Hedieh Rahmanou writing at Center for American Progress's Budget Blog, points us to this GovExec article reporting on the 18 percent increase in federal agency contract spending. Federal agencies issued $388 billion in contracts in fiscal 2005, up more than 18 percent from the year before. Defense contracts topped $278 billion, a healthy increase from $229 billion in 2004. [...] Fairmont Homes Inc...had $521 million in FEMA contracts...Morgan Buildings and Spas Inc. was awarded nearly $400 million....Circle B Enterprises $287.5 million...Carnival Corp. garnered $236 million in contracts...for providing short-term housing on cruise ships. That adds up to nearly $1.5 billion in Katrina-related spending for those four companies alone. And keep in mind, the hurricane hit barely a month before the end of fiscal 2005, so these were among the earliest contracts awarded. Further effects of the vicious storms of 2005 certainly will be felt in next year's Top 200 Contractors list. This is the kind of reporting that helps hold the federal government's feet to the fire. Three hundred eighty-eight billion dollars is a lot to keep tract of, and GovExec has done some great work here reporting on the top 200 federal contractors, but wouldn't it be great if ordinary citizens could go to a website and research this kind information for themselves and not wait for a news organization to report it? It's a good thing Senators Robert Byrd (D-WV) and Ted Stevens (R-AK) released his secret hold on S. 2590. Update: This post originally stated that Stevens had released his hold. He has, in fact, not released his hold.