Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Secret Senator

This is just amazing. I think the ability to put a hold on a bill without revealing who you are is so wrong that there should be new rules cast to require that they be named in the public record for placing the hold. The senator may have a very good reason, but without knowing who that is there is absolutely no way of holding them accountable.
A bill to promote government transparency faces an uncertain future because of a far-from-transparent hold placed upon it in the Senate.

An unknown number of senators have blocked legislation to create a public, searchable Web site of all federal grants and contracts. Senate rules permit any senator to anonymously block consideration of a bill on the floor, effectively killing the measure.

“Hopefully the person or persons blocking it will realize it’s important to promote transparency and not secrecy in government,” said John Hart, spokesman for Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., the bill’s sponsor.
Anonymous? You have got to be @#$%ing with me. What moron thought of that?

What irritates me even more is that it is more than one senator. Bet they're not running for reelection. Of course, the majority of the MSM is just ignoring this.

Here's a link to the Porkbusters site on the topic.

GOPProgress has a good piece on topic as well.


1 comment:

geekwife said...

Ah, the irony would be delicious if it wasn't our frelling government we were talking about.