Its information was mostly accurate, searchable online, and downloadable, and the website was user-friendly. These problems had hobbled an earlier attempt to post federal spending online in a law co-authored by then-Senator Barack Obama.īut Issa came to believe worked. Financial information was coded differently from agency to agency, as was information about what each spending program actually did. "Imagine if all 32 Major League Baseball teams calculated batting averages differently, used varying definitions for what constituted a fielding error, and didn't even bother to record some numbers like strikeouts," Issa later wrote. Issa, the multimillionaire co-founder of an electronic manufacturer, was familiar with the difficulties Devaney would face. And he'd be in charge of a website that would h ost all information about stimulus money grants and recipients. Now, he would head the Recovery Transparency and Accountability Board - which Washington soon dubbed the RAT board. In that last role, Devaney had amassed several major scalps - he had a leading role in the investigation of lobbyist Jack Abramoff, and also helped expose a "sex, drug use, and graft" scandal implicating several Interior Department officials. Biden was given the job, and he recruited Earl Devaney - a former cop, Secret Service agent, and inspector general. According to Michael Grunwald's book The New New Deal, Vice President Biden told aides, "If someone can prove we wasted a billion dollars, it's gone, man! Gone!" To prevent fraud, the administration knew it needed to bring unprecedented transparency to the law's spending. The White House had the same fears - they knew even a relatively small theft scandal could jeopardize the whole project politically - which meant jeopardizing the economic recovery. In that way, it's an updated Schoolhouse Rock lesson for our polarized, dysfunctional Congress. Put together, the story offers a new guide not just to how a bill can become a law - but why so few actually become laws, and why the ones that do are often so disappointing. And crucially, it involves compromise after compromise. Interviews with senators, Capitol Hill aides, and advocacy group staffers reveal an arduous three-year process during which the DATA Act's success was often imperiled - and during which an already modest law became even weaker. It's a saga that includes lobbying, leaks to the press, bureaucratic sabotage, and last-minute twists. The bill was widely praised as an important step toward open government, and it was unanimously approved by both the House and Senate.īut even this common-sense reform nearly failed. Basically, it lets people Google where government money goes. Its main purpose is to put all federal spending online in a searchable, user-friendly online database. One such bill - the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act, or DATA Act - was signed into law on May 9, 2014. Yet some members of Congress do manage to beat the odds, introducing bills that make it into law through the traditional path.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |