Senate approves livestreaming of budget hearings

National

THE Senate on Wednesday, August 13, voted to make all stages of public spending accessible through budget documents uploaded on congressional websites.

To prevent last-minute insertions, the Senate also allowed the live streaming of budget proceedings.

The Senate approved unanimously to adopt the concurrent Resolution No. 4, which embeds transparency and accountability measures into the deliberations on the 2026 General Appropriations Act (GAA).

The resolution mandates the publication of important budget documents, livestreaming of hearings, and the creation of channels for public feedback.

“Resolved by the Senate, the House of Representatives concurring, to strengthen the national budget process by adopting and enforcing transparency and accountability measures to ensure public access to information and allow public participation in the deliberations of the 2026 General Appropriations Act,” the resolution read per a report by Philstar.

The measure will still need the approval from the House of Representatives before taking effect.

The resolution states that once the House agrees, the Senate and the House will upload to their respective websites a comprehensive set of budget-related documents, including agency requests, the National Expenditure Program (NEP), the House and Senate versions, the bicameral conference committee report, and the final reconciled version.

The resolution particularly requires the uploading of BP 201 forms prepared by government agencies, the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) passed on the third reading by the House and submitted to the Senate, the bicameral conference committee report, and collective explanation of disagreeing provisions and transcripts of all the bicameral meetings.

In addition, the House would post transcripts of its fiscal briefings, public hearings and technical working group sessions; the report on the GAB from the Committee of Appropriations and the journal records of the House plenary sessions.

On the other hand, the Senate will publish similar records of its proceedings, including amendments to the GAB it approved on the reading.

The resolution highlights a detailed cooperative matrix – prepared both by the Senate committee on finance and the House committee on appropriations – that will underscore additions, deletions, modifications, and reallocation of funds over all programs, projects, and activities.

The matrix will set the original GAB, Senate approved amendments and the bicameral conference committee version side by side to ensure “comprehensive understanding and traceability of budget changes,” according to the resolution.

It also requires the timely, comprehensive, and machine-readable format, publication of all the documents.(Marlon Ado Jr., USC Comm Intern)