Two bills U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst wrote to call attention to budget-busting federal spending are now advancing in the House of Representatives, which increases their chances of eventually becoming law.

The Iowa Republican’s Billion Dollar Boondoggle Act was approved by the Senate in December.

Her Stop Secret Spending Act was approved by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee last year.

Both bills have now been approved by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform and await action by the full House.

“As I shine more light on wasteful Washington spending, I’m excited to continue shepherding these bills to become law so that our hardworking taxpayers know exactly where their money is going and that it’s not being wasted on pointless projects,” Ernst said in a written statement.

The Billion Dollar Boondoggle Act would require that any taxpayer-funded project that is more than $1 billion over budget or more than five years behind schedule be made public.

“A billion dollars over budget isn’t a rounding error, it is a train wreck,” Ernst said.

When the Senate passed the bill last year, she cited these projects that have blown their budgets:

• The electronic health records system for the Department of Veterans Affairs ($49.8 billion).

• Bay Area Rapid Transit extension in California ($12.8 billion)

• NASA’s Artemis Moon launch program ($6 billion)

The Stop Secret Spending Act would require all spending to be publicly disclosed. According to Ernst, billions of dollars worth of spending are hidden by being labeled other transaction agreements. The senator estimated that more than $18 billion was concealed in that manner in 2025.