The Problem: Federal spending transparency laws are toothless. Rogue labs take $20 billion of your money each year, then violate federal law by not disclosing how much cash they’re using for cruel and wasteful animal experiments and other boondoggles—with no consequences!

The Solution: Show us the money! The House and the Senate have introduced the COST Act to make these rogue labs put a public price tag on ALL taxpayer-funded animal experiments, and cut funding from violators.

This is a solution with momentum.

Just days after White Coat Waste Project exposed how the US non-profit funneling your tax dollars to the Wuhan animal lab has serially violated federal spending transparency law, both the House and Senate have introduced a bill to make taxpayer-funded animal experimenters disclose how much they’re spending, or risk having their cash withheld.

Day 2️⃣ of #SunshineWeek 🔦

A transparent gov’t that is accountable to the people is a fundamental principle of our democracy.

My COST Act ensures there’s a publicly available price tag for EVERY government project supported with taxpayer money. Let’s pass this commonsense bill. pic.twitter.com/xAVH1AvD8A

— Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) March 16, 2021

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) just re-introduced the Cost Openness and Spending Transparency Act—the COST Act—in the Senate. And Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) introduced the bill for the first time in the House. (Momentum!)

The bill numbers are S.760 in the Senate, and H.R.1937 in the House.

In the Senate, Sens. Rick Scott (R-FL), Rand Paul (R-KY) and Mike Braun (R-IN) joined Sen. Ernst to introduce the bill. House members helping Rep. Norman introduce the bill include Reps. Ken Calvert (R-CA), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Jake LaTurner (R-KS), Nancy Mace (R-SC), Lisa McClain (R-MI), Pete Sessions (R-TX), William Timmons (R-SC), and Randy Weber (R-TX).

Unfortunately, WCW has demonstrated over and over and over and over again how animal experimenters habitually flout federal spending transparency law—without facing any consequences.

These greedy rogue labs just love to stick one hand in your pocket and hold the other one over your eyes, so you can’t see what they’re doing to animals with your money and hold them accountable.

They think your money is an entitlement, like Social Security. And so far nothing’s stopped them from thinking they are right.

The COST Act would change that.

More momentum still: With Sen. Ernst’s leadership, and the incredible grassroots advocacy of our 3 million members, in December we helped pass spending disclosure legislation that applies to Dept. of Defense grantees.

Now it’s time to apply this law across the entire government and withhold funding from institutions that don’t comply.

The COST Act isn’t just right, it’s incredibly popular with taxpayers of all political stripes.

Lincoln Park Strategies polled over 1,000 taxpayers in January 2021 and found 64 percent of Republicans and 67 percent of Democrats support legislation to withhold funding from institutions violating spending disclosure laws. And 72 percent of taxpayers overall think recipients of federal funding should be required to disclose how our money is spent.

We are very grateful to Sen. Ernst and Rep. Norman for their leadership on behalf of taxpayers and animals.

Taxpayers have a right to know what they are funding.

That is why I am leading the COST Act to ensure recipients of taxpayer funding disclose their spending to the public or risk having their funding withheld.https://t.co/SlaEyQJE68

— Rep. Ralph Norman (@RepRalphNorman) May 18, 2021

Taxpayers have the right to know who’s paying the bills… and who’s cashing the checks.

They’re abusing animals on your dime while keeping you in the dark. Let’s pass the COST Act and bring these rogue labs into the light, where you can see them and hold them accountable.