The Senate's Secret Hold

Blogosphere Unites in Pursuit of Masked Senator By Paul Kiel - August 28, 2006, 1:04 PM Who's trying to stop the government from telling its citizens where their tax dollars are being spent? Help find out.

Just before the August recess, the Senate was set to vote on a bill introduced by Sens. Barack Obama (D-IL) and Tom Coburn (R-OK) that would create a public, searchable database of all federal grants and contracts. Envisioned as a Google-like website, it would provide free, immediate access the information, which can be alarmingly difficult to obtain.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee unanimously passed the measure July 27th, and S.2590 seemed to be speeding on its way to full Senate passage when, in the dark of night, an unknown Senator placed a "secret hold" on the bill. According to Senate courtesies, the bill will never come to a vote as long as the hold continues.

Since he/she is unlikely to fess up, bloggers from the left and right have united in the effort of eliminating suspects one by one. The only way to do this is to call your Senator's offices up and get an answer. Over at Porkbuster.org, they're keeping a tally; 27 Senators have responded to readers and bloggers and said they weren't responsible for the hold. GOP Progress (via Wonkette) got that total up to 33.

We think TPM readers should get in on the act. If your Senator has yet to respond (see the Porkbusters tally), give his or her staff a call and politely ask if the Senator was the one who placed the secret hold. And let us know how it went (email us at comments (at) tpmmuckraker dot com).

Update: TPMm Reader SM in North Carolina got a no from both Sens. Richard Burr and Elizabeth Dole. So we're up to 35.

I called both my senators offices. Here is what I was told. 1) Senator Bennett is on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee unanimously passed the measure July 27th so while it is possible that he placed the secret hold at least at one point he supported the bill.

2) Senator Hatch's office said that Senator Hatch supports the bill however if he had placed the secret hold we wouldn't know because it is secret. They also said that they had received several calls including at least one from a newspaper that was calling every senator.

I read this as putting Bennett in the unlikely category and Hatch in the TBD category.

I called Senator Kyl's office and I did not get a definitive answer. I was told by the aid that answered the phone that he didn't think the hold was from Senator Kyl. Update: TPMm Reader BY got a definitive "no" from Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX). Now we're at 36.

Update: TPMm Reader MB says Sen. John Warner (R-VA) is an "emphatic" no. We're at 37.

Update: TPMm Reader HP gets a "no" from Sen. John Kerry's (D-MA) office. 39. A number of readers have tried Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), and it seems that no one at the office knows. I'll bet pretty soon they'll figure it out.

i got through to both offices. [Sen. Mark Pryor's (D-AR)] office refuses to comment on it because "if it's a secret issue," why would you talk about it, right? [Sen. Blanche Lincoln's (D-AR)] staffer told me that there's no such thing as a "secret hold," but that she was not the one who placed the "unilateral objection" against the bill. i give her a WTF denial. 42. [see update below on Pryor and Lincoln]

Update: TPMm Reader AR got a no from both Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS). 44.

Update: TPMm Reader HO says that New Jersey's other Senator, Robert Menendez (D) is also a "no." 45.

Update: TPMm Reader TE says that Sen. Norm Coleman's (R-MN) office says "he is on the cleared list for that." 47.

Update: TPMm Reader RS writes in and Sen. Mark Pryor's (D-AR) office now says that he "did not put a secret hold on it." 48.

Update: TPMm Reader PE says that Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-RI)'s staff swears he's "absolutely not" the culprit. 50.

Update: We've unveiled our own easy-to-read official tally, which we'll be updating. There was some confusion because the count was proceeding at three sites at once. Because of that, Sens. Coleman (R-MN) and Smith (R-OR) were mistakenly counted twice (once at GOP Progress, once here). Also, I think Wonkette's tally of 33 should have been 32. But GOP Progress has also added two more - Sens. Sununu (R-NH) and Alexander (R-TN). Confused? Don't be. The revised count is 49.

Update: TPMm Reader MM says that Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) is a no. We're back to 50.

Update: According to theday.com, both Connecticut Senators say no. 52. Official tally here.

Update: A message from Stephen Smith, online communications coordinator for Senator Bill Frist's (R-TN) political action committee:

I can verify that the Majority Leader does not have a hold on S. 2590. Senator Frist is a co-sponsor of the legislation, attempted to bring the legislation up for the vote it deserves before the August recess, and will continue to press for a vote as soon as the Senate reconvenes. 53.

Update: Hard-working TPMm Reader AR says that he got denials from Sens. Michael Enzi (R-WY), Ben Nelson (D-NE), Conrad Burns (R-MT), and Joe Biden (D-DE). 57. Again, the official tally is here.

Update: TPMm Reader (and Frist volunteer) GD says that Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has said that he didn't place the hold. 58.

Update: TPMm MB says, "[Sen. Saxby Chambliss’ (R-GA)] office said that he is a co-sponsor, but refused to say directly that he had not put the hold on the bill." and TPMm SL writes:

Saxby Chambliss' office gave me a, "No senator would answer that question, I mean, come on, it's a secret." I replied that "Johnny Isakson's office gave an on the record 'No'; is Senator Chambliss willing to state publicly that he is not the mystery senator?" The answer was a "No, he will not state either he is or is not." I stated my displeasure at his wishy-washiness, thanked the staffer, and hung up. Update: DAY TWO! Sen. Hagel's spokesman Mike Buttry tells me that "he doesn't have a hold on it." 60.

Update: Sen. Kohl's spokeswoman Lynn Becker tells me "Sen. Kohl does not have a hold on the bill." 61.

Update: Sen. Cochran's spokeswoman Jenny Manley says "He does not have a hold on the bill." 62.

Update: Sen. Lugar's spokesman Andy Fisher says "he does not have a hold on the bill." 64.

Update: TPMm Reader GD: "chuck grassley says t'ain't him, and he's trying to put an end to secret holds." 66.

Update: Another TPMm Reader GD was told, "Senator Akaka did not place a hold on S2590." 67.

Update: TPMm Reader DF says "I just called Sen. Dayton's office. He has not issued a statement but the person who answered the phone said categorically that it was not he that placed the hold on S.2590." 68.

Update: Susan Irby, Sen. Lott's spokeswoman says, "Senator Lott DOES NOT have a hold on this bill." 69.

Update: Sen. Jeffords' spokeswoman Diane Derby says, "Jeffords does not have a hold on it." 71.

Update: TPMm Reader Mike: "Cindy at Sen. Martinez office told me she could guarantee that Sen. Martinez did NOT put a hold on S2590." 72.

Update: Sen. Reed's spokeswoman says, "The Senator does not have a hold on this bill." 73.

Update: Sen. Specter's spokesman Scott Hoeflich says, "Senator Specter does not have a hold on S2590." 74.

Update: Captain Ed writes in to say that a staffer in Sen. Kyl's office "says categorically that Kyl is not the Secret Holder." 75.

Update: Sen. Johnson's spokeswoman Julianne Fisher says, "Sen Johnson does not have a hold on that bill." 76.

Update: Sen. Bayh's spokesman Dan Pfeiffer: "Bayh is a strong supporter of the bill and I can tell you that Bayh did not put a hold on the bill." 77.

Update: TPMm Reader JF says she was told that Sen. Stabenow "had not placed the hold on the bill." 78.

Update: TPMm Reader RS says, "I called Carl Levin's DC office and asked if he is the one who has placed a hold on SB2590. His staffer said no. I then asked if it was a categorical denial, and he said yes." 79.

Update: GOP Progress Editor Liz Mair writes in to say that "Senator Domenici's Assistant Press Secretary emailed in just now to say 'Senator Domenici did not place the hold on S. 2590.'" 80.

Update: TPMm Reader NS says that she was told that Leahy does not have a hold on the bill. 82.

Update: A staffer for Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) called me. "It's not him," he replied, when I asked if Dorgan had placed the hold on the Obama/Coburn bill. 83.

Update: TPMm Reader DW says Sen. Conrad's spokesman Christopher Thorne says Conrad didn't place the hold. 85.

Update: TPMm Reader AA says, "I heard from the Harkin office in Des Moines (and they checked with the office in DC) that Harkin is NOT the secret holder." 86.

Update: Some TPMm Readers have questioned whether Sen. Dodd's response was equivocal or not. So we went back to his spokeswoman, and she says "Senator Dodd does not have a hold on S. 2590." So he remains in the Denial category of our tally.

Update: Hard-working TPMm Reader GD says that she was told that Sen. Murkowski and Sen. Talent are a no. 88.

Update: TPMm Reader KH finally gets an answer out of Sen. Baucus: "Called their Washington DC office and the female staffer’s reply was a flat 'No.'" 89.

Update: TPMm Reader HH says she got a no from Sen. Rockefeller's press secretary Wendy Morigi. 90.

Update: Sen. Crapo's spokeswoman Susan Wheeler tell us "It's not Sen. Crapo's practice to confirm or deny any hold on any bill." So that's a refusal to answer.

Update: According to Porkbusters, Sens. Kitt Bond and Paul Sarbanes are nos. And we've confirmed Bond with his spokesman. 95.

Update: N.K. Bear, who's manning the post at Porkbusters, pointed out to me that GOP Progress editor Liz Mair didn't get an unequivocal no from Sen. Bennett's chief of staff - only "Not that I know of...." Accordingly, we've flagged Sen. Bennett on the list as questionable. We left a message with his spokeswoman. Readers are encouraged to get a straighter answer.

List of likely culprits:

http://porkbusters.org/secrethold.php

2 posted on 08/29/2006 7:48:56 PM PDT by Paladin2 (If the political indictment's from Fitz, the jury always acquits.)

This is my first time posting, I apologize to all for puting the whole article here. I will figure it out.

Of the 8 suspects left, 6 are GOPers and 2 are Dems.

4 posted on 08/29/2006 7:51:16 PM PDT by HitmanLV ("If at first you don't succeed, keep on sucking until you do succeed." - Jerry 'Curly' Howard)

Sadly, if I were a placing a bet, my money would have to be on Stevens. The guy and his family are pork personified.

Open gov't? Rule of law? Secret hold? This is unlikely to turn out well for more than one pig at the trough.

6 posted on 08/29/2006 7:55:07 PM PDT by Paladin2 (If the political indictment's from Fitz, the jury always acquits.)

Sadly, if I were a placing a bet, my money would have to be on Stevens

My pick as well.

Personally, regardless of the answers given, I still think its either Ted Stevens or Robert Byrd.

Either way, since its secret, and they are politicians, expect whoever it is to lie and deny.

8 posted on 08/29/2006 7:57:01 PM PDT by Sonny M ("oderint dum metuant")

It could be a conspiracy (actually it already is).

9 posted on 08/29/2006 7:58:38 PM PDT by Paladin2 (If the political indictment's from Fitz, the jury always acquits.)

Yep, no doubt.

10 posted on 08/29/2006 7:58:49 PM PDT by HitmanLV ("If at first you don't succeed, keep on sucking until you do succeed." - Jerry 'Curly' Howard)

Name Names Please!!

11 posted on 08/29/2006 7:59:59 PM PDT by Suzy Quzy ("When Cabals Go Kabooms"....upcoming book on Mary McCarthy's Coup-Plotters.)

Maybe Fitz could haul these guys up on RICO charges? (Ha, HA)

12 posted on 08/29/2006 8:00:13 PM PDT by Paladin2 (If the political indictment's from Fitz, the jury always acquits.)

Who in the Senate is responsible to notify the Senate that someone put a secret hold on a bill? There must be someone who knows who put on a hold. Or, do they just leave an unsigned note under the majority leaders door. What is the rule that allows this?

13 posted on 08/29/2006 8:00:56 PM PDT by depressed in 06 (Bolshecrats the party of what if.)

It's on the referenced website.

Stevens, Martinez, Crapo, Gregg, Hatch, Bennett for the GOP.

Rockefeller & Carper for the dems.

Smart money is that it is Stevens, as several posters have said.

14 posted on 08/29/2006 8:02:44 PM PDT by HitmanLV ("If at first you don't succeed, keep on sucking until you do succeed." - Jerry 'Curly' Howard)

This is being determined by some good old fashioned legwork.

15 posted on 08/29/2006 8:03:30 PM PDT by HitmanLV ("If at first you don't succeed, keep on sucking until you do succeed." - Jerry 'Curly' Howard)

Then why is everybody saying 'Byrd"??

16 posted on 08/29/2006 8:04:38 PM PDT by Suzy Quzy ("When Cabals Go Kabooms"....upcoming book on Mary McCarthy's Coup-Plotters.)

Carper said he did NOT have a hold on the bill.

17 posted on 08/29/2006 8:05:17 PM PDT by Suzy Quzy ("When Cabals Go Kabooms"....upcoming book on Mary McCarthy's Coup-Plotters.)

You're assuming no one lied when they said they didn't put it on hold. Big assumption if you ask me.

There must be someone who knows who put on a hold.

I always assumed that all Senators know but keep it quiet by custom...and also because what goes around, comes around. I'm not so sure though and will ask around tomorrow.

19 posted on 08/29/2006 8:05:38 PM PDT by P-40 (Al Qaeda was working in Iraq. They were just undocumented.)

20 posted on 08/29/2006 8:07:25 PM PDT by HitmanLV ("If at first you don't succeed, keep on sucking until you do succeed." - Jerry 'Curly' Howard)

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