The "CBO Show Your Work Act" mandates the Congressional Budget Office to publicly disclose the models and data used in cost estimates for legislation, increasing transparency and enabling external replication of their analyses.
Warren Davidson
Representative
OH-8
The "CBO Show Your Work Act" mandates the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to publicly release the fiscal, policy, and data models used for cost estimates of legislation, along with any updates. This allows for transparency and replication of CBO's analyses by external parties. The CBO must also disclose data, programs, assumptions, and computational details used in preparing cost estimates, while protecting confidential data by providing detailed variable lists, statistics, and contact information for data access.
CBO Show Your Work Act: New Bill Demands Full Transparency on Budget Projections, Starting in Six Months
The "CBO Show Your Work Act" is all about pulling back the curtain on how the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) figures out the costs and impacts of proposed laws. This bill demands that the CBO make all its fiscal and policy models, data preparation routines, and the underlying data used for cost estimates publicly available on its website.
Decoding the Numbers
The core idea here is transparency. Right now, the CBO provides cost estimates for bills, but the detailed models and data behind those numbers aren't fully public. This bill changes that. Six months after this bill is enacted, anyone – from policy wonks and academics to everyday citizens – will be able to dig into the CBO's methods. Think of it like getting the recipe and the chef's step-by-step instructions, instead of just the finished dish. For example, if the CBO estimates a new environmental regulation will cost businesses $X million, you'll be able to see exactly what data and assumptions went into that calculation.
Real-World Radar
This level of access could be a game-changer for how we understand and debate legislation. Imagine a small business owner who can now use the CBO's own models to see how a proposed tax law might affect their bottom line. Or a community group that can analyze the potential impact of a new infrastructure project on their neighborhood, using the same tools as Congress. It also means outside experts can check the CBO's work, potentially leading to better models and more accurate estimates. Section 2 of the bill specifically requires the CBO to provide all details used in cost estimates, making it possible for others to replicate their results.
The Flip Side
While transparency sounds great, there are some practical hurdles. The bill does include provisions to protect confidential data (like individual tax records), requiring the CBO to provide descriptive statistics and contact information for accessing restricted data, instead of publishing the data itself. But there's a risk that this increased scrutiny could make the CBO's work more political. Plus, there's the sheer workload of making all this information public and user-friendly. It will be interesting to see if CBO gets additional resources to manage this.