A subcommittee of the House of Representatives has endorsed a $40 million budget for a planned merger of the E-Government Fund and the Federal Citizen Services Fund, Federal News Radio reported Tuesday.
Jason Miller writes the bid is meant to revive a 2012 bill that attempted to merge the funds and make cuts in management and operational costs for federal websites such as USASpending.gov.
The article says the Center for Effective Government and Sunlight Foundation disapprove of the proposed law, which is still subject to Senate consideration.
“The E-Gov Fund has a proven track record of successful transparency projects that have delivered efficiency improvements and increased government accountability,†the two organizations were quoted to have said in a report.
The latest attempt of the Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government to combine the E-Government Fund with the Citizen Services Fund comes three years after the House Appropriations Committee filed its first request.
“While these funds were created at different periods of time and developed different programs, they share a common objective — making it easier for citizens to understand and interact with their government,” the proposed bill says.
Miller reports the E-Government Fund has continued to face hurdles since it was established in 2002 due to financial constraints in the maintenance of its websites and online facilities.
