The following is cross-posted at www.fiscalaccountability.org:
As The Hill reports, it will be another couple of months before taxpayers can browse the annual accountings of member, committee, and officer expenditures online.
After Speaker Nancy Pelosi instructed the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) last month to post member expenditure records online as soon as possible, a target date was the end of August. However, lawmakers fear the newly revamped server may not be able to handle the expected traffic the filings will likely generate, and have pushed back the target date until the end of October.
On the one hand, this may be a reasonable concern, as one can truly expect a lot of traffic on the website once the information goes online.
On the other hand, cynics could argue this is just another one of Pelosi’s transparency shell games. After all, the House leadership is known to say one thing (keyword: "the most open and ethical congress") and then do another (such as not giving lawmakers or the public a chance to read massive bills like the "stimulus" or cap-and-trade) …