The latest proposal for a continuing resolution to come out of the House Appropriations Committee includes $17 million for the Office of Management and Budget’s E-Government program, which administers funds for open-government sites, Federal News Radio reports.
However, while a marked increase from the $2 million previously proposed, it is still a far cry from the $35 million the administration has requested.
However, it will likely be enough to keep running eight open-gov websites slated to go dark in May because of a lack funding.
Without the CR, funding for Public sites such as the IT Dashboard, Data.gov and paymentaccuracy.gov will begin running out of funding at the end of this month, Federal News Radio previously reported.
The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government held hearings on the General Services Administration’s 2012 budget request Tuesday, where GSA Administrator Martha Johnson explained the importance of the open-gov sites.
“The public gets accustomed to using these new tools,” Johnson said, according to Federal News Radio. “For instance, USASpending.gov saw [its] traffic increase by 30 percent last year.”
Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.), who chairs the subcommittee, said there will likely be changes before funding for the rest of the year is finally hammered out but that “certainly there is a recognition that money was needed.â€
Everyone is looking on the internet for everything. This is a useful government program that deserves to be funded.