Monday, September 04, 2006

Blogs Win Again

Well, congratulations to the blog world on getting Oklahoma Republican Senator Tom Coburn's bill S.2590 released from secret hold. The bill would create an online database allowing citizens to discover what the federal government was spending their taxes on.

The controversy began when a secret hold was put on the bill preventing the legislation from moving to the floor. A coalition of bloggers contacted the offices of all 100 senators urging them to state their position on the bill. When the smoke cleared, surprise, surprise. The two guilty senators were Ted "A Bridge to Nowhere" Stevens, a Republican from Alaska and West Virginia's veteran Democratic senator, Robert "Sheets" Byrd.

Get a load of the statements issued by each one of these charlatans.

Senator Stevens's spokesman told reporters that Mr Stevens simply wanted to wait for a proper "cost-benefit analysis" of the bill. "Senator Stevens wants to ensure this bill is not going to create another layer of bureaucracy," he added.

Mr Byrd's office released a statement saying that he "wanted time to read the legislation, understand its implications and see whether the proposal could be improved. Now that there has been time to better understand the legislation, Senator Byrd has released his hold."

If you believe these guys, I have a bridge in Alaska I'd like to sell you.

Meanwhile, Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, has promised to bring the bill before the Senate for a vote when it returns from recess later this month.

Hat tip to the scotsman.




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