federal funds; (2) the dollar amount of federal funds available; and (3) the percent and dollar amount paid by nongovernmental sources. Entities would have to include, in performance progress reports, a certification about whether short (≤280-character) communications complied. The Office of Management and Budget would annually review a random sample of public communications and publish the results. Within one year of enactment, OMB would provide an anonymous public reporting tool to report noncompliant communications.