H.R. 724 · Where this bill is now
In committee
Introduced in the House, sent to the Committee on the Budget, Jan 24, 2025
What this bill does
In plain words · AI-written from the official summaryCongressional Budget Office must share its models publicly
This bill requires the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), which analyzes the costs of bills in Congress, to share the tools and data it uses to make those estimates. The CBO would have to show its models, assumptions, and calculations in enough detail that other people could check their work. For information the CBO can't fully share for privacy or legal reasons, it would still have to publicly list what data exists and provide basic statistics about it.
How it affects you
This doesn't directly change what most people do day-to-day. What it does is make the CBO's work more transparent, so Congress members, researchers, and citizens can understand and verify how the office estimates whether laws will cost money or affect the economy. Right now that work happens mostly behind closed doors.
Read the official summary (Introduced in House, Jan 24, 2025)
CBO Show Your Work Act
This bill requires the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to make available to Congress and the public each fiscal model, policy model, and data preparation routine that the CBO uses to estimate the costs and other fiscal, social, or economic effects of legislation.
For each estimate of the costs and other fiscal effects of legislation, the CBO must also disclose, in a manner sufficient to permit replication by individuals not employed by the CBO, the data, programs, models, assumptions, and other details of the computations used to prepare the estimate.
For data that may not be disclosed, the CBO must make available to Congress and the public
• a complete list of all data variables for the data;
• descriptive statistics for all data variables for the data, to the extent that the descriptive statistics do not violate the rule against disclosure;
• a reference to the statute requiring that the data not be disclosed; and
• contact information for the individual or entity who has unrestricted access to the data.
Written by AI (Claude) using only the official summary by the Congressional Research Service, the Library of Congress’s nonpartisan research staff. It can miss nuance, so check the official summary and the bill text for details.
1st SessionH. R. 724
A BILL
CBO Show Your Work Act
Sponsor: Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH-8) · Introduced Jan 24, 2025 · Economics and Public Finance · 1 version of the text
Sources: Congress.gov actions and votes · bill text from GovInfo · latest official action Jan 24, 2025: “Referred to the House Committee on the Budget.”