Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act Passes Senate

After months it seems of anonymous holds, Senate bill S. 2590, the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, has passed the senate Unanimously.

This is the bill that offers the hope that we, the taxpayers, will actually know who is spending our money on what when the congress passes thousand-page bills.

The senate version has to be reconciled with the house version, which has an exemption to reporting requirements that I hope is removed to match the senate version (a rare case where I like the senate version of a bill over the house version).

Since the bill passed unanimously, I expect the Webb-syncophants to chime in at any time about Allen being a copy-cat for voting the same way as Ted Kennedy.

From Senator Bill Frist's Web site:

Tonight I’m proud to report that the Senate unanimously passed S. 2590, the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006.

The passage of this legislation is a triumph for transparency in government, for fiscal discipline, and for the bipartisan citizen journalism of the blogosphere.

Without the efforts of ordinary Americans empowered by the Internet, including many hardworking members of the iFrist Volunteers, this legislation might easily have been successfully obstructed. Instead, the unprecedented synergy between online grassroots activists and Senate leadership provides a new model for participatory democracy in action.

I look forward to reconciling S. 2590 with its counterpart in the House and delivering this deserving legislation to the desk of President Bush for his signature.

Written by Bill Frist, M.D.

This isn't the magna carta, folks, just a good first step, a tool to help us keep our government accountable. But at least it's a step forward.