Cornyn's 'Grant Transparency Act' Passes House

Senator John Cornyn’s (R-TX) bipartisan Grant Transparency Act has passed the House of Representatives. The bill would require government agencies to provide competitive grant applicants with more information about their selection criteria and evaluation process.

The bill would require the Notice of Funding Opportunities (NOFO) to include a description of any rating system, evaluation, and selection criteria that agencies use for competitive grants, as well as written details concerning scoring methods, and other criteria used to evaluate applications.

Co-sponsors of the legislation include Senators Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and John Thune (R-SD).

The senators released the following statements once the lower chamber approved the bill.

Sen. Cornyn began by saying that government agencies are not always crystal clear in why they grant a certain grant to certain applicants.

“Grant applicants often don’t have enough information to know why they are not awarded a competitive grant despite meeting all of the criteria,” said Sen. Cornyn. “The Grant Transparency Act would require government agencies to shine a light on how they decide between applicants behind closed doors, and I urge my colleagues to support it.”

Sen. Hassan added that this bill will help small towns across the country access federal funding more easily.

“All grant applicants should have a level playing field when applying for federal funding, but too often there is little transparency from federal agencies about how applications will be evaluated,” said Sen. Hassan. “This bipartisan legislation will help small towns and organizations in particular more easily access federal assistance, so that they can best serve the people in their communities.”

Furthermore, Sen. Thune mentioned that America’s meritocracy will be strengthened by this legislation.

“State and local leaders work hard to develop a strong application process for federal funding,” said Sen. Thune. “This legislation would require agencies to increase transparency of the grant application process, which would help ensure that funding is truly based on merit, not political favoritism.”

Senators Kyrsten Sinema (I-AR), Gary Peters (D-MI), John Kennedy (R-LA), and Raphael Warnock (D-GA) are also co-sponsors of the bill.

Both Senators Rick Scott (R-FL), Cornyn, and Thune vied for the Senate Majority Leader position for the upcoming 119^th Congress, but Thune came out victorious, securing a majority of the leadership on the right side of the upper chamber.