{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://hageman.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-hageman-introduces-bill-bring-transparency-federal-settlement-payments", "Rep. Hageman Introduces Bill to Bring Transparency to Federal Settlement Payments", "2026-09-24", "2026", "2026-09", "Republican", "House", "WY", "Harriet M. Hageman", "H001096", "hageman.house.gov", "hageman", "https://hageman.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. - Congresswoman Harriet Hageman (R-WY) introduced the Clearer Liability Expenditure and Access to Reporting (CLEAR) Act to require greater transparency in federal agencies\u2019 use of taxpayer dollars to pay final court judgments or compromise settlements arising from litigation against the government.\n\nThe Judgment Fund is a permanent, indefinite appropriation of taxpayer dollars that covers these payments with minimal oversight from Congress, effectively constituting a blank check. While the Treasury Department provides some details online, concerns about public access and searchability of this information persist. That secrecy has allowed agencies to shield their actions in settling with certain favored groups, a tactic known as sue-and-settle,\u201d whereby an outside group sues an agency and, instead of fighting the case, it uses taxpayers\u2019 money to pay the group and its legal bills. The American people have a right to easily access the records showing exactly how their tax dollars are being spent.\n\n\"Taxpayers are on the hook when the federal government settles a lawsuit, but the information on where that money goes is difficult to track,\u201d said Rep. Hageman. \u201cThe CLEAR Act shines a light on every payment, shows who collects the money, and gives Congress the information to detect sue-and-settle schemes.\"\n\nBackground:", 1, "2026-09-26T09:43:57Z", "2026-09-26T09:44:55Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://hageman.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-hageman-introduces-bill-bring-transparency-federal-settlement-payments"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8218502625823021, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}