Transparency watchers have been keeping an eye on how various versions of the stimulus bill have spelled out what the government’s recovery watchdog website will look like, and what kind of data it will offer.
Yesterday, POGO obtained an early, unofficial version of the relevant section as it was likely to emerge out of conference. Now that the actual bill is available, it turns out that the early version was adopted more or less unchanged, with two exceptions.
One change instructs the board not to release information that would be exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act or the Privacy Act.
The other significant change requires the website “to the extent practicable” provide information to job seekers about how they can go about getting work created by the stimulus. That will certainly boost traffic to Recovery.gov, if nothing else.
Clint Hendler is the managing editor of Mother Jones, and a former deputy editor of CJR.