An important legislative effort is gaining steam in the Senate that would shed light on government spending by making federal contracts and grants available to the public free of charge in a searchable, downloadable online format. This legislation comes out of a bipartisan effort led by Senators Tom Coburn (R-OK), Barack Obama (D-IL), Tom Carper (D-DE), and John McCain (R-AZ), who are now seeking endorsements for their bill (S. 2590). OMB Watch strongly supports this legislation and has been working closely with the cosponsors to help craft portions of the bill and ensure its enactment. Below is a short letter endorsing the bill. We hope your organization will join OMB Watch in signing on to this letter. To add your organization, or if you have any questions, simply send a note to Sean Moulton at smoulton@ombwatch.org. The deadline for sign-on is COB Friday, June 2. The bill, the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (S. 2590), could reach the floor some time in June. For background on the bill, visit OMB Watch's analysis of the bill and view a copy of its text. Sincerely, Gary D. Bass Executive Director OMB Watch Dear Senators, We are writing to offer our strong endorsement for your bill, the Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (S. 2590). This bill creates a solution to a long-standing problem of access to information about how the government distributes federal funds. We believe it is vital for the public and Congress to have easy access to federal contract and grant information to track and assess how federal resources are being allocated. The need for such a tool has been particularly apparent in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina as it has been nearly impossible to track how large amounts of federal funds are being spent. Many important questions about who receives the money, how the resources are spent, whether the contracts are competitive, and many other crucial questions are either extremely difficult to answer or remain locked away far from public view. These questions are quite reasonable--and the public has a right to have easy access to the information needed to answer them, both after emergencies and throughout the regular course of government spending. We thank you for recognizing this crucial fact and for supporting citizen access to this information. We share your hope that the result of S. 2590 will be greater accountability, efficiency, and oversight of federal funds. Sincerely, [Groups]