Editorial: New openness on spending

Sunday, Sept. 17, 2006 | 7:23 a.m.

People of a certain age will remember the Golden Fleece Awards handed out monthly between 1975 and 1988 by the late Sen. William Proxmire, D-Wis. The awards, which highlighted wasteful spending by the federal government, included one in 1981 for the Army, which had spent $6,000 preparing 17 pages of regulations on how to buy Worcestershire sauce.

Beginning Jan. 1, 2008, average citizens will be able to become budget hawks themselves. Using a new federal Web site, which is scheduled to be up and running by then, anyone who knows how to use a search engine will be able to discover how a lot of their tax money is being put to use.

Congress has passed legislation to create the Web site and President Bush is expected to sign it. The president said the bill shows Congress' commitment "to giving the American people access to timely and accurate information about how their tax dollars are spent."

Site visitors will be able to use the search engine to discover how much federal money is going to specific states, congressional districts, organizations, government contractors and other entities. The site will be a boon to bloggers and mainstream reporters, but will also empower people with no affiliation with the media, government or investigative agencies in a way that has never before existed.

There are concerns, however. Watchdog groups and the media should regularly compare information on the site with actual budget documents, to ensure information is accurate. People safeguarding the public's interest should never get so used to the Web site that they lose their old-fashioned research skills.

Also, the Web site will be of limited effectiveness unless Congress agrees to also list, along with the federal grants, contracts and allocations, primary sponsors of the bills that authorized them. Many sponsors of spending bills have been allowed to remain anonymous owing to a procedure known as earmarking. The House voted Thursday to require its members to identify themselves when they earmark legislation, and the Senate should follow suit. But the House failed to enact strong lobbying reforms.

We believe the Web site, if it is to be truly effective in shining more light on government, should also monitor the relationship between members of Congress and lobbyists. If lobbyists influenced the listed spending, the site should also reveal how much the sponsors received from the lobbyists in campaign donations, gifts and services such as travel.