Spending web sites make politicos take transparency seriously
WASHINGTON - SEPTEMBER 28: (L-R) Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), and Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd (D-CT) hold a news conference at the U.S. Captiol September 28, 2008 in Washington, DC. The Congressional Democrats talked about the compromise legislation between Congress and the Bush Administration for the $700 billion bailout plan for the Wall Street financial crisis.Image by Getty Images via Daylife
Spending web sites make politicos take transparency seriously
By Lise Bang-Jensen
Manhattan Moment Columnist | 2/24/09 6:10 PM
Did $165 billion in taxpayer dollars disappear into the ether? Probably not, but eight top financial executives, appearing before a House committee last week, were unable to account for how they spent federal bailout money.
The episode speaks poorly for the banking industry. (Let’s hope banks are more prudent with our personal checking accounts.) It also makes government look terrible—and increases demands that the federal government track every dollar of the $789 billion stimulus plan.
Transparency has emerged as a political buzzword, but it’s not a new concept. Thomas Jefferson observed, “Information is the currency of democracy”. Two centuries later, another president, Barack Obama, has promised “an unprecedented level of openness in government”.
Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives embrace the transparency movement. As a U.S. senator, Obama joined with Republicans Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and John McCain of Arizona in co-sponsoring the Federal Funding and Accountability Act of 2006. It posts federal contracts and grants on a website, www.usaspending.gov
Government transparency is about more than tracking federal contracts or stimulus funds. Citizens have a right to know how every tax dollar is spent.
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