The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs unanimously passed the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (S. 2590) on Aug. 8. The bill would create a searchable website that provides information about all federal spending, including government contracts and grants. Following the quick committee action, Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), the committee's chair and ranking member respectively, jointly requested that the bill be fast-tracked and brought to the Senate floor for a unanimous consent vote. Unfortunately, time ran out for the unanimous consent request to reach the floor before the August recess. The speed with which S. 2590 has moved in the Senate should come as no surprise given strong bipartisan support for the measure and last month's extremely positive hearing on the bill. The bill was introduced by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Barack Obama (D-IL) but has a growing list of cosponsors, 29 currently, from both sides of the aisle. The effort to bring the bill to the Senate floor under a unanimous consent vote reflects this broad support. Items brought to the floor under unanimous consent can only pass if no senator objects. Clearly, Collins and Lieberman believe that S. 2590 has enough appeal among both conservatives and liberals that not one senator would object. Collins requested the unanimous consent agreement on Aug. 2 and Lieberman followed suit soon after. It was expected that the Senate would not break for its recess until Aug. 4. The Senate, however, wrapped up on Aug. 3, leaving little time for Senate offices to review the bill and for the bill to still have floor consideration. Even with strong bipartisan support, some fear that a senator might anonymously object to the bill given historically there's been little congressional enthusiasm of public disclosure. When the Senate returns in September, the bill's fast-track schedule will likely resume, as long as no objections are raised. If the bill is passed under unanimous consent, the Senate's strong bipartisan support for the bill may convince the House to place identical legislation on a fast track for a vote. Currently, the House has passed a bill (H.R. 5060) that would provide access to information about federal grants but not contracts. The House legislation, co-sponsored by Reps. Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Tom Davis (R-VA), has been strongly criticized as a half measure because of the failure to include online disclosure of federal contracts. Rather than attempt to reconcile the differences between two very different bills in conference, some have speculated that the House may simply take up the Coburn-Obama legislation.