(Alexandria, VA) – Thanks to a newpartnership between two trusted information sources, taxpayers will have manymore options to weigh the costs as well as the benefits of proposed bills inCongress. The National Taxpayers UnionFoundation (NTUF) and WashingtonWatch.com have launched an onlineinitiative that will allow sharing of data and results from NTUF’s BillTally legislativecost-accounting project more quickly than ever before. WashingtonWatch.com willmake use of BillTally statistics, and NTUF studies on federal legislation, throughoutits website (WashingtonWatch.com),and to power their cost calculations of legislation.
“NTUF is extremely pleased to offerour research to WashingtonWatch.com, an organization that has worked tirelesslyto make information on Congressional legislation more accessible to citizens,”said NTUF Director of Congressional Analysis Jeff Dircksen. “Our mission of providingthe public with reliable, comprehensive information on the fiscal impact of spendingproposals will greatly benefit from this powerful partnership.”
Since 1991, NTUF has computed thelegislative spending agendas of Members of Congress by analyzing the costs –and savings – of the bills that they sponsor and cosponsor as part of theBillTally research project. The fiscal estimates generated by NTUF’s BillTallysystem will now help to power WashingtonWatch.com’s cost calculations. The estimates featured in NTUF’s weekly e-newsletter, The Taxpayer’s Tab– plus hundreds more – will now appear on WashingtonWatch.com to make theircost calculations even more robust.
Jim Harper of WashingtonWatch.comsaid, “People want more information about what is happening in Congress, andinformation about the cost of legislation is more important than ever. Thedata that the National Taxpayers Union Foundation provides willhelp WashingtonWatch.com's visitors prioritize and debate the issues,which is an important service.”
WashingtonWatch.com provides auser-friendly and interactive way for the public to learn aboutlegislation. Its features include regular email alerts about what'shappening in Congress, active comment boards, and online polls where visitorscan vote on bills. The WashingtonWatch.com legislativewiki enables lawmakers, public interest groups, lobbyists, tradeassociations, and others involved in the legislative process to create andedit content about specific bills.
Recent BillTally reports have shedlight on the spendingcut agenda of the new 112th Congress and how its legislativeproposals would impact our nation’s debt and deficit. As well as the massive spending spreesof the 111th Congress.
NTUF is the research affiliateof the 362,000-member National Taxpayers Union, a non-profit taxpayer advocacygroup founded in 1969.
For further information Contact: Pete Sepp or Doug Kellogg, (703) 683-5700