Estimated annual savings: $3.5B (mid‑case), $2B–$5B+ range; admin cost ~$200M

Constituent First Budget Act — forces every line item into the open, mandates 30‑day citizen input, bans hidden earmarks, and voids non‑compliant budgets

Summary

  • Purpose: Make federal budgets transparent, searchable, and subject to direct constituent input before passage. Ban hidden earmarks, require subaward disclosure, and empower citizens to enforce compliance.
  • Net fiscal impact (annual): Low: ~$2.0B | Mid: ~$3.5B | High: ~$5.0B+ in savings; admin costs ~$200M.
  • Primary beneficiaries: Taxpayers, watchdog groups, and local communities who gain visibility and influence over federal spending.

Mechanism of savings

  • Earmark elimination: Hidden carve‑outs voided; sponsors face censure. Prevents billions in donor‑driven allocations.
  • Constituent input: 30‑day comment/ranking period forces committees to answer citizens before lobbyists, reducing pork and low‑value projects.
  • Subaward transparency: Agencies must disclose downstream grant/contract recipients within 30 days, cutting fraud and double‑dipping.
  • Citizen enforcement: Private right of action + GAO audits ensure compliance; budgets void if non‑compliant.
  • Administrative penalties: Agencies that fail to report subawards lose 1% of admin budget, incentivizing accuracy.

Assumptions

  • Baseline: Federal budget ~$6T annually.
  • Earmark leakage: ~$15–20B annually in opaque earmarks and carve‑outs.
  • Fraud/waste in subawards: ~$5–10B annually in misallocated or undisclosed subcontracts.
  • Admin costs: Dashboards, GAO audits, and citizen enforcement ~$200M/year.
  • Citizen engagement: Even modest participation (1–2M submissions annually) shifts committee priorities toward higher‑value projects.

Calculations

  • Low case: $2.2B savings – $0.2B admin = ≈ $2.0B net.
  • Mid case: $3.7B savings – $0.2B admin = ≈ $3.5B net.
  • High case: $5.2B savings – $0.2B admin = ≈ $5.0B+ net.

Risks and mitigation

  • Committee resistance: Budgets void if input period skipped; GAO audits enforce compliance.
  • Dashboard manipulation: Machine‑readable, open‑format data; GAO verification.
  • Litigation overload: Citizen suits limited to compliance enforcement, not policy disputes.

Measurement and reporting

  • KPIs: Number of earmarks disclosed/voided, subaward reporting compliance, citizen submissions/responses, GAO audit findings.
  • Cadence: Dashboards updated within 48 hours of budget introduction; GAO annual audits; DOJ/GAO quarterly compliance reports.

Bottom line

The Constituent First Budget Act ends back‑room budgeting. Every line item is public, every citizen can weigh in, and any hidden earmark is void. The result: billions in savings, restored trust, and receipts the public can see.