Grant Reporting Efficiency and Agreements Transparency Act of 2019

Floor Speech

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Mr. CLINE. Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise in support of H.R. 150, the Grant Reporting Efficiency and Agreements Transparency Act.

Madam Speaker, in 1788, Patrick Henry spoke at the Virginia Constitutional Convention, where he said: ``The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them.''

Transparency in government is an important principle for the preservation of our Republic, and it has been a priority for me during my tenure in the Virginia House of Delegates, where I was proud to sponsor legislation to put the entire State budget in a searchable online database.

In a similar vein, H.R. 150 would require that data on more than $600 billion in Federal grants be standardized and published on a single online portal.

This is bipartisan legislation that would modernize the way the Federal Government does business by simplifying grant reporting information into a searchable, more manageable system.

Nonprofit, State and local governments, and small businesses will no longer be forced to spend meaningful work hours on filling out duplicative paperwork.

In return, this will not only make the grant reporting process more transparent but will make it more efficient and accessible to everyday Americans, thus saving taxpayer dollars and helping to fulfill the vision of another Virginian, Thomas Jefferson, who in his first inaugural said: ``A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government.''

Madam Speaker, I support this bill and urge its passage.

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