Opinion: Newbie senators changing D.C.
By Mickey Hepner
The Edmond Sun
September 18, 2006
EDMOND— Some politicians go to Washington and quickly become immersed in the establishment. But this year, two freshman U.S. senators are changing the way Washington operates.
In 2004, Oklahoma and Illinois both elected new people to serve in the “World’s Most Exclusive Club” — otherwise known as the U.S. Senate. Ever since, Oklahoma’s Tom Coburn, a Republican, and Illinois’ Barack Obama, a Democrat, have been collaborating to reform the legislative system.
This week, their efforts paid off when the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act, which was co-authored by the two newbie senators, passed both the U.S. House and Senate. President Bush has promised to sign the bill into law.
The bill — what Sen. Coburn calls the “Google Government” bill — would require the federal government to establish a Web site listing every person and group, along with their location, that receives federal grants and contracts. This database will allow every person to cast a more watchful eye over how the federal government spends our tax dollars, and consequently hold our elected officials accountable.
Naturally, establishing such a database is not free. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the Web site will cost $15 million during the next five years. But the increased transparency of federal spending could lead to savings that dwarf this amount. After all, it is a lot easier to waste money when no one knows how it is being spent. Like mold, wasteful spending dislikes the sunshine.
Of course this bill is far from a panacea for Congress’ spendthrift ways. Congress still needs to act to eliminate the special “earmarks” that allow members to spend millions of dollars on wasteful pork projects. The Citizens Against Government Waste (www.cagw.org) — a conservative government watchdog group — notes that earmarks have exploded during the past few years to a record $29 billion in 2005. Last year, taxpayers helped fund such notable events as the World Toilet Summit and the Teapot Museum in Sparta, N.C.
Not surprisingly, the Republican-leadership in Congress is unwilling to make substantial reforms to the appropriations process.
Instead of eliminating earmarks all together, this last week House Republicans announced that for all earmarks this year — and only this year — they will link every earmark with the member who requested it. Far from being a step forward, this move allows those members who brag about the pork they bring to their home districts to now have evidence to support their claims.
To me though, this is evidence we need new leadership in Congress. We need leaders from both political parties to be less concerned about Republicans and Democrats, and be more concerned about right and wrong.
We need leaders who will fight against waste, and for a brighter future. This week, Sens. Coburn and Obama gave me hope those leaders exist.
(Mickey Hepner is an economics professor at the University of Central Oklahoma.)
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