Federal agencies must now disclose billion-dollar project failures annually
H.R. 1722 — Billion Dollar Boondoggle Act · Filed by Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA) · 3 cosponsors · Introduced Feb 27, 2025 · Passed chamber
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What it does
This bill requires federal agencies to submit annual reports to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) detailing all major projects that are either more than 5 years behind schedule or over budget by at least $1 billion. OMB must then publish these reports publicly on its website, making taxpayer-funded project failures transparent to Congress and the public.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative mechanism is a mandatory disclosure requirement—agencies must report on failed or over-budget projects to OMB, which publishes the data publicly. This is a classic transparency/accountability measure with no carve-outs, subsidies, or private beneficiaries.
What the text implies
- Reporting requirement may incentivize agencies to reclassify or restructure projects to avoid the $1B threshold or 5-year delay trigger, potentially obscuring problems rather than solving them.
- Classified annex provision allows sensitive defense/intelligence projects to be withheld from public view, creating a potential loophole for the largest and most costly programs.
- No enforcement mechanism or consequences for agencies that fail to report or submit incomplete data; compliance depends entirely on OMB follow-through.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Citizens gain transparency into how federal agencies spend taxpayer money on major projects, enabling public scrutiny and informed democratic oversight. The bill creates no new restrictions on citizens' rights or protections, and imposes only administrative reporting duties on agencies—a cost to government, not to the public.
Named in the bill
Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Executive agencies, Independent regulatory agencies, Department of Defense, Federal contractors and subcontractors
Where it stands
3 cosponsors: 2 Republicans, 1 Democrats.
- Feb 27, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Feb 27, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Armed Services and House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and in addition to the Committee on Armed…”
- Mar 18, 2026 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
- Mar 18, 2026 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 39 - 0”
- Jul 20, 2026 — Floor vote scheduled · Congress.gov: “Mr. Burlison moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended”
- Jul 22, 2026 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (3,401 characters) on Jul 21, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
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