Secrecy measure hidden in transportation bill.

Last year, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) worked to ensure that “budget justifications” for appropriations bills are made “available to the public at the same time they were made available to appropriators.” But in the just released House and Senate Conference report for the Transportation-HUD spending bill, a provision has been slipped in that “would ban the public from having timely access to budget information for the Transportation Department.” The secrecy language “was not included in either the House or Senate versions of the bill.”