Andrew Noyes writing in Congress Daily notes that the e-government reauthorization (referring to the original e-gov act of 2002) is in doubt:

OMB officials and Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Joseph Lieberman and ranking member Susan Collins have battled behind the scenes in recent months to reauthorize the E-Government Act of 2002 before President Bush leaves office, but a standoff in the Judiciary Committee has probably killed the bill, sources said Wednesday.

It seems that the issue in question is a somewhat relevant provision governing privacy impact assessments, proposed by Senator Leahy:

The staffer argued the amendment is unrelated to the e-government reauthorization itself, which has no Republican detractors. Leahy seems willing to sink the reauthorization if his amendment is not added, the aide said, noting that “he has taken a hostage, and has expressed a willingness to shoot it.”

It’s too bad the e-gov reauthorization looks at least temporarily sunk, it’s the vehicle for all sorts of things we’d like to see, with improved language and guidance on sitemap protocols among them, which guides agencies to expose their data to search engines, the primary finding tool of today’s online citizen.