The controversy over secret Senate legislative holds following the confession by Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) last week rages on. The trailblazing reformer Trent Lott has just found religion. "Secret holds are outrageous…. It's one of the fundamental problems we have in the Senate today. It's abused and misused… It's corrosive." And now today even Stevens has seen the light and lifted his hold on the database bill "now that [Coburn] has ceased blocking several Commerce Committee with his secret holds." But wait, there's more —- Bill Frist can't resist joining the fun:

The Government Accountability Office has released several reports on U.S. disaster preparedness. You can find the reports here. One of GAO's main findings supports claims by the Brookings Institute that there's been inadequate transparency for Katrina-related spending. Across the board, government agencies are not tracking and reporting how they've been using funds for the recovery. If they have been doing it, they've mostly botched it. From CongressDailyAM (sub.):

Remember earlier this year when the Abramoff scandal spawned urgent bipartisan calls for lobby and earmark reform legislation? Might wanna get ready to throw that, along with reinstatement of PAYGO rules and a minimum wage increase, in the tax-and-budget Do-Nothing congressional trash can.

The Senate is now taking up the must-pass-eventually defense appropriations bill. From BNA (subscription): Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) said the Senate will convene Sept. 5 and immediately take up the DOD spending bill that lawmakers failed to finish prior to the August recess.