Publish What You Fund has joined OMB Watch and over 30 other transparency organisations in urging the US government to restore funding for the Electronic Government Fund (E-Gov Fund).

The letter highlights that the “E-Gov Fund has a proven track record of successful transparency projects that have delivered efficiency improvements and increased government accountability”, having previously saved $3 billion in failing technology projects.

As Craig Jennings, Director of Federal Fiscal Policy at OMB Watch says,  “The public deserves to know what the government is doing with their money.”

The House Appropriations Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee, which is responsible for the E-Gov Fund, is set to mark up its fiscal year 2012 bill on June 16.  The signers of the letter urge the subcommittee to restore funding for the E-Gov Fund.

Data.gov, USAspending.gov and other projects like the Foreign Assistance Dashboard can be valuable resources for citizens and taxpayers to learn where their money is going and how it is being spent. It is imperative that as budgets come under strain we know where money is being spent and to what effect. Without knowing exactly how money is spent, governments will be making cuts in the dark.

Read the letter and press release.