MP Dr Harsha de Silva, seven members of the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) and the chairman of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) have concluded a 12-day International Visitor Leadership Program in the United States focused on public finance and governance, Hiru News reported.
The programme was run at the invitation of the US Department of State and coordinated by the US Embassy in Colombo.
The budget office behind it
The visit is part of a continuing engagement COPF opened with the embassy on setting up a Parliamentary Budget Office in Sri Lanka, modelled on the US Congressional Budget Office. A technical delegation from the CBO and the House Democracy Partnership ran a week of sessions in Colombo in June with close to 100 MPs and parliamentary staff, with COPF as lead counterpart.
A parliamentary budget office would give the legislature its own non-partisan capacity to cost bills and scrutinise government spending, rather than relying on Treasury figures.
Where the delegation went
The MPs visited the US Congress, the Congressional Budget Office and several federal agencies in Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, then travelled to Raleigh, North Carolina for talks with state and local government institutions. The programme closed in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with meetings involving local officials and staff attached to members of Congress and the Senate.
De Silva said the visit let the delegation observe US practice in public budgeting, fiscal oversight and governance. He said the functioning of democratic institutions, freedom of expression and the electoral process were among the delegation’s main observations, and that for most members it was a first visit to the United States, coinciding with the America 250 commemorations.
Not reported
Hiru does not name the seven COPF members or the COPE chairman, give the dates of the visit, say who met its cost beyond the State Department invitation, or indicate when a budget office might be legislated for. No other verified newsroom had filed on the delegation’s return at the time of writing.
