More Democrats with Amnesia on Transparency

Via Memeorandum comes this report from the AP detailing Senator Coburn's 33 hour protest in the Senate after his provision requiring reports be made available to lawmakers and the public was dropped from a $33.5 billion measure funding energy and water projects.

Perhaps it is me but I could swear that right about this time last year we were hearing the word transparency being tossed around by the Democrats undies at a Tom Jones concert.   At least Senator Coburn is pressing the issue.  Grinding the Senate to a halt was a particularly brilliant move.  Coburn's protest called attention to the Democratic amnesia on transparency that caused them to drop his provision requiring reports be made available to lawmakers and the public.  Five days would seem like a reasonable amount of time to post something online, wouldn't it?  Thus far we have seen none of that from the Obama administration or the Democratically controlled House or Senate.

Surprisingly enough, no one wanted to comment on the record as to why the provision was stripped.   An aide answered the question on the condition of anonymity - no seriously:

The top House negotiator, Rep. Ed Pastor, D-Ariz., didn't recall why his side insisted that the Senate drop the transparency provision. But a Democratic aide said later that there is concern that making every report public automatically might cause agencies to be less candid in their dealing with the Appropriations Committee. The aide required anonymity to speak candidly.

It's not unusual to hear the words anonymity and candidly from this most transparent administration evah.   I hope Coburn presses the issue on transparency and lets the public see a health care bill before it is rammed through like the stimulus.