Captain's Quarters Blog


« How I Will Spend 9/11 | Main | Snatching Defeat From The Jaws Of Victory »

September 7, 2006
Coburn-Obama Federal Spending Database Passes -- Unanimously!

The Senate has busted through the holds put on by members and passed S2590, the Coburn-Obama bill establishing the federal spending database we have demanded. Bill Frist announces it at his VOLPAC blog:

Tonight I’m proud to report that the Senate unanimously passed S. 2590, the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006.

The passage of this legislation is a triumph for transparency in government, for fiscal discipline, and for the bipartisan citizen journalism of the blogosphere.

Without the efforts of ordinary Americans empowered by the Internet, including many hardworking members of the iFrist Volunteers, this legislation might easily have been successfully obstructed. Instead, the unprecedented synergy between online grassroots activists and Senate leadership provides a new model for participatory democracy in action.

The bill now goes to the House, where their version exempts contractors from the database. We need to pressure House leadership to accept the Senate version as soon as possible and put this legislation in front of President Bush.

Earlier today, The Hill reported on the multiple holds put on S2590 and the extraordinary efforts of the blogosphere to unmask those Senators applying the delaying tactic. I wrote a post for the Heritage Foundation Policy Blog that the best strategy for fellow Porkbusters would be to focus more on pressing forward with the vote regardless of holds:

[A]ctivists would be better served by channeling their energies into demanding immediate action on the bill now despite the holds. Frist has already gone on record saying that he will take all action necessary to get S.2590 passed before the election. The Hill notes that Minority Leader Harry Reid, who has offered public support for the bill, has not made any similar commitment to pushing against procedural obstacles. To see if Reid is indeed serious about increasing the transparency of federal spending, activists might ask him for a signal against the three-card monty of holds in which senators from both caucuses have engaged.

UPDATE: Bridgett Wagner at Heritage Foundation shares with us her favorite quote, by Sam Adams: "It does not take a majority to prevail . . . but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.” That seems very appropriate in this instance.

Sphere It Digg! View blog reactions
Posted by Ed Morrissey at September 7, 2006 6:56 PM

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry is

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Coburn-Obama Federal Spending Database Passes -- Unanimously!:

» Bill's Bites from Old War Dogs
The webmaster's blog-within-a-blog. Continuously updated and bumped, newest items at the top. 22:34 Coburn-Obama Federal Spending Database Passes -- Unanimously!Ed Morrissey The Senate has busted through the holds put on by members and passed S2590, th... [Read More]

Tracked on September 7, 2006 10:37 PM

» A Victory For Fiscal Discipline And The Blogosphere from Liberty and Justice
As a European liberal conservative I strongly believe in "fiscal discipline" and am greatly frustrated, to put it mildly, by government spending. So I can very well understand that this is a major victory for those Americans who believe very strongly i... [Read More]

Tracked on September 8, 2006 10:59 AM

>Comments


Design & Skinning by:
m2 web studios





blog advertising



button1.jpg

Proud Ex-Pat Member of the Bear Flag League!