Congress to Open Tax Money Tracking Site
Thursday, September 14, 2006
By JIM ABRAMS, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON — From $500,000 for a teapot museum in North Carolina to $450,000 for plants on the east side of the Capitol, the federal government spends hundreds of billions every year for grants, contracts, earmarks and loans. With creation of a new federal Web site, citizens will at least be able to see where some of their tax money goes.
The House on Wednesday passed by voice vote and sent to President Bush legislation to create a Web site that will give people ready access to information on the $300 billion in grants issued to some 30,000 organizations annually, and the roughly 1 million contracts exceeding a $25,000 threshold.
"It's a great, bipartisan plan to make sure tax dollars are spent wisely,"said House Majority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo.
Bush, in a statement, welcomed the bill, saying it showed the commitment of Congress"to giving the American people access to timely and accurate information about how their tax dollars are spent."
The vote for a more open federal account book was a victory for lawmakers whose reputations have suffered this year from lobbying scandals and outcries over growing porkbarrel spending.
But the House continued to struggle over another open-government measure _ to bring light to the special projects or"earmarks"that lawmakers insert in larger bills. And the House and Senate have been deadlocked for months over a more comprehensive lobbying reform bill growing out of the scandals earlier this year linked to former lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
The House was scheduled to take up a measure Thursday requiring lists of those inserting earmarks in legislation, although there was dissension among the Republican ranks about details of the rules change. Members of the Appropriations Committee were insisting that the new rules apply equally to committees covering tax bills and authorization bills.
The database bill would require the White House Office of Management and Budget to set up a Google-like, user-friendly Web site by Jan. 1, 2008, that would provide easy access to information about grants andcontracts.
Users will be able to type in"Halliburton"or"Planned Parenthood,"for instance, to find out what kind of contracts or grants have been awarded such companies or groups. They can also do a search for a specific state or district to see what kind of money is flowing from Washington.
They could check on earmarks in a highway bill last year such as the $200 million approved for a bridge in a sparsely populated area of Alaska or the defense contracts that proved the undoing of former Rep. Randy"Duke"Cunningham. The California Republican was sentenced to eight years in prison earlier this year for taking bribes in exchange for steering contracts to a company.
"This bill will make tracking government spending easier for citizens, reporters and legislators alike,"the Senate sponsors, Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., said in a statement."Improving transparency will force lawmakers to be more accountable to the American people."
In 2009 the Web site is scheduled to add a feature to help pinpoint subcontracts, an area that tends to be less visible to the public and is thus more susceptible to waste and abuse.
"It's a tremendous tool in the arsenal for budget watchdogs,"said Steve Ellis of Taxpayers for Common Sense. He said it was the"biggest leap for transparency in government"since Congress created its own Web site,http://thomas.loc.gov/.
This is based on yesterdays database bill passage, then they passed the earmark identification part today.-- RFG
Trimming the pork: Congress unsheathes the knife
SERIOUS REFORM of Washington's disgusting pork-barrel process has actually made it to the light of day. Who'd have thought?
Yesterday the House approved a fantastic reform bill to create a searchable database of pork projects. Citizens can use the online program to find out exactly how many of their tax dollars went to any corporation or non-profit group. The bill passed the Senate last week.
Today the House considers a rules change that would force the disclosure of all spending and tax-break pork. Under the new rule, representatives could no longer hide their bacon. If they insert an appropriation for Uncle Fred's Earwax Museum or a tax break for a campaign donor's business, everyone will know about it.
Democrats whine that these reforms don't go far enough. They underestimate the power of public scrutiny.
Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee are fabricating as many excuses as they can to oppose the rule change. They understand what it means: When the public gets a peek inside the committee's closed doors, the people will not like what they see.
When it comes to government, sunshine is indeed the best disinfectant. The searchable pork database bill was held up in the Senate by Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, and Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., the Senate's great kings of pork. Each senator placed a secret hold on the legislation, which prevented it from coming up for a vote. Then the bloggers got involved.
In no time, bloggers revealed that Stevens and Byrd were the senators trying in secret to kill the bill. With the curtain pulled away, the senators dropped their holds and the bill went on to pass.
Exposing the pork-barrel process to public scrutiny will have a similar effect. It won't end pork, but it should trim it. And that will be a victory for the taxpayer. House members need to vote today to approve the rule change. Those who don't will be exposed for what they are: enemies of the taxpayer.