In 2007, the President said the following in his State of the Union Address:
"The time has come to end this practice [of congressional earmarking]. So let us work together to reform the budget process … expose every earmark to the light of day and to a vote in Congress."
Right in line with that 21,500 troop "surge" that miraculously escalated by 8800 soldiers and $1 billion, the following is posted as rumor from Mark Tapscott at the Washington Examiner on the Sunlight Foundation's Blog (on the beginning of Sunshine Week, no less):
Word is circulating on the Hill that the Bush administration is going to release only a limited database of earmarks later today or maybe no database at all, but just aggregate or summary data.
Seems the White House legislative staff fears releasing the database would offend members of the appropriation committees in Congress. So, the public gets the shaft, again, on a topic on which there is no doubt where the American people stand.
Note that this earmark suppression comes during Sunshine Week.
This should not go well. Or at least it better not. Transparency is a subject on which both mainstream ideological parts of the blogosphere will unite with unprecedented fury. You will recall how quickly the Senators ("Bridge-to-Nowhere" Ted Stevens, R-AK and Robert Byrd, D-VA) with the "secret hold" on S.2590, the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, was uncovered and reported by Porkbusters.
ThinkProgress has an update: "OMB spokesman Sean Kevelighan told ThinkProgress that OMB will be launching its earmarks website today with “aggregate data on the number and cost of earmarks down to the agency and account level.” He promised that OMB will be providing “even greater detail” in the future"
The Sunlight Foundation has an update, with "Rob Lehman, the chief of staff of Office of Management and Budget, who assured me that, contrary to this report, there is no "caving" on their announced intention to publish a comprehensive list of earmarks online." There is a caveat, however:
A couple of very smart emailers have said I'm being far too generous here. They may well be right–we'll see. OMB has now posted part of the database; it looks like 7 of 27 agencies are incomplete. OMB also adds, "The information currently available is a work in progress and will be updated in the coming weeks." I'll keep a close eye on their progress over the next couple of weeks. Further bulletins as events warrant…
Hmm. I guess we will see.
