Your tax dollars:
The Washington Post reported yesterday that OMB (Office of Management and Budget) has launched a new site called USAspending.gov, and here’s what they say about it:
The story began late last year, when two other political opposites, Sens. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), sponsored legislation requiring the federal government to set up a searchable online database tracing federal budget spending by Jan. 1, 2008.
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The goal was to make both the executive branch and Congress accountable for their spending decisions by allowing regular taxpayers to follow the money.
As you will see when you read the article, there is already a site called OMB Watch. So between the two we should be able to spend some long winter days pouring over the finances involved in Refugee Resettlement. And, if you don’t find what you are looking for, contact the site and tell them what you need because new data is being added daily, according to one of those involved in designing the site.
“It’s a work in progress. The site doesn’t include as much data as we want, but we are like a gerbil in an exercise wheel, loading data as we speak.”
Alrighty then, let’s give those “gerbils” some work!