Government must report big project failures to Congress and public.
S. 766 — Billion Dollar Boondoggle Act of 2025 · Filed by Joni Ernst (R-IA) · 4 cosponsors · Introduced Feb 27, 2025 · Passed both chambers
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What it does
The bill makes government offices report each year on major projects. Projects must be reported if they are more than 5 years late. Projects must also be reported if they cost more than $1 billion extra. Reports must list the project, the company, the old dates and costs. Reports must also list the new dates and costs, why delays happened, and why costs went up. Reports must list any pay raises given to companies. This creates a public record of what went wrong.
Who it affects
Citizens can see how their tax dollars are spent on major government projects. Voters and watchdog groups can use the reports to check government spending. They can hold offices responsible. Companies working on these projects must report their failures.
One thing to notice
The bill requires government offices to disclose pay raises given to companies on troubled projects. This may show cases where companies got pay raises even though projects went wrong.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
4 cosponsors: 2 Democrats, 2 Republicans.
- Feb 27, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Feb 27, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs”
- Jul 30, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Ordered to be reported without amendment favorably”
- Dec 11, 2025 — Passed the Senate · Congress.gov: “Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous Consent. (consideration: CR S8693-8694; text: CR S8693-8694)”
- Mar 18, 2026 — Hearing held · Congress.gov: “Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. Hearings held”
- Sep 16, 2026 — Passed both chambers · Congress.gov: “On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote”
- Sep 16, 2026 — Floor vote scheduled · Congress.gov: “Mr. Comer moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- major projects — Big jobs or building work done by the government.
- company — A business hired by the government to do work.
- public record — Information that anyone can see and read.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (3,094 characters) on Jun 8, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,358 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 2026-09-19.
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