Methodology for IRA and IIJA Database

Transparency in how taxpayer dollars are directed and managed is vital to making government work for taxpayers. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) are two major pieces of legislation involving more than $1 trillion in investments across the federal budget. Full deployment of these resources will take many years and require implementation across Congresses and presidential administrations.

The Taxpayers for Common Sense IRA and IIJA Database will help taxpayers track, monitor, and understand spending on programs created or greatly affected by the IRA and IIJA. It does not track legislative provisions that set policy without providing funding, were purely administrative in nature, or were providing base-level funding for existing programs (ex: formula funding for Highways and Mass Transit provided in the 5-year surface transportation reauthorization of IIJA). The database compiles information from a number of publicly available sources. Potential cost is the amount of funding provided in the bill. It includes budget authority for authorized programs. Joint Committee on Taxation scores were used for potential cost of tax provisions. Congressional Budget Office (CBO) scores are included when available. Text indicates when a program is newly created by legislation or supplements an existing federal program.

The full database will be updated quarterly.