Trump's Transparency Opportunity | Open the Books Investigation January 20, 2025 11:51 AM By John Hart, Open the Books CEO | Published at Open the Books Substack President Trump has a historic opportunity to restore our founders’ vision for transparency while clearing the incredibly low bar set by his predecessor. He can do this in two important ways. STEP ONE: Restore our founders’ vision for transparency Transparency is not a two-way street. The government does not have a right to inspect your checkbook (or debank you); you, on the other hand, have not only the right, but an obligation, to inspect the government’s checkbook and hold elected officials accountable for how they spend your money. STEP TWO: Strive for real-time transparency In the waning days of Biden’s tenure we asked his Department of Education for an employee headcount dating back to when the agency was created in 1979. Biden’s Department of Education effectively said, “Sure, we’ll give you that information. In nine months.” We’re not going to wait nine months to do our work, and we’ll find workarounds, but the new administration has an opportunity to dramatically outperform this standard. Taxpayers should not have to acquire a de facto search warrant to see how government is spending their money. Read the full article. Back to news
