S.2590 – A great Idea: Which Senator is Standing in the Way?

Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 introduced by Mr. COBURN (for himself, Mr. OBAMA, Mr. CARPER, and Mr. MCCAIN) shall:

SEC. 2. FULL DISCLOSURE OF ENTITIES RECEIVING FEDERAL FUNDING.
(a) In General-
(1) WEBSITE- Effective beginning January 1, 2007 and subject to paragraphs (2) and (3), the Office of Management and Budget shall ensure the existence and operation of a single updated searchable database website accessible by the public at no cost that includes for each entity receiving Federal funding–
(A) the name of the entity;
(B) the amount of any Federal funds that the entity has received in each of the last 10 fiscal years;
(C) an itemized breakdown of each transaction, including funding agency, program source, and a description of the purpose of each funding action;
(D) the location of the entity and primary location of performance, including the city, State, congressional district, and country;
(E) a unique identifier for each such entity and parent entity, should the entity be owned by another entity; and
(F) any other relevant information.
(2) INITIAL DATA- Effective January 1, 2007, the website shall include data for fiscal years 2006 and 2007.
(3) PREVIOUS FISCAL YEARS- Not later than January 1, 2009, information required by this section shall be posted on the website for fiscal years 1999 through 2005.

Evidently, this quite useful initiative has been “put on hold” by a single senator. Here’s a tally of Senators who said that they did not place the hold (a single Senator can evidently place a hold on legislation…). Senator Feingold, to his credit has apparently announced that he was not responsible for the hold. I phoned Senator Kohl’s DC office this morning. A staffer said that she “does not have a statement on this issue”.
I hope all government entities publish a searchable database as envisioned by S.2590. Earmarks, another gross abuse of our system – are just now getting some sunshine.
UPDATE: Paul Kiel says that a Kohl staffer says that he did not place a hold on S.2590.