Think Progress (via TPMmuckraker) reports that Ted Stevens (R- Alaska) is the only senator blocking the proposed online database that would provide easy access to all federal spending. The bill, sponsored by Barack Obama (D- Illinois) and Tom Coburn (R- Oklahoma), was approved unanimously in committee and was likely to be approved by the entire Senate. However, the bill was placed on hold by an anonymous senator, which prevented a vote.
Think Progress adds:
Stevens’s opposition to such a bill is not surprising; he is one of the most prolific earmarkers in the Senate:
- In 2005, Stevens helped slip in legislation to begin construction on the “Bridge to Nowhere,” earmarking over $200 million for a bridge to an island home to 50 people. When an amendment jeopardized funding for the project, Stevens threatened to resign.
- Later that year, Stevens tried to insert an amendment into the national defense bill allowing oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. When the Senate struck the provision, Stevens called it “the saddest day of my life” and has “written off” Senate friends who opposed drilling.
- This year, Stevens earmarked $450,000 to research baby food made from salmon and over $1 million for “alternative salmon product research.” This is the third year in a row he has appropriated money to research salmon products.
I guess Stevens is really looking out for the best interest of the “internets”, since such a database would surely be a high traffic destination by fiscal conservatives and government watchdogs on both sides of the aisle!
Technorati Tags: ted stevens, government spending, barack obama, tom coburn
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