The Chicago Tribune today credits and praises "pork-busting bloggers" with outing Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens and W. Va. Senator Robert Byrd as the anonymous senators blocking a bill that would establish a database showing how the Government spends our tax dollars.

Sponsored by Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.), the measure would create a searchable online database of federal grants and contracts. An unnamed senator (or senators, as it turned out) was blocking that bill from coming to the floor. Under an arcane Senate rule, any member who has concerns about a bill can block it--anonymously. Party leaders know the blocker's identity but don't have to tell anyone, even the bill's sponsor.

Porkbusters, a group of bipartisan bloggers, went on the warpath. They asked bloggers to contact their senators and ask outright if they were one of the anonymous blockers of the bill. 98 Senators said "no." That left Ted Stevens and Robert Byrd, both of whom eventually 'fessed up.