A website launched in 2007 to increase transparency of government spending is inaccurate and missing data for at least $619 billion in grants and awards distributed by federal programs, according to an audit by the Government Accountability Office.
Only 2 percent to 7 percent of the 2012 data on USASpending.gov is
consistent with agency records, USA Today reported.
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Among the data missing from the website is almost $544 billion the Department of Health and Human Services spent on programs such as Medicare. Incompatibility of accounting systems contributed to about $5.3 billion in spending by the Department of the Interior.
"We live in a world in which information drives decisions," Sen. Tom Carper said, according to USA Today. "And, given the budget constraints that our government faces, we need reliable information on how and where our money is being spent."
The website misreported the award recipient in about one in 20 cases, the dollar amount in about 7 percent of cases, and the
purpose of the money in about 33 percent of cases, The Washington Times reported.
The website was created as a requirement of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006.
“The administration set a goal of 100% accuracy by the end of 2011,”
Sen. Tom Coburn said in a statement. “Three years later the federal government cannot even break a 10% accuracy rate. This complete failure in spending transparency hurts our ability to assess the pros and cons of how Washington spends tax dollars.”
An Office of Management and Budget spokesman said the agency is
working to improve the accuracy of the website, The Washington Post reported.
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