Forty years after passing the Freedom of Information Act, Congress may be finally getting around to letting the public in on another big secret — where much of your tax money actually goes.

But first the House and Senate must settle a spat about whether to give taxpayers a tiny peek or full disclosure.

The House passed a bill in June to make data on $460 billion in federal grants available online, but the Senate version, sponsored by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., goes much further. It would include data on $340 billion in federal contracts in a single, searchable database.

"I like to think of this bill as 'Google for Government Spending,' " Coburn said at a Tuesday hearing of a Senate panel on financial management and government information, which he heads.

"The bottom line is that there is no single source of information explaining where federal money is spent, and there should be," he said.

The FOIA requires executive agencies to release information not strictly personal, classified or covered by executive privilege — taxpayers have only to write and ask for it. Congress, however, is exempt from the FOIA, and the spending information available to the public is scattered among half a dozen Web sites.

Senate critics say the existing databases aren't much help.

Read more