WASHINGTON - President Bush signed legislation Tuesday by Sens. Tom Coburn and Barack Obama to create an online database of federal grants and contracts. He said the bill would "increase accountability and reduce incentives for wasteful spending."
"By allowing Americans to Google their tax dollars, this new law will help taxpayers demand greater fiscal discipline," the president said at a signing ceremony attended by Coburn, R-Muskogee, and other lawmakers.

"In other words, we're arming our fellow citizens with the information that will enable them to demand we do a better job -- a better job in the executive branch and better job in the legislative branch."

The president credited several lawmakers for passing the legislation, but didn't mention the group that Coburn and Obama, D-Ill., repeatedly have praised: Internet "bloggers" who pressured reluctant senators to allow the bill to be considered and newspaper editorial writers and others who pushed for passage.

In a joint statement released after the signing, Coburn and Obama said, "The army of bloggers, editorialists and concerned citizens who worked diligently to see this bill pass deserve all the credit and praise today."

The two senators, whose unlikely partnership also has produced legislation to demand more oversight of Gulf Coast hurricane relief money, said the bill to create a searchable database of contracts and grants was "a small but important step in an effort to change the culture in Washington, D.C."

"American taxpayers soon will be equipped with a significant tool that will make it much easier to hold elected officials accountable for the way taxpayer money is spent."

The legislation calls for the searchable database to be available on the Internet by January 2008. It will include recent federal contracts and grants awarded to public and private entitites that exceed $25,000. Contracts that must be classified for national security reasons won't be included.

The right to know

The president said, "Every year, the federal government issues more than $400 billion in grants and more than $300 billion in contracts to corporations, associations and state and local governments. Taxpayers have a right to know where that money is going, and you have a right to know whether or not you're getting value for your money."

Bush used the signing ceremony to push Congress for a line-item veto. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down a line-item veto approved during the Clinton administration, but a new version, already passed by the House, is aimed at passing constitutional muster.

"Under the proposal, the president can approve spending that is necessary, red-line spending that is not, and send the wasteful and unnecessary spending back to the Congress for an up or down vote," Bush said. "I think this is an important part of making sure we have accountability here in Washington, D.C."