Stevens admits to blocking bill

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Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens yesterday acknowledged holding up legislation that would open federal spending practices to public scrutiny, ending speculation about the identity of the bill's blocker swirling around Capitol Hill and the blogosphere.

Aaron Saunders, a spokesman for the Republican, said Mr. Stevens wants a cost-benefit analysis of the measure, which would create a searchable database of about $2.5 trillion in government expenditures, before granting approval.

The legislation, supported by leaders of both parties and more than 100 conservative and liberal-leaning groups, was on the fast track for a floor vote before Mr. Stevens used a procedure known as a "secret hold" to delay it just before lawmakers left town on Aug. 4.

In the past week, conservative and liberal bloggers have unleashed an army of citizens to "out" the senator responsible for the hold. They have kept running tallies of senators who have denied responsibility and those who have refused to comment.

Under Senate rules, the only person who can lift the hold is the senator responsible for placing it.

"Senator Stevens has always preferred to handle this at the staff level or member-to-member," said Mr. Saunders, referring to the hold. "He doesn't like running to the blogosphere or the media."

In addition to concerns about its costs, Mr. Stevens is worried that it would create more bureaucracy to create and maintain such a massive database, Mr. Saunders said.

Mr. Saunders said Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican and one of the bill's sponsors, was informed two weeks ago of Mr. Stevens' concerns. Now it is up to Mr. Coburn's staff to satisfy those concerns before Mr. Stevens will lift the hold, Mr. Saunders said.

Mr. Coburn's staff disputes that they were informed about the hold, saying they had to ask Mr. Stevens if he had placed it. They have yet to meet to discuss those concerns.

But Mr. Stevens could have raised those concerns as a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which approved the bill by voice vote on July 27. He is also a member of the panel's subcommittee, which held an extensive hearing on the measure earlier in July.

Mr. Stevens did not attend either hearing.

The cost-benefit information that Mr. Stevens is seeking is already part of the public record, said Gary Bass, executive director of OMB Watch, a federal spending watchdog group based in Washington.

The Congressional Budget Office reported that the database would cost $4 million to create and $2 million annually to maintain.

The cost of the government-run database is nominal considering that it will help identify waste and abuse as well as where tax dollars are actually going, Mr. Bass said.

Perhaps Mr. Stevens doesn't like the idea because Mr. Coburn attempted to block funding last year for Mr. Stevens' "Bridge to Nowhere," an Alaskan bridge that would link Ketchikan (population 8,900) with its airport on Gravina Island (population 50), Mr. Bass said.

The database would include details about government contracts, grants, insurance, loans and financial assistance.

The bill also was sponsored by Sen. Barack Obama, Illinois Democrat, and is backed by heavy hitters including Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Tennessee Republican, Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, Minority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, and Hillary Rodham Clinton, New York Democrat.