S. 4130

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4130 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 4130

To put a public price tag on all projects supported with taxpayer 
dollars.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

March 18, 2026

Ms. Ernst (for herself and Mr. Scott of Florida) introduced the 
following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To put a public price tag on all projects supported with taxpayer 
dollars.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Cost Openness and Spending 
Transparency Act of 2026'' or the ``COST Act''.

SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS FOR FEDERAL FUNDS.

(a) In General.--Subchapter III of chapter 13 of title 31, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 1356. Disclosure requirements for Federal funds
``(a) Definition.--In this section, the term `agency' means--
``(1) an Executive agency, as defined in section 105 of 
title 5; and
``(2) an independent regulatory agency, as defined in 
section 3502 of title 44.
``(b) Disclosure Requirements.--An agency and an individual or 
entity (including a State or local government and a recipient of a 
Federal research grant) carrying out a program, project, or activity 
that is, in whole or in part, carried out using Federal funds shall 
clearly state in any statement, press release, request for proposals, 
bid solicitation, or other document describing the program, project, or 
activity, other than a communication containing not more than 280 
characters--
``(1) the percentage of the total costs of the program, 
project, or activity which will be financed with Federal funds;
``(2) the dollar amount of the Federal funds made available 
for the program, project, or activity; and
``(3) the percentage of the total costs of, and dollar 
amount for, the program, project, or activity that will be 
financed by nongovernmental sources.
``(c) Certification.--An individual or entity carrying out a 
program, project, or activity that is, in whole or in part, carried out 
using Federal funds shall, as part of the performance progress 
reporting regarding the program, project, or activity, include a 
certification indicating whether the individual or entity complied with 
the disclosure requirements under subsection (b) with respect to 
communications containing not more than 280 characters relating to the 
program, project, or activity.
``(d) Compliance Review.--The Director of the Office of Management 
and Budget shall annually--
``(1) review a random sampling of public communications 
issued by agencies and recipients of Federal funds for 
compliance with the disclosure requirements under subsection 
(b); and
``(2) make publicly available the findings of the review 
under paragraph (1).
``(e) Public Reporting.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
enactment of this section, the Director of the Office of Management and 
Budget shall make available to the public a mechanism to anonymously 
report communications that do not comply with the disclosure 
requirements under subsection (b), which shall require that such a 
report include--
``(1) the noncompliant communication or, if publicly 
available, the location of the noncompliant communication; and
``(2) identifying information regarding the program, 
project, or activity that is, in whole or in part, carried out 
using Federal funds.''.
(b) Technical and Conforming Amendment.--The table of sections for 
subchapter III of chapter 13 of title 31, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following:

``1356. Disclosure requirements for Federal funds.''.
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