Open-government groups want E-Gov fund restored

A coalition of transparency and good-government groups wrote to the leadership of the House Appropriations Committee's Financial Services subpanel urging them to restore funding for websites such as USASpending.gov, Data.gov and the IT Dashboard.

The groups, which include OMB Watch, the Sunlight Foundation and the New America Foundation asked the lawmakers to restore funding for the Electronic Government (E-Gov) Fund, which they argue has produced projects that have increased the government's efficiency and transparency. A budget agreement reached earlier this year slashed funding for fiscal 2011 from $34 million to $8 million, jeopardizing many of the sites' futures. The groups argue that a failure to restore funding could end up costing the government more money in the long run.