I guess the public is getting really sick of hearing about the government contract game and its consequences, particularly in the middle of a war in which Americans and Iraqis are dying while military and security corporations are thriving. The evidence confirming this is the Senate’s move toward making government contracts available for viewing on the web! This sort of thing – blatant transparency about the use of taxpayer money – doesn’t usually happen without public anger rising. Perhaps the four no-bid FEMA contracts for post Katrina housing contributed to this outrage too.
The bill – the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (S. 2590) - was introduced by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Barack Obama (D-IL) with lots of co-sponsors from both sides of the aisle. It calls for “the existence and operation of a single updated searchable database website accessible by the public at no cost that includes for each entity receiving Federal funding...”. With the ease of a Google search, taxpayers could get information on government contracts, grants, insurance, loans and financial assistance worth $2.5 trillion of their money.
This bill is receiving support from an unusual political range of over 100 organizations, including the American Society of Newspaper Editors, Americans for Democratic Action, Concerned Women for America, Eagle Forum, Project on Government Oversight, National Taxpayers Union and the United States Chamber of Commerce. A similar bill passed the House of Representatives and Sen. Coburn is hopeful that his bill will be passed by the Senate this fall and signed by President Bush.
S. 2590 has been unanimously reported out of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. However, an unnamed Senator put a “secret hold” on the legislation, so as of now it cannot come up for a vote on the Senate floor when congress comes back from their summer recess. Porkbusters.org initiated a contest to see who could find out which senator used secrecy to keep openness from the public (visit their web site for more on this bill).
After people from around the country got their Senators to declare they had not put the hold on this legislation, Senator Ted Stevens’ (D-AK) staff finally revealed that he had done it. No surprise, since Stevens is one of the premier porkers – remember the “Bridge to Nowhere”? (See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp- dyn/content/article/2005/10/20/AR2005102001931.ht ml for more about it.)
Please contact your Senators and express your strong support for S. 2590. For phone and email contacts, go to: www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/ senators_cfm.cfm
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