WASHINGTON --Taxpayers may soon be able to track how the federal government is spending their money with the click of computer mouse.
A far-flung coalition of groups across the political spectrum supports the idea and their efforts were rewarded Thursday as the Senate passed a bill to build a Google-like search engine to allow people to track online approximately $1 trillion in federal grants, contracts, earmarks and loans.
The idea is to open up the federal budget to greater scrutiny and hopefully prevent wasteful spending. Conservatives vow greater scrutiny of "pork barrel" spending while liberals hope to foster a greater appreciation of the good things that the government does.
