Bloggers Feted at White House Bill Signing
The bill at the center of this 2006 story became the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (Public Law 109-282). It created USAspending.gov, which the Office of Management and Budget launched in December 2007, and the DATA Act of 2014 later expanded it. Earmarks, the “pork” the bloggers wanted to expose, were subject to moratoriums adopted by the House and Senate in 2011. They came back in 2021 as Community Project Funding in the House and Congressionally Directed Spending in the Senate. As of November 2026, lawmakers must post their requests online and certify that they have no financial interest in them, and House members are limited to 20 requests each. Final FY2027 earmarks are still undecided because the government is running on a stopgap law that expires December 11, 2026.
The September 2006 signing
On September 26, 2006, President George W. Bush signed S. 2590, the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act, into law. The bill created a searchable public database of federal spending. Bloggers were invited to the White House that day. Press coverage at the time read the invitation as recognition of their role in getting the bill through Congress over the objections of senior senators, and as a sign of how much blogs were changing politics.
A coalition of bloggers from the left and the right had done something the Senate’s Republican leadership had not. They identified the senators blocking the bill and built public pressure to lift the hold. That moved the bill to the Senate floor, where it passed by unanimous consent in early September 2006. The House then passed it by voice vote in mid-September.
John Hart was spokesman for Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), who wrote the bill with Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). “The bloggers mobilized Congress; Congress did not mobilize bloggers,” he said. “It really does represent a revival of basic democratic values: that active citizens using tools of technology really can steer the political process,” Hart added. “And what happened was profoundly subversive to the established political order.”
Who placed the secret holds
According to reporting from the time, the PorkBusters campaign and other bloggers worked out which senators had placed anonymous holds on the bill and were keeping it from a vote. The two were Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.). Both had chaired the Senate Appropriations Committee and were widely known for steering federal money to their home states. After a burst of bad publicity, both lifted their holds.
A “secret hold” was a Senate tradition. It let a single senator quietly stop a bill without saying so in public. To find out who was responsible, the bloggers asked readers to phone their senators and ask whether they had placed the hold. Eventually the senators involved admitted their role and dropped their objections.
Byrd died in office in June 2010. Stevens lost his 2008 reelection race and died in a plane crash in August 2010.
What the bill did
The law required a free, searchable public website listing federal contracts, grants, loans and most other federal awards, with details on who received the money. The Bush administration supported the database as a way to make spending more transparent and accountable. Senior senators from both parties had blocked it before the holds were lifted.
One administration official, quoted by The Washington Times, called the bill the “‘Blair Witch Project’ version of legislation.” The comparison was to the 1999 horror film that became a hit through word of mouth, because support for the bill had spread mainly through blogs.
After the signing, the site’s history ran like this:
- December 2007: The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) launched USAspending.gov, with the site based at the General Services Administration (GSA).
- February 2014: OMB moved responsibility for the site from GSA to the Treasury Department.
- May 2014: President Obama signed the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act (DATA Act, P.L. 113-101). It expanded the 2006 law and set government-wide data standards for spending reports.
- 2018: The rebuilt USAspending.gov became the official public website for DATA Act reporting, which Treasury still runs today.
What happened to earmarks
The blogger behind the original post, published on HolyCoast.com, hoped the new database would mean some of the most criticized pork projects got cut before they reached final legislation. What actually happened was a much bigger change. Congressional moratoriums put earmarks themselves on hold for a decade.
After the 2010 elections, House Republicans adopted an earmark moratorium for the new Congress, and Senate appropriators followed in early 2011. The moratoriums lasted through the FY2021 bills. In 2021, Democratic appropriations leaders brought earmarks back for FY2022 under new names and new disclosure rules. Republican House majorities have kept the practice going since then.
| Feature | House: Community Project Funding | Senate: Congressionally Directed Spending |
|---|---|---|
| Who can request | Any House member | Any senator |
| Request limit (FY2027) | 20 per member | No fixed per-member number in committee guidance |
| Public disclosure | Requests posted online by each member | Requests posted online by each senator |
| Conflict certification | Required | Required |
| Overall cap | 0.5% of discretionary spending (FY2027 House guidance) | Set in Senate committee guidance |
Tallies of FY2026 earmarks vary with the method. CQ Roll Call counted nearly $15.5 billion in earmarks enacted by February 2026. Citizens Against Government Waste, a group that opposes earmarks, put the FY2026 total at $23.7 billion in its 2026 Congressional Pig Book. That total includes 110 earmarks worth $8.3 billion that were not tied to a named member.
FY2027 is still open. Congress has not passed any full-year FY2027 appropriations bills. The stopgap law, H.R. 6500 (P.L. 119-103), passed the Senate 90-6 and the House 370-48. President Trump signed it on September 2, 2026, and it funds all 12 appropriations bills through December 11, 2026. Earmarks for FY2027 will be settled only when Congress passes full-year bills.
FAQ
What law did President Bush sign on September 26, 2006?
He signed S. 2590, the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, which became Public Law 109-282. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) sponsored it and Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) was the lead cosponsor. It required a public, searchable website listing federal awards.
Which senators put secret holds on the bill?
Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) were identified as the senators who had placed anonymous holds. Both lifted them after bloggers and the press drew public attention to the holds. The Senate then passed the bill by unanimous consent.
Is USAspending.gov the database from this bill?
Yes. OMB launched USAspending.gov in December 2007 to meet the 2006 law’s requirements. The Treasury Department took over responsibility for the site in 2014. The DATA Act of 2014 required standardized federal spending data and made Treasury and OMB responsible for putting it into effect.
Are earmarks still banned?
No. The House and Senate adopted earmark moratoriums in 2011 that lasted through the FY2021 bills, and earmarks were brought back in 2021. They are now called Community Project Funding in the House and Congressionally Directed Spending in the Senate, and they come with public disclosure and conflict-of-interest certification rules.
How much was spent on earmarks in FY2026?
It depends on who is counting. CQ Roll Call tallied nearly $15.5 billion enacted by February 2026. Citizens Against Government Waste counted $23.7 billion, including earmarks with no named sponsor. The two totals use different methods, so they can’t be compared directly.
What was PorkBusters?
PorkBusters was a campaign run by bloggers from 2006 to 2010 that targeted congressional earmarks. It encouraged readers to contact lawmakers about specific spending items and about the secret holds on the transparency bill. It is not connected to the site’s current owners.
Sources
- Congressional Research Service: The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act, Background, Overview, and Implementation Issues (RL33680)
- Congressional Research Service: FFATA Implementation and Proposed Amendments (RL34718)
- Public Papers of the Presidents: George W. Bush, 2006, Book II
- Senate Report 113-139 on the DATA Act (Congress.gov)
- Treasury: Data Transparency, About
- Congressional Research Service: Overview of Continuing Appropriations for FY2027 (R49353)
- House Appropriations Committee: FY27 Community Project Funding Guidance
- The Washington Times, September 26, 2006
About this article
- Fact-checked before publication.
- Published · Updated
