HEADACHE Act

House Bill

H.R. 5536

119th Congress

HEADACHE Act

In Committee

Introduced:Sep 19, 2025

Primary Sponsor

Lizzie Fletcher

Representative

Democratic

TX-7

Cosponsors

16

Quick Stats

Policy Area

Government Operations and Politics

Summary

The Grant Transparency Act of 2023 requires federal agencies that award competitive grants to provide more details about how they evaluate and select grant applications. This includes explaining their rating systems, scoring methods, and other criteria used to assess applications.

Latest Action

Became Public Law No: 118-140.

AI Summary

Plain-English explanation of this bill

The Grant Transparency Act of 2023 requires federal agencies that award competitive grants to provide more details about how they evaluate and select grant applications. This includes explaining their rating systems, scoring methods, and other criteria used to assess applications.

Last updated: 12/29/2025

Official Summary

Congressional Research Service summary

Grant Transparency Act of 2023 This bill establishes transparency requirements for notices of funding opportunity in applications for competitive grants awarded by federal agencies, excluding the Government Accountability Office. Specifically, each notice of funding opportunity issued by an agency for a competitive grant must include <ul> <li>a description of any rating system and evaluation and selection criteria the agency uses to assess applications for the grant;</li> <li>a statement of whether the agency uses a weighted scoring method and a description of any such method that it uses for the grant, including the amount by which the agency weighs each criterion; and</li> <li>any other qualitative or quantitative merit-based approach the agency uses to evaluate an application for the grant.</li> </ul>

Key Points

Main provisions of the bill

Agencies must disclose the rating systems, evaluation criteria, and scoring methods they use to evaluate competitive grant applications.
Agencies must provide a description of any weighted scoring approaches they use and how much each criterion is weighted.
The bill applies to all competitive grant programs across the federal government, except for the Government Accountability Office.

How This Impacts Americans

Potential effects on citizens and communities

If passed, this bill would make the grant application process more transparent for organizations and individuals seeking federal funding. They would have a clearer understanding of how their applications will be assessed, allowing them to better prepare and compete for grants. This increased transparency could lead to more fair and equitable grant distributions across different regions and sectors.

Policy Areas

Primary Policy Area

Government Operations and Politics

Related Subjects

Government ethics and transparency, public corruption

Government information and archives

Scope & Jurisdiction

Jurisdiction Level

federal

Congressional Session

119th Congress

Citation Reference

5536, 119th Congress (2025). "HEADACHE Act". Source: Voter's Right Platform. https://votersright.org/bills/118-hr-5536