Fergie's Tech Blog

Ted Stevens Fingered as Senator Who Put a Hold on Taxpayer Transparency Bill

Asa Eslocker reports on ABC News' "The Blotter":

A spokesman for Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) came forward today and admitted Stevens was the senator who has placed a hold on a bill that would allow U.S. taxpayers to see where their tax money is going.

With several reports of Congressional scandals in the news, two senators proposed a bill that could create a user-friendly, public search engine that would disclose all federal contracts, grants, loans and other forms of government financial assistance.

Operated by the Office of Management and Budget, the free internet database could be used for such searches as "Halliburton," "FEMA no-bid contracts" and "Alaskan Bridges." Results would yield the name, entity, geography, amounts of spending, program sources, services being performed and who in Congress supported which appropriations.

Before summer recess, the bill, called the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act, was passed unanimously by the Senate Homeland Security Committee and "hotlined," which means the bill was put on the fast track to passage by the Senate. But Sen. Stevens stalled that process by putting a hold on the bill.

posted by Fergie @ 8/30/2006 03:35:00 PM