A law designed to shine light on government spending may be kept in the dark by a shadowy senator or a group of them.
The bill’s main sponsors, Sens. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., thought they had widespread support on legislation that would order the White House Office of Management and Budget to put all government contracts and grants into a user-friendly, online database.
But many in the Senate have been warning for weeks that the bill has powerful enemies. Despite those warnings, the bill was scheduled to come up for a unanimous consent vote — usually a voice vote on the floor designed to move uncontroversial bills through the Senate quickly.
Now, however, a senator or senators has anonymously placed a hold on that bill. A senator can put a hold on a piece of legislation if he or she has concerns over it, as holds are often used as negotiating tools. They can be placed anonymously or in full view of the public.
This hold is a bitter pill for the bill’s supporters.
“I guess I’m a little bit surprised because it seems like such a common-sense piece of legislation,” said Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for Obama. “After a while up here, though, I guess I’m not surprised by much anymore.”
Some sources have reported that hold is only “informational” — that the senator or senators will take the hold off once some question about the bill is answered. But the secrecy is worrisome to supporters.
The bill has widespread public support. Groups as diverse as Focus on Family and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force have endorsed it. And no one has denounced the bill publicly.
But with the “sunshine” bill now in the dark, the blogosphere has been lighting up, trying to find the culprits.
The leading suspect has been Alaska Republican Ted Stevens, whom the group Citizens Against Government Waste has placed in its “Porker of the Month Hall of Shame.”
