It didn't take long to expose the anonymous senator who was blocking legislation that would make it easier for taxpayers to keep track of how the federal government spends their money.
But that doesn't mean the bill is clear just yet.
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Earlier this week, we noted that Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and Barrack Obama, D-Ill., had sponsored a bill to create a searchable public Web site cataloging all federal grants and contracts. There was little opposition to the matter and it appeared headed for passage ... until an unknown senator placed a "hold" on the legislation. Under Senate rules, that meant the proposal was dead unless the senator lifted the hold.
In response, several online political activists -- on both the left and the right -- attempted to smoke out the offender by urging readers to call individual senators and ask whether they had placed the hold. "As of midday Wednesday, the blogs had been able to obtain denials from 97 senators," the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday. "With the suspects narrowed to a small group," staffers in the office of Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, "acknowledged that he had blocked the bill."
Sen. Stevens, you'll recall, was responsible for trying to insert funding for the infamous "bridge to nowhere" in a massive federal highway bill. That bit of pork pandering was highlighted by Sen. Coburn. The attention and ensuing ridicule angered Sen. Stevens.
But the hold, Sen. Stevens insisted, wasn't in retaliation for that incident. Goodness, no. Instead, his office told the Times, Sen. Stevens wanted the bill delayed until he could be convinced it wouldn't create an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
Sure.
Unfortunately, there were rumors floating around Washington on Thursday that a Democratic senator -- Pork King Robert Byrd was the leading suspect -- had also put a hold on the measure. If so, activists should use the same tactics they used on Sen. Stevens to embarrass Sen. Byrd. (But is he even capable of being shamed over pork?)
Then, Congress should move forward quickly on the Coburn-Obama bill -- an important piece of legislation that will make it easier to expose wasteful spending.
