I bet this NEVER happens!

Rainville calls for Web site detailing federal spending

September 8, 2006

The Associated Press

WILLISTON — What if Uncle Sam kept a Web site that tracked your tax dollars at work, listing what they paid for?

That's what Republican congressional candidate Martha Rainville suggested Thursday, proposing that the White House Office of Management and Budget create and maintain a site disclosing contracts, grants, loans, insurance and other payments made by the federal government.

It also would list who got the money and how much they got, according to Rainville, who is now running for the U.S. House of Representatives seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Bernard Sanders.

The goal, she said, would be to restore the public's confidence in their elected leaders.

"We have to have a public that trusts Congress and have a Congress that's held accountable," Rainville said. "The whole earmark debate, the lobbying scandals, all of that is connected to money, where it goes and why."

The proposal was the latest plank in what Rainville describes as an effort to restore integrity to Washington. She also has called for giving the president the authority to veto specific line items in bills, passage of an ethics reform bill, and a "clean campaign pledge" designed to limit spending.

"It all fits into what I think is a critical need to restore public confidence in Congress," she said.

Rainville's opponent in Tuesday's Republican primary, state Sen. Mark Shepard, questioned whether the monumental task of setting up such a massive Web site would be worth it.

"You aren't going to have the average citizen thumbing through hundreds of thousands of Web pages looking where the nickels are spent," he said.

Some watchdog organizations might take advantage of such a tool, he said, but they already are tracking federal spending and can pay to do so for themselves.