…unanimously. Lots of groups got involved in drawing attention to the holds, smoking out Ted Stevens and Robert Byrd, and keeping pressure on the Senate leadership in both parties to pass this measure to provide the public with an online database tracking all federal contracts and grants–letting us see the government’s receipts for all those shopping sprees–but I think N.Z. Bear deserves a lot of thanks for graphically turning a parliamentary maneuver into a Washington whodunit, complete with citizen sleuths. Not quite Agatha Christie, maybe, but not bad at all!

Though the bill has yet to pass the House, this is still a big win for networked journalism and the public’s right to know.