WASHINGTON — 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. -- Houston Chronicle
In addition to being upset that this would happen to this bill, I'm surprised that there's a provision for secret holds at all. Seems like a handy little device if you could kill legislation anonymously.
Porkbusters has a list of suspects along with photos.
I do suspect, though, that if this bill passes, the roads down here in my part of Texas might not be so pristine and brand new looking all the time.
UPDATE: Seems that the most likely suspect is Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens, famous for his internet tube theory.
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