Ernst Bill Would Create Executive Branch Transparency Czar in the White House

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) speaks at a Senate Republican news conference in the U.S. Capitol Building on March 9, 2022. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Executive branch officials who fail to follow federal laws guaranteeing public access to government documents would have to answer to a newly created director of openness in government (DOG) in the White House under a proposal introduced by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa).

“Iowans, and all Americans, have a right to know what’s happening in Washington, but without proper supervision, our transparency laws are often more bark than bite,” Ernst said in a statement announcing the proposal.

“As autocrats around the world, from Russia to China, try to crack down on citizens’ freedom of information, my bill will ensure here in America we open our government to the public and the officials we pay with our tax dollars fully comply with our transparency laws.

“Sticking up for the taxpayer and holding government officials accountable might not make me a lot of friends inside the Beltway, but you know what they say: ‘If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.’”

If the Ernst proposal becomes law, it would accomplish three things, the Iowa Republican said during a March 15 Senate floor speech:

• Provide taxpayers with a comprehensive summary of the information they have a right to know and how to obtain it from the appropriate executive branch office.
• Review complaints about failures by any agency to comply with a federal transparency law and work with the Department of Justice’s Office of Information Policy in resolving them.
• Grade each agency annually on how it performs in the timeliness and completeness of information provided to the public under the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and other regulations and statutes requiring transparency of government documents and operations.

Also covered by the DOG would be the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (FFATA), disclosure requirements for federal grant recipients, multiple transparency regulations under the federal budget process, and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

The FFATA’s primary sponsors were then-Sens. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.). The law required the federal government to establish a website, USASpending.gov, that would make available most federal spending to the public. The site has often been criticized since its creation for failing to be user-friendly or to provide all of the information required by law.