Without oversight and transparency, confidential funds should be abolished

Without oversight and transparency, confidential funds should be abolished

Without any meaningful congressional oversight and transparency, it is high time the anomalous “confidential funds” be abolished.

Yesterday’s budget hearing at the House of Representatives shows the basic defect of these lump-sum appropriations. They are never open to scrutiny. There is no transparency and no clear oversight from any government agency. They are in the nature of pork barrel funds. They can even be acquired even without congressional authorization, months after the budget has been approved.

In a time when so many important social services are experiencing cutbacks, the so-called confidential funds are an unjustified, and unconscionable burden on the taxpayers. All forms of confidential funds should be abolished. No ifs and buts. If they cannot specify a line item for appropriations and provide a clear basis for such appropriations, then it should not be in the GAA. No more lump sums that have zero transparency.

We are P14 trillion deep in debt. Health, education and other vital services are experiencing budget cuts. There can be no justification for so-called “confidential funds”. We ask the public, the taxpayers, to demand its immediate abolition. Let us call on Congress to delete all forms of confidential funds in the 2023 GAA. #AbolishConfidentialFunds