News & Politics - Senator who put 'secret hold' on bill to open federal records is a secret, too

Lexis · 08-28-2006, 05:57 AM

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WASHINGTON — In an ironic twist, legislation that would open up the murky world of government contracting to public scrutiny has been derailed by a secret parliamentary maneuver.

An unidentified senator placed a "secret hold" on legislation introduced by Sens. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., that would create a searchable database of government contracts, grants, insurance, loans and financial assistance, worth $2.5 trillion last year. The database would bring transparency to federal spending and be as simple to use as conducting a Google search.

The measure had been unanimously passed in a voice vote last month by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. It was on the fast track for floor action before Congress recessed Aug. 4 when someone put a 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."

The secret hold has prompted conservative and liberal government watchdog groups to band together to "smoke out" the senator responsible.

Porkbusters.org, for example, posted photographs of all senatorial suspects underneath a bold-faced headline asking, "Who is the Secret Holder?"

It remains unclear if the senator responsible will be able to withstand the pressure from the broad array of groups and senators supporting the bill.

"It really is a mystery, not only who did it, but what the rationale could possibly be and why they would go to the mat on this," said Ellen Miller, executive director of the Sunlight Foundation, a new Washington-based nonprofit devoted to helping the public understand Congress through the Internet. "There is no conceivable, rational explanation for killing this legislation unless they have something to hide."

Senator puts 'secret hold' on bill to open federal records

I wonder who it is? How is people knowing where money is going a bad thing?

AlexEvans · 08-28-2006, 01:32 PM

It's a bad thing if you want to direct pork to your friends, I guess.

ceilirose · 08-30-2006, 06:02 PM

It seems to be Senator Stevens from Alaska -

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/001446.php

Lexis · 08-31-2006, 08:15 AM

Senator "Let's build a bridge to nowhere". No wonder he doesn't want the public getting their mitts on the info.

Edited to add:

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y this morning, the dogged persistence of hundreds of bloggers and blogreaders garnered denials from 98 senators saying they did not hold up the Coburn/Obama spending transparency database bill. Only one senator, Ted "King of Pork" Stevens (R-AK), has admitted placing a hold on the bill.

But do the math -- you'll find that makes 99 senators. And Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) ain't one.

That's right: Byrd, whose penchant for pork would probably win him the Pork Crown if he weren't saddled with minority status, has for days declined to answer constituents and others who have asked if he put a hold on the spending database proposal, S. 2590.

We have called and emailed his office and press secretary at least a half-dozen times over two days. Yesterday, we were promised a statement by the end of the day; none came. This morning, spokesman Tom Gavin continued to blame Byrd's travel schedule for the lack of response.

What's more, staff in the personal and leadership offices of Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) have been almost uniformly mum on the issue. If Byrd placed a hold on the legislation, he would have had to notify Reid's office to do so. After several calls and conversations with numerous staffers, Reid spokesman Jon Steinberg would say for the record only that "it's the policy of our office not to talk about holds."

However, Reid's office on Tuesday confirmed that the senator himself had not placed a hold on the bill.

The office of Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN), who would know of the existence of a Democratic hold but not necessarily the identity of the holder, declined to comment. Frist has encouraged all senators to publicly declare their actions with regard to the Obama/Coburn bill.

TPMmuckraker August 31, 2006 11:32 AM

Seriously, this is so wrong.


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