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S 4130
Introduced Re-checks Congress.gov for new actions and updates the bill's status, and fills in any sponsors, committees, or related bills that are missing. It does not re-pull sponsors/cosponsors/committees/related — those rarely change — and it skips all work if nothing has changed upstream, so it's cheap to click.

COST Act

To put a public price tag on all projects supported with taxpayer dollars.

Introduced Mar 18, 2026

Latest action (Mar 18, 2026) Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. Hearings held.

Referred to
Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee
Policy area
Government Operations and Politics
Legislative subjects (1)
Government information and archives

Summary
  • Requires federal agencies and recipients of federal funds to disclose the percentage and dollar amount of federal funding in public communications about federally-funded programs and projects.
  • Requires disclosure of the percentage and dollar amount of non-federal funding sources for federally-funded programs and projects.
  • Does not apply to communications containing 280 characters or fewer.
  • Requires recipients of federal funds to certify compliance with disclosure requirements as part of performance progress reporting.
  • Requires the Office of Management and Budget to annually review compliance and publicly report findings.
  • Requires the Office of Management and Budget to establish a public mechanism for anonymously reporting non-compliant communications.

AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.

Sponsor (1)
4 cosponsors

Money behind the sponsor

Top reported contributors to Joni Ernst’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.

  • NULL $57,653
  • CAPITAL GROUP $40,000
  • SOROBAN CAPITAL $13,200
  • CAPITAL GROUP COMPANIES $7,500
  • GOOGLE $6,800

Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Joni Ernst → · Outside spending →

Actions (3)
  1. Mar 18, 2026 Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. Hearings held. · senate
  2. Mar 18, 2026 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. · senate
  3. Mar 18, 2026 Introduced in Senate

More bills on these subjects (8)

Other bills that carry the most legislative subjects in common with this one (topical discovery — distinct from the procedural related bills above).

  • S 2666 — Foreign Robocall Elimination Act (shares 1 subject)
  • HR 2069 — Stop Secret Spending Act of 2025 (shares 1 subject)
  • S 4472 — Accelerating Access to Critical Therapies for ALS Reauthorization Act of 2026 (shares 1 subject)
  • S 2677 — A bill to expand the sharing of information with respect to suspected violations of intellectual property rights in trade. (shares 1 subject)
  • S 4189 — INSULIN Act of 2026 (shares 1 subject)
  • HR 5235 — Skills-Based Federal Contracting Act of 2025 (shares 1 subject)
  • S 3211 — Recognizing the Role of Direct Support Professionals Act (shares 1 subject)
  • S 252 — GOOD Act (shares 1 subject)

Similar bills (6)

Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.

  • S 3991 — DISCLOSE Act of 2026 · Introduced Mar 4, 2026 · Cong. 119 67%
  • HR 9133 — Accountability for Government Censorship Act · Introduced Jun 3, 2026 · Cong. 119 67%
  • HR 6452 — Executive Transparency Act · Introduced Dec 4, 2025 · Cong. 119 66%
  • S 4151 — Unfunded Mandates Accountability and Transparency Act of 2026 · Introduced Mar 19, 2026 · Cong. 119 66%
  • S 5033 — Judicial FOIA Expansion Act · Introduced Jul 20, 2026 · Cong. 119 65%
  • S 3826 — Litigation Funding Transparency Act of 2026 · Introduced Feb 11, 2026 · Cong. 119 64%

Text versions (1)
  • Introduced in Senate · Mar 18, 2026

Only one text version is on file, so there’s no earlier version to compare against yet.

Committee action

What happened to this bill in committee — the meetings where it was considered and every recorded vote taken on it.

Meetings where this bill was on the agenda

Full text

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

March 18, 2026

Ms. Ernst (for herself and Mr. Scott of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

A BILL

To put a public price tag on all projects supported with taxpayer dollars.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the “Cost Openness and Spending Transparency Act of 2026” or the “COST Act”.

SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS FOR FEDERAL FUNDS.

(a) In General.—Subchapter III of chapter 13 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: “Sec. 1356. Disclosure requirements for Federal funds

“(a) Definition.—In this section, the term ‘agency’ means—

“(1) an Executive agency, as defined in section 105 of title 5; and

“(2) an independent regulatory agency, as defined in section 3502 of title 44.

“(b) Disclosure Requirements.—An agency and an individual or entity (including a State or local government and a recipient of a Federal research grant) carrying out a program, project, or activity that is, in whole or in part, carried out using Federal funds shall clearly state in any statement, press release, request for proposals, bid solicitation, or other document describing the program, project, or activity, other than a communication containing not more than 280 characters—

“(1) the percentage of the total costs of the program, project, or activity which will be financed with Federal funds;

“(2) the dollar amount of the Federal funds made available for the program, project, or activity; and

“(3) the percentage of the total costs of, and dollar amount for, the program, project, or activity that will be financed by nongovernmental sources.

“(c) Certification.—An individual or entity carrying out a program, project, or activity that is, in whole or in part, carried out using Federal funds shall, as part of the performance progress reporting regarding the program, project, or activity, include a certification indicating whether the individual or entity complied with the disclosure requirements under subsection (b) with respect to communications containing not more than 280 characters relating to the program, project, or activity.

“(d) Compliance Review.—The Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall annually—

“(1) review a random sampling of public communications issued by agencies and recipients of Federal funds for compliance with the disclosure requirements under subsection

(b); and

“(2) make publicly available the findings of the review under paragraph (1).

“(e) Public Reporting.—Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this section, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall make available to the public a mechanism to anonymously report communications that do not comply with the disclosure requirements under subsection (b), which shall require that such a report include—

“(1) the noncompliant communication or, if publicly available, the location of the noncompliant communication; and

“(2) identifying information regarding the program, project, or activity that is, in whole or in part, carried out using Federal funds.”.

(b) Technical and Conforming Amendment.—The table of sections for subchapter III of chapter 13 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:

“1356. Disclosure requirements for Federal funds.”. <all>

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