Betty McCollum: "Keep That Door Closed!"

Betty does the Washington Two-step, or side-step, or whatever the old boys call it these days.

The reality is that H. Res. 1000 will not save one taxpayer dollar, will not remove a single earmark, and does not cover all earmarks. This sham reform bill is solely a symbolic effort to hide the fact that the Republican Majority has failed the Nation on fiscal matters.

Well that's bullshit - and typical of someone who can't keep her eye on the ball. To summarize Betty; "I don't want pizza for lunch, so I vote that none of us have ANY lunch." Thanks Betty, I guess it's better to go hungry than not have it your way.

The point of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act is to find out who is squirreling away tax dollars in the form of special earmarks. From that disclosure will come the pressure from the public to knock it off with the money squandering.

Fortunately, Betty and her backroom ilk are in the minority.

WASHINGTON -- President Bush said Tuesday that Americans will now be able to "Google their tax dollars," as he signed a law to create an online database for tracking about $1 trillion in government spending on grants and contracts. The law is aimed preventing wasteful spending by opening the federal budget to greater scrutiny. The information is already available, but the Web site would make it easier for those who aren't experts on the process to see how taxpayer dollars are being spent.

Signed by President Bush this morning with bloggers in the house. Thanks for Coburn and Obama for sticking to their bi-partisan guns on this one. More on the signing of S. 2590 here with background and a little something from Bill Frist here.

This morning President Bush will sign into law the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act, legislation authored by Senators Coburn and Obama of which I'm a proud co-sponsor. This law creates a single, easily searchable database capable of tracking approximately $1 trillion in federal grants, contracts, earmarks, and loans ... a veritable Google for pork. As I said when this legislation passed the Senate, this law represents a triumph for transparency in government, for fiscal discipline, and for the bipartisan citizen journalism of the blogosphere. Without the hard work of men and women like Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit, Mark Tapscott of the Examiner Editorial Board, Ed Morrissey of Captain's Quarters, NZ Bear of Truth Laid Bear, Robert Bluey on Human Events, Liz Mair of GOP Progress, and Paul Kiel of TPM Muckraker (to name but a few), this legislation would likely never have received the President's signature. And, with their continued efforts, I'm confident that the database created today will help keep Washington's addiction to wasteful spending in check.

Makes shocking good sense to me, but just not to Betty.