It’s quintessential Washington: Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) introduced legislation that would create a searchable database of government contracts, grants, insurance, loans and financial assistance, worth $2.5 trillion last year. Anyone would be able to search by by agency, recipient, and type of assistance.
The point, of course, is adding a layer of accountability and transparency to a process frequently hampered by abuse — as Cox News reported, the database “would bring transparency to federal spending and be as simple to use as conducting a Google search.”
The legislation sailed through the committee process with unanimous, bi-partisan support, and drew strong praise from Dems such as Harry Reid and Hillary Clinton, and Republicans such as Bill Frist and Sen. John McCain. There’s just one small problem.
It was on the fast track for floor action before Congress recessed on Aug. 4 when someone put [an anonymous] hold on the measure.
Now the bill is in political limbo. Under senate rules, unless the senator who placed the hold decides to lift it, the bill will not be brought up for a vote.
“It really is outrageous to do this in the dead of night as Congress is recessing,” said Gary Bass, executive director of OMB Watch, a budget watchdog group based in Washington. “The public has a right to know how the government spends money.”
As Tommy Vietor, Obama’s press secretary, explained, “It’s more than a little ironic that a bill designed to increase transparency is being held up by a secret hold.”
Cox reported that the secret hold has prompted conservative and liberal government watchdog groups to band together to “smoke out” the senator responsible.
That’s where the fun part starts.
It is, of course, a “secret” hold, so speculation is based primarily on lawmakers’ records in this area. No one has anything to go on, including whether the “secret holder” is a Republican or a Democrat. As the Heritage Foundation’s Brian Darling explained, “To place a hold, senators merely have to inform their leader that they don’t want the legislation to move forward.”
Nevertheless, trying to identify the culprit has become something of a parlor game. Paul Kiel reported yesterday:
Since he/she is unlikely to fess up, bloggers from the left and right have united in the effort of eliminating suspects one by one. The only way to do this is to call your Senator’s offices up and get an answer. Over at Porkbuster.org, they’re keeping a tally.
TPM Muckraker readers helped Kiel expand this list quite a bit. Based on the current tally, 65 senators have denied placing the hold. There are 34 whose positions are unknown, while one senator — Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) — refused to answer.
Chambliss’ office gave me a, “No senator would answer that question, I mean, come on, it’s a secret.” I replied that “Johnny Isakson’s office gave an on the record ‘No’; is Senator Chambliss willing to state publicly that he is not the mystery senator?” The answer was a “No, he will not state either he is or is not.”
First, the secret hold is outrageous and cowardly. To oppose transparency in federal spending is shameless, and Chambliss’ response should make him a key suspect.
Second, this is literally the first legislation I can think of in recent years that has garnered such enthusiastic support from the left and right.
And third, ain’t the blogosphere grand?