President Trump signed a law Wednesday requiring the administration to publicly name and shame any government project that is $1 billion or more over budget, or five years behind schedule.
The law, dubbed the Billion Dollar Boondoggle Act by sponsor Sen. Joni Ernst, has been in the works for years.
“Taxpayers deserve this transparency, and it will protect them from being put on the hook for hundreds of billions of dollars sunk into failed and mismanaged projects plagued by massive cost overruns and never-ending delays,” the Iowa Republican said.
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She pointed to five projects she said already count as boondoggles because of how over-budget they are: The F-35 jet modernization, the Hudson River Tunnel, rebuilding the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, NASA’s Saturn Dragonfly spacecraft and a Veterans Affairs medical center in Palo Alto, California.
The last project is 21 years behind schedule.
Ms. Ersnt worked on the bill with Sen. Maggie Hassan, New Hampshire Democrat, and Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Iowa Republican.
“Washington has gotten far too comfortable wasting the taxpayers’ money, and that ends with transparency and accountability,” Ms. Miller-Meeks said.
The law could find a willing partner in the Trump administration, which has been more eager than past administrations to call out government spending.
The Transportation Department has already canceled $4 billion in federal money previously earmarked for a California high-speed rail project, citing its overruns and delays.
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