Bipartisan legislation designed to expose tens of billions of dollars in previously unreported federal spending is heading to the President’s desk for final signature after passing Congress.
The measure, titled the Stop Secret Spending Act of 2025, targets a specific funding mechanism known as Other Transaction Agreements (OTAs). Under current practices, agencies use OTAs to bypass traditional procurement channels, allowing billions in federal payouts to remain unlisted on public tracking platforms.
Under the new law, the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 will be amended to mandate that OTAs are disclosed on USAspending.gov alongside traditional grants, contracts, and loans.
Supporters point to significant gaps in official record-keeping as the primary driver behind the legislation. Government Accountability Office figures show that agencies routed more than $40 billion through OTAs between fiscal years 2020 and 2022 without public entry. In the last fiscal year alone, over $18 billion in federal payouts went unrecorded on the public site.
Sen. Ashley Moody, a cosponsor of the bill, argued the oversight is long overdue.
“Washington has no business hiding how it spends your tax dollars,” Moody said in a statement. “The Stop Secret Spending Act brings much-needed transparency to a system that has allowed billions of dollars in spending to fly under the radar. Our bosses, the American people, deserve to know how their money is being spent. This legislation is a great step toward restoring accountability, and I look forward to seeing it reach President Trump’s desk.”
The law sets a strict timeline for executive branch implementation. Within three years of enactment, the Treasury Department must fully automate data feeds to USAspending.gov and provide a centralized view of all active OTAs.
To bridge the gap during the rollout, the bill establishes interim benchmarks:
- 1-Year Mark: Treasury must publish a comprehensive report detailing all OTAs issued in the preceding fiscal year, while the Office of Management and Budget determines which agencies hold OTA authority.
- Annual Omissions Report: Beginning at year one, Treasury and OMB must publish an annual report detailing any federal money excluded from the site, explicit in explaining if omissions stemmed from national security classifications, judicial branch exemptions, or lower-tier subawards.
- 2-Year Plan: If automated tracking is not yet live by year two, officials must deliver an updated integration roadmap directly to Congress.
Beyond tracking OTAs, the legislation tightens general oversight rules. Agency inspectors general will be required to audit expenditure reporting every two years for the next decade. Treasury and OMB are also tasked with verifying data accuracy and publishing an official list of every government component required to report under the law.
Additionally, the bill directs the Comptroller General of the United States to review Federal Acquisition Regulations within one year to recommend updated disclosure requirements for prime contractors and subcontractors.
The legislation recently earned a spot on the National Taxpayers Union’s 15th annual “No-Brainers” list, a collection of nonpartisan bills favored for cutting waste and increasing government openness.
With congressional approval secured, the bill now awaits executive signature to take effect.
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