|
|
|
Senator Tries To Sabotage Public Access To Gov. Spending Info
Posted by Pile
(7787 views)      [E-Mail link]
|
 |
 Senators Tom Coburn and Barak Obama have proposed S.2590, the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act, legislation that would create a single website with access to information on nearly all recipients of federal funding. The bill cannot proceed, however, because one or more Senators placed a "secret hold" on it. Some say this attempt to bury the legislation prior to a vote is unconstitutional, in addition to downright un-American, un-democratic, and stupid.
Regardless of your political affiliation, the idea of a central web site where you can find out how your tax dollars are being spent seems like a good idea... a good idea to everyone except Alaskan Senator Ted "Internet is a series-of-tubes", "bridge to nowhere" Stevens! He seems to think such a resource would be a waste of taxpayer dollars!
Is there anyone in Alaska who isn't ashamed of this sorry excuse for a human being, Ted Stevens?
By the way, Mr. Stevens was also a principal architect of the Telco Act of 1996 which screwed over the public communications systems and paved the way for the consolidation of corporate media. |
|
"He does have a hold on the bill," Stevens' spokesperson Aaron Saunders told CNN. "At the time he placed the hold he notified Sen. [Tom] Coburn and his staff and identified several questions we had with the bill. Two weeks ago Sen. Coburn named Stevens as having a hold on the bill, so we don't consider it a secret."
Senate tradition allows any senator to keep a piece of legislation from reaching the Senate floor by placing a hold on the bill.
Coburn's office confirmed that Coburn had revealed Stevens' hold during a town hall meeting in Oklahoma two weeks ago.
The bill has become a cause célèbre for both liberal and conservative bloggers as they tried to uncover the "secret senator" who had blocked passage of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (S. 2590). The bill was introduced earlier this year by Sens. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, and Coburn, R-Oklahoma.
The conservative-leaning, anti-government waste site Porkbusters urged readers to call their senators and ask them to go on the record denying that they placed the hold. TPMmuckraker, under the banner "blogosphere unites in pursuit of masked senator" also got in on the act, posting updates from readers around the country. |
Details |
|
|
|
Bumper Sticker Store