House votes to create grants database

The House passed legislation that will establish a public database tracking federal grants, a move that advocates say will bring a new level of transparency to the government grant-making process.The bill, , requires the government to post information as to whom a grant was awarded, a breakdown of assistance by agency and program source, all awards a grantee has received over the past 10 years and a list of dates and amounts of federal financial assistance the grantee has received. The information should be posted 30 days after a grant has been awarded. House majority whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Government Reform Committee chairman Tom Davis (R-Va.) the bill in late March.“The current lack of a central database of federal grantees makes it difficult to systematically review federal spending,” said Davis. “This legislation will empower everyone with access to the Internet to review federal grants and other forms of taxpayer assistance to look for waste, fraud and abuse.”The bill now moves to the Senate.