Obama, McCain Team Up in Senate

John McCain and Barack Obama may be going head-to-head in their race for the White House, but in the Senate, the two men are working behind the scenes to let a little sunshine into the federal government's windows.

The Hill reports today that McCain's Senate office contacted Obama's office Monday night asking to sign on to a good-government bill opening federal government contracts to public scrutiny, according to three sources. Obama, D-Ill., had been working on the measure mostly with McCain ally Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) After learning that Obama and Coburn were introducing the bill, the Hill reports, McCain's staffers called Coburn, asking that their anti-government waste crusading boss be named as an original co-sponsor. They then called Obama's office. Coburn took the blame for not contacting McCain when developing the bill, saying "I'm not good at politics."

The fact that both Obama and McCain - for whom the battle against special interests and lobbyists will be a huge talking point in the general election - are sponsoring the bill could help get it passed this year.
S. 3077, the Strengthening Transparency and Accountability in Federal Spending Act of 2008, was introduced in the Senate this week. It would require the federal Web site, USASpending.gov (otherwise known as the "Google for Government," which makes public information about nearly all federal grants, contracts, loans and other financial assistance), to include details about competitive bidding, range of acceptable bids, profit incentives offered for each contract, and complete amount of money awarded under the contract.

The site will show if a federal grant or contract is the results of an earmark (random money for projects stuck in otherwise unrelated larger spending bills), and provide an assessment of the quality of work performed. Anyone with a computer can log on to find information about federal contract disputes and violations, terminations, and other contract details.

"We should do everything we can to ensure that the American public can easily access and track how the Federal government does its business," said Obama.

It's interesting to note, however, that while an Obama aide told The Hill the Illinois senator was more than happy to have McCain sign in, Obama's press release on the bill includes statements from two of the other original co-sponsors, but not McCain.