Press Articles
Bailout Agreement Hits the Net -Is This Transparency?
Publication: Wired
Sarah Lai Stirland
September 28, 2008
The White House and congressional leaders agreed to the details of the $700 billion government bailout of financial institutions late Sunday afternoon and they promptly released the bill on the internet.
The Huffington Post and The Open House Project both posted the legislation online shortly after the House server appeared to be overwhelmed by traffic. The Sunlight Foundation then posted the bill up on its site PublicMarkUp.org.
The House apparently plans to approve the legislation Monday, and the Senate is expected to act on it Wednesday.
Several newspapers have summaries of the legislation and what it would do. But one wonders whether this is what we mean by transparent government.
Doesn't transparency amount to more than just posting a bit of legislation up on a Sunday, giving the public a few hours to wonder what it says, and then rushing to approve it in congress?
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Web Mentions
- New York Times: The Moment Blog: The Digital Ramble: Political Partying December 2, 2008
- The BOBs: Deutsche Welle: Blog Awards December 2, 2008
- Smart Mobs: Video Overview of OpenCongress December 1, 2008
- The Technology Liberation Front: Here Comes Democracy! December 1, 2008
- Citizen Tools: User stories for open government? December 1, 2008
Press Mentions
- Political life shouldn’t be a family affair November 30, 2008
- Obama harnessed the grass-roots power of the Web to get elected. How will he use that power now? November 24, 2008
- A Rewired Bully Pulpit: Big, Bold and Unproven November 23, 2008
- Obama Should Use Technology to Bring About Real Change November 20, 2008
- By the People: Citizen Involvement the Open Source Way November 20, 2008
