toomuchtodo
10 hours ago
From a recent First Branch Forecast newsletter issue [1]:
> Our friends at Protect Democracy just launched OpenOMB.org which allows you to more easily track apportionments. The website draws from data that Congress required OMB publish online, published by the government in such a way that coincidentally [2] (?!!) makes it hard to find and analyze the data.
> Protect Democracy explains why they created the website in this blogpost [3] that reviews how presidents abused apportionments and how this new tool will empower oversight.
> That oversight won't be perfect. We're hearing that since Congress required OMB to disclose apportionments, OMB has reduced the number of footnotes they're using and are instead communicating directions to agencies in ways that avoid public reporting and are aimed at evading FOIA as well. The FAQ from openomb.org does a good job of explaining the minutiae of apportionments, including the importance of footnotes.
> But there's room for oversight here even beyond the footnotes by following the money itself. For example, take a look at OMB's practice of reserving funds from no-year and multi-year appropriations for future fiscal years. (Watch this explainer [4])
[1] https://mailchi.mp/3cf5388d38c2/fbf-the-post-biden-era-26500
[2] https://apportionment-public.max.gov/
[3] https://www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/is-the-president-following-...