Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) opposes government accountability


Placed secret hold on legislation
Senator Stevens is best known for the "bridge to nowhere." No wonder he doesn't want people paying attention to where the money goes,

In a coup for the blogging community, which mounted a “call your Senator” campaign to figure out who was the Pro-Pork Senator blocking the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (FFATA), the Senator in question has been revealed. It is, as FFATA co-sponsor Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) predicted, Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska)

FFATA, co-sponsored Sen. Barak Obama (D-Ill.), "would require the Office of Management and Budget to create a user-friendly Web site listing details on every grant and contract handed out by the federal government. Information would have to be posted within 30 days of Congress' authorization of the spending." (Via this editorial, which is popping up in a variety of papers)

That would be a problem for Sen. Stevens, probably the reigning king of pork. Now that he’s been outted, pressure must be brought to get him to release the bill. FFATA has broad bipartisan support, 29 Senators joined Coburn and Obama in co-sponsoring it, it sailed through the appropriate committees, and it deserves a full “up or down” Senate vote, as the administration is fond of saying.

A database like that would be a good start for government accountability. That is one government computer project I'd like to see.


— NeoWayland

Posted: Mon - September 4, 2006 at 04:26 AM  Tag


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