On Thursday, U.S.Representative Mike Gallagher (R-WI) as well as Jackie Speier (D-CA) introduced bipartisan legislation titled the Billion Dollar Boondoggie Act. The bill would increase transparency and accountability with large-scale government projects. The bill also requires an annual report to taxpayers listing every government-funded project that is $1 billion or more over budget or projects which are five or more years behind schedule. The bill that was introduced in the Senate by Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Gary Peters (D-MI) also passed unanimously out of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee on Wednesday. 

Gallagher said of the bill, “requiring the federal government to report on projects that are over budget or behind schedule is the least we can do to increase transparency and accountability.” For each reported project, the report would include a brief description of the purpose, location, year it began and an explanation of any change to the original project.