By Jim Harper
Meet the Data Transparency Coalition. The Washington Post‘s Capitol Business blog reports this morning: A small but growing collection of companies has formed a coalition that will push the federal government to establish a standard system by which agencies categorize their data. … “Our members understand that if the government identified its data elements in [...]
Data Transparency Coalition Debuts Today is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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Since 1993, the Census Bureau has made available detailed data about federal government expenditures in its Consolidated Federal Funds Report (CFFR). The 2012 report will be the last one. Through the CFFR website, the public had access to such data as federal expenditures made at the county level for programs such as Medicaid, Social Security, and Medicare as well as for more obscure federal spending programs. How much did the federal government send to Autauga County in Alabama for a hazardous materials training program? That data was available, but now … More
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By Jim Harper
The House of Representatives is poised to make great strides forward in transparency, and our work over the last year aims to help them do that. Here’s how this spreadsheet …
Helping the House Advance Data Transparency is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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By Jim Harper
In last night’s State of the Union speech, President Obama called for tax law reforms he says we need. Cato scholars have their doubts about much of what was in the speech, but my interest was piqued by the fact that he said, “Send me these tax reforms, and I will sign them right away.” [...]
Sunlight Before Signing, Year Three is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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By Jim Harper
He’s not unrestrained, but Larry Downes sees the remarkable downfall of legislation to regulate the Internet’s engineering as a harbinger of things to come. Jerry Brito, meanwhile, tells us “Why We Won’t See Many Protests like the SOPA Blackout.” They’re both right—over different time-horizons. The information environment and economics of political organization today are still [...]
SOPA/PIPA: Harbinger or Aberration? is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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By Jim Harper
At a recent Cato event on transparency, I emphasized that there is no federal government “organization chart” published in a way computers can use. Here’s what I mean: Appendix C of the Office of Management and Budget’s Circular A-11 is the White House’s definitive public listing of agencies and bureaus, along with their OMB and [...]
There’s No Machine-Readable Government Org Chart is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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By Jim Harper
At a recent Capitol Hill briefing on government transparency, I made an effort to describe the importance of getting data from the government reflecting its deliberations, management, and results. I analogized to the World Wide Web. The structure that allows you to find and then view a blog post as a blog post is called [...]
Why Data Transparency? is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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By Jim Harper
Perhaps my mean grading has contributed to nascent competition between the Republican House and the Democratic administration for the transparency prize. Last Friday, the House Administration Committee adopted standards that “require all House legislative documents be published electronically in an open, searchable format on one centralized website.” At a September Cato Capitol Hill briefing, I [...]
House Transparency Slated to Improve is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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By Jim Harper
In his final “Chairman’s Corner” blog post as head of the White House’s Recovery Act Transparency and Accountability Board, Earl Devaney highlights the need for orderly publication of data about government spending. There is bi-partisan legislation now in the Congress—it’s called the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act, or DATA Act—that could accomplish this mission. But [...]
The DATA Act and Cato’s Transparency Work is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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Citizens across America will have a powerful tool to hold their elected leaders accountable come January. The House of Representatives today adopted new standards that increase transparency and improve access to legislative data. All of the information will be publicly available in a searchable format on one website. “With the adoption of these standards, for the first time, all House bills, resolutions and legislative documents will be available in XML in one centralized location,” said House Administration Chairman Dan Lungren (R-CA). “Providing easy access to legislative information increases constituent feedback and ultimately … More
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