COST Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [S. 4130 Introduced in Senate (IS)] <DOC> 119th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 4130 To put a public price tag on all projects supported with taxpayer dollars. _______________________________________________________________________ IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES March 18, 2026 Ms. Ernst (for herself and Mr. Scott of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs _______________________________________________________________________ A BILL To put a public price tag on all projects supported with taxpayer dollars. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Cost Openness and Spending Transparency Act of 2026'' or the ``COST Act''. SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS FOR FEDERAL FUNDS. (a) In General.--Subchapter III of chapter 13 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: ``Sec. 1356. Disclosure requirements for Federal funds ``(a) Definition.--In this section, the term `agency' means-- ``(1) an Executive agency, as defined in section 105 of title 5; and ``(2) an independent regulatory agency, as defined in section 3502 of title 44. ``(b) Disclosure Requirements.--An agency and an individual or entity (including a State or local government and a recipient of a Federal research grant) carrying out a program, project, or activity that is, in whole or in part, carried out using Federal funds shall clearly state in any statement, press release, request for proposals, bid solicitation, or other document describing the program, project, or activity, other than a communication containing not more than 280 characters-- ``(1) the percentage of the total costs of the program, project, or activity which will be financed with Federal funds; ``(2) the dollar amou