Open-government groups want E-Gov fund restored

{mosads}An executive order from President Obama would create a spending transparency board based on the Recovery Board that tracked stimulus spending.

The board would issue recommendations in six months on how to integrate the collection and display of government spending data. It would likely draw from Recovery.gov, the public website used to track stimulus spending.

Recovery.gov drew some early criticism for the accuracy of its data along with a charge from House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) that the site was used to disseminate Democratic propaganda.

Issa unveiled his own spending transparency legislation on Monday, which would go a step further and empower an accountability board to craft data reporting standards that agencies would be forced to comply with. His bill would eliminate USASpending.gov as well as Recovery.gov.

Despite his criticism of the stimulus tracking site, Issa also cited the Recovery Board as the model for using transparency to root out cases of fraud and abuse.

He issued a statement claiming he and the White House are “on the same page” with regards to spending transparency and said there is bipartisan support for legislation in both chambers of Congress.