United States Federal Government Resources: Open Government

POGO believes in transparency and accountability throughout the federal government. They work with whistleblowers and other inside sources, and access information through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), to shed light on the government's activities. Their goal is not only to expose problems, but also to propose solutions.

Search over 100,000 reports from prime recipients of contracts, grants, and loans awarded under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (Recovery Act). You can search either individually or in aggregate by prime recipient, sub-recipient, ZIP code, congressional district, federal awarding agency, award amount, and more. . . Includes an Advanced Search function.

A place for initiating dialogue and building consensus among those who have a stake in the preservation of and perpetual free access to government information; promotes free government information through collaboration, education, advocacy and research.

Provides any person the right to obtain access to Federal agency records, with the exception of those records protected from public disclosure.

Keep tabs on Open Government Directive milestones, track progress across the Executive Branch using the Open Government Dashboard, and read the Progress Report to the American People.

Get started at this site by going to How to Use Open Congress or go directly to tabs for bills, senators, representatives, votes, issues, committees, or the money trail.

Tracks money in U.S. politics and its effect on elections and public policy. Find data on outside spending, federal earmarks, the personal finances of member of Congress, the president, other officials, and more. . .

A coalition of individuals and organizations dedicated to an open federal government. These partners join together to ensure the implementation of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), to ensure that records are preserved through improved electronic records management, and to work with the administration and congress to create policy that protects individuals' rights as well as national security.

PLEASE NOTE: This is an archived version of the site and does not have information for the years 2016 - current. This unit is the central processing point for gifts received from foreign sources by employees of the U.S. Executive Branch, creates and maintains a record of gifts given by the Department of State to officials of foreign governments, and selects gifts for foreign dignitaries. Gifts received by the President, Vice President and the Secretary of State and spouses from foreign governments are turned in to the Gift Unit. PDF reports starting in 2001 detail the gifts, who gave and who received them, and why it was justifiable to accept them.

Part of the project on government secrecy from the Washington, D.C. based non-profit Federation of American Scientists.

Sunlight both develops and encourages new government policies, builds tools and websites to enable easy access to information, and more. . . Check out their Tools tab to see Sunlight's various projects and search features.

A national initiative promoting dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information; includes news media, civic groups, libraries, nonprofits, schools, and others. . .

Where is the Money Going? gives you information by agency, prime awardee or location; you can create custom searches using the Data Download Center tab; and Trends allows you to configure data then view it in either list or graph form.

This coalition conducts public workshops and forums that involve the public, public officials, and media in discussing government accessibility; the site includes news articles related to open government, citizen resources, governmental and legal details.

Find data from Super-PACs, presidential elections, congressional elections, and more.

1977-present. Annual compilation of personal financial disclosure statements. Print only.

Information about the people of Congress includes staff salaries, financial disclosures, trips, gifts and earmarks, and more. . .

Links to the secretary of state for any state. Each state's secretary of state has reports for their own Senators only.

1991-present. Personal finances can be found by searching a member's name then using the filters on the right to narrow results by "Document Type: Financial Disclosure Statements". For campaign finances search by keyword and narrow results by "Document Type: FEC Campaign Finance Summaries".

Documents filed with the Clerk of the House by members, officers, and staff of the U.S. House of Representatives; includes documents on travel, income, gifts, and more. . .

"The Senate Office of Public Records (OPR) receives, processes, and maintains for public inspection records, reports, and other documents filed with the Office of the Secretary of the Senate involving the Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA), the Federal Election Campaign Act, the Ethics in Government Act, the Mutual Security Act, and the Senate Code of Official Conduct."

2011-present available online.
1979-present available in print.
1992-2006 available in depository microfiche.
1970-2009 available in CIS microfiche (use ProQuest Congressional to find accession number).

Information on personal income/assets of Senators is not published. Reports are submitted to the Secretary of the Senate and are available for individual Senators upon written request. Report length varies. Also deposited with the Secretary of State for the Senator's home state. Each state's secretary of state has reports for their own Senators only.

The Ethics Committee develops forms and instructions for financial disclosure. It issues advisory opinions regarding the Ethics in Government Act for the Senate, related offices and Senate candidates with regard to compliance. And, it reviews the completed Reports.

October 1978-present. Current edition linked above. Older editions available in print. In October 1995 title changed from Report of the Clerk of the House.

Financial disclosures for the President, Vice President, and appointees/nominees.

Look under public resources for information on the financing of political campaigns and lobbyist expenditures; search the database for the most recent campaign finance data; or, view the actual reports filed.