This morning HUMAN EVENTS Publisher Stephen O'Connor and I were among the privileged guests invited by the White House to the bill-signing ceremony for the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act. Afterward, we met with Deputy OMB Director for Management Clay Johnson.


White House photo by Kimberlee Hewitt

On hand for the bill signing were bloggers, congressional staffers and other open-government advocates who played a key role in the bill's passage. It's remarkable that just last month, the bill's prospects looked dire in the Senate, where Ted Stevens (R.-Alaska) and Robert Byrd (D.-W.Va.) had blocked its advance with secret "holds."

But with the support of Senators Tom Coburn (R.-Okla.) and Barack Obama (D.-Ill.), bloggers on the left and right united, pressuring the senators to drop their objections. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R.-Tenn.), a blogger himself, seized the opportunity and moved the bill to swift passage. In the House, it was quickly embraced by Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R.-Mo.).

The White House's invitation to bloggers is believed to be a first. The fact that Clay Johnson was willing to spend an hour with us afterward illustrated the growing importance bloggers are playing not only on a political level -- as is often reported -- but also in terms of influencing policy on Capitol Hill.



On hand for the meeting with Johnson were (from left) Sean Davis of Rep. Coburn’s office, Ed Frank of the Americans for Prosperity, N.Z. Bear of Porkbusters.org, Bill Allison of the Sunlight Foundation, Andy Roth of the Club for Growth, Mary Katharine Ham of Townhall.com, Clay Johnson, Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit.com, Bridgett Wagner of the Heritage Foundation, me, Mark Tapscott of the Washington Examiner and Stephen O’Connor of Human Events.

Read more (and check out photos) from Tim Chapman, who was also on hand but had to leave Johnson's meeting early.