Update on Senator Shadow (R - Evil)

I mentioned this [1] in yesterday’s Link Vomit and it seems TPM [2] has taken the ball and run big-time:

Just before the August recess, the Senate was set to vote on a bill [3] co-sponsored by Sens. Barack Obama (D-IL) and Tom Coburn (R-OK) that would create a public, searchable database of all federal grants and contracts [4]. Envisioned as a Google-like website, it would provide free, immediate access the information, which can be alarmingly difficult to obtain.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee unanimously passed the measure July 27th, and S.2590 seemed to be speeding on its way to full Senate passage when, in the dark of night, an unknown Senator placed [5] a "secret hold" on the bill. According to Senate rules, the bill will never come to a vote as long as the hold continues.

So who's the culprit?

Since he/she is unlikely to fess up, bloggers from the left [6] and right [7] have united in the effort of eliminating suspects one by one. The only way to do this is to call your Senator's offices up and get an answer. Over at Porkbuster.org, they're keeping a tally [8];

Senator Hutchinson has gone on the record as a no. I’m still trying to reach Senator Cornyn. But I would strongly urge each of you to make a quick call and report your experience.

UPDATE: At this point, 59 Senators have been contacted. Out of these, only Senator Hatch (R-UT) and Senator Saxby Chamblis (R-GA) have refused to go on record. Check out the full update here [9] and please let us know if you discover any new information. Let’s teach this person they can't get away with this kind of shadow BS in the internet age!