The House today passed the latest in a series of budget reforms designed to ensure taxpayer dollars are spent wisely, or not at all.   H.R. 3581, the Budget and Accounting Transparency Act, would institute critical reforms to provide a more honest and transparent accounting of Washington’s finances.  In the Pledge to America, Republicans vowed to reform Washington’s broken budget process, and today’s vote is the latest step in this effort.

Speaker Boehner, who ran a small business in Ohio, commended the House for passing the measure:

“Taxpayers deserve an unvarnished picture of the state of the federal government’s books, and it’s about time Washington bring more of its accounting practices into line with the private sector.  These tools will help stop Washington from spending money we don’t have and create a better environment for private-sector job creation.”

Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ), the author of the Budget and Accounting Transparency Act, talked about the measure at a recent Capitol Hill press conference:

Here’s a brief summary of what the Budget and Accounting Transparency Act means to you:  Reforms the Credit Reform Act to incorporate Fair Value accounting principles.

• Recognizes the budgetary impact of the GSEs by formally bringing the entities on-budget.
• Requires a CBO & OMB study on offsetting receipts/collections/revenues.
• Requires all federal agencies make public the budgetary justification materials prepared in support of their requests for taxpayer dollars.

Last week, Speaker Boehner commended the members of the House Budget Committee, led by Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI), “for their efforts to reform the budget process with an eye on promoting job creation, which is part of our Pledge to America.”  Learn more here.