🚀 go-pugleaf

You thought the Bush presidency was bad? Well Congress is trying very 
hard to outdo him. This sucks like a Hoover.

Check out the following story from the Houston Chronicle. It could be 
titled, "How Congress Rips Off Taxpayers"

[begin included material]

Senator who put 'secret hold' on bill to open federal records is a 
secret
 
August 23, 2006, Houston Chronicle

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/4137637.html

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." Porkbusters.org...posted photographs of all 
senatorial suspects underneath a bold-faced headline asking, "Who is 
the Secret Holder?" There is no conceivable, rational explanation for 
killing this legislation unless they have something to hide.

[end included material]

If you are interested to see if your Senator has publicly said that he 
or she was not responsible for blocking this bill, go to Porkbusters 
website and see:

<http://porkbusters.org/secrethold.php>