Wall Street Bailout Spawns Subsidy Database

Pew has engaged the Sunlight Foundation, a government transparency group, to construct the technical infrastructure, compiling data and building Subsidyscope's database. Among Sunlight's other projects are PublicMarkup.org, which seeks to open legislation to online and public review; Earmark Watch, an open review of Washington spending; and OpenCongress, a government transparency effort with news and blogging about Capitol Hill.

"This project represents an exciting opportunity to shine a light on various ways that increasingly scarce federal resources are being spent," Ellen Miller, co-founder and executive director of the Sunlight Foundation, said in a statement. "While we don't know precisely what the project will find, as Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis famously said, 'Sunlight is the best disinfectant.'"

Wall Street Bailout Spawns Subsidy Database