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Funding for government transparency websites, part of a two-year long initiative by the Obama administration, will be cut in the upcoming months. The websites were part of President Obama’s effort to make government data more accessible to the public and show how federal funds were spent. Websites like Data.gov, USASpending.gov, PaymentAccuracy.gov, and five other similar sites are expected to shut down.
Congress is cutting the collective budget for eight websites from $34 million to $2 million, according to a report by the Sunlight Foundation. The cuts will affect internal government sites like FedSpace, a secure intranet site to facilitate cross-agency collaboration and information sharing. Other security efforts related to cloud computing, which would streamline security authorizations for federal agencies, are expected to be cut as well. Funding for some of the websites is expected to run out as early as April 20.
The Center reported in June that while the website Data.gov had grown substantially and encouraged cities and other nations to adopt similar initiatives, users were still pushing the government to release better quality data and make it more usable.
Reprinted by Permission © 2012, The Center for Public Integrity®. All Rights Reserved.
