New, improved version of website to be released On its first anniversary when new features of OMB Watch's FedSpending.org site are to be unveiled, a story on big contractors receiving small earmarks appeared in Gov Exec. "Defense Bill Proves Lucrative for Biggest Firms demonstrates precisely the kind of databse search that helps citizens learn how the government is spending their money -- searches facilitated by FedSpending.org's upgrade. The upgraded site incorporates major functionality improvements, including the addition of a mapping feature on all searches, creation of a streamlined and powerful SuperSearch for all advanced searching needs, and increased flexibility in retrieving more extensive summary data through expandable summary tables. The Gov Exec story includes the results of a search for the top 20 recipients of earmarks in the 2008 Defense Appropriations Bill. Looking at the results, it turns out, sadly, to be no news at all -- except, as the article points out, that Halliburton somehow failed to make the list. There is ongoing debate about the economic impact of federal tax cuts and spending. Some -- particularly conservative commentators -- tend toward the view that government taxation and expenditures remove dollars from the private economy, unduly restricting growth. If that is the case, these commentators will be dismayed to see how much money the government is taking out of economic circulation and lavishing on recipients who have become dependent on government largesse. Matt Lewis of the OMB Watch Federal Fiscal Policy team, after reviewing this list below, made this astute observation: "The government doesn't know how to spend money, that is for sure."