Want to know how Uncle Sam is spending your tax dollars? The U.S. Office of Management and Budget earlier this week launched the web site that soon will make it possible for you to find out vastly more about how government is spending your tax dollars than has ever before been possible and do it with a couple of mouse clicks.
The site is FedSpending.Gov, the Google-like Internet web site that makes most federal spending public via a searchable database. The site is expected to go fully operational next year. In the meantime, OMB made the site active this week with introductory material, including a detailed timeline of what is to happen between now and the January 2008 deadline for having the site fully operational.
FedSpending.Gov was mandated by the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, which was signed into law earlier this year by President Bush. The measure was initiated by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-OK, and was co-sponsored by Sen. Barack Obama, D-IL
“Although the Web site launched today does not yet contain federal spending information, the launch indicates OMB fully understands the need for greater transparency in the expenditure of taxpayer dollars. The launch of an interim Web site is a good step toward greater transparency and full implementation of the transparency law that was passed last year,” Coburn said in a joint statement with Obama.
“The American people demanded this Web site because they want greater transparency and accountability in federal spending. This interim site lets us track the Web site’s progress and give feedback to ensure that all spending information will be available in a searchable and accessible format. People who care about government spending should visit the site and leave their comments,” Obama said in the statement.
The bill mandating creation of the web site almost didn’t make it through the Senate when Sen. Ted Stevens, R-AK, put a secret hold on it. Stevens was unmasked, however, after a precedented push by Porkbusters, a coalition of bloggers from across the political spectrum that had been actively pushing for the legislation.
The Porkbusters invited readers to call their senators and ask them if they were responsible for the secret hold, then the names of those who denied being the holder were posted on the Porkbusters web site. Stevens confirmed that he was culprit within a few days.
