Opponent of Spending Database Unmasked

Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, has been outed as the senator who placed a heretofore anonymous hold on proposed legislation (S. 2590) to require the creation of a single, comprehensive, searchable, Web-based database of federal spending information. The revelation comes after a swarm of bloggers (including those at TPMmuckraker and Porkbusters) deluged senators' offices with calls in an effort to uncover who was holding up the bill. Stevens, a spokesman says, wants to make sure that the bill doesn't create an "unnecessary layer of bureaucracy." That may or may not be the only reason he opposes the measure (since Stevens has a track record of supporting controversial spending measures, he may simply want to avoid exposing them to the light of day) but it is a valid concern.

After all, the federal government already publishes several publicly accessible databases of information on federal spending, including the Census Bureau’s Federal Assistance Award Data System the General Services Administration’s Federal Procurement Data System, and the Health and Human Services Department's Grants.gov site. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that S. 2590 would cost $15 million by 2007. Does anyone think for that amount of money we're actually going to get a simple, useable database of all the money the government spends? I have my doubts. But we can all be certain that what we'll get is yet another large reporting burden for federal agencies.