Good government groups are decrying the shutdown of the federal government as a blow to participatory democracy.
The shutdown is emblematic of the breakdown in the appropriations process in Congress. Jo Comerford, executive director of the National Priorities Project, a Northampton-based organization that tracks federal spending ,said it has been ten years since Congress met the Oct 1 deadline to pass a budget
The National Priorities Project,the Center for Effective Government, and the Sunlight Foundation, released a letter urging members of Congress to commit to exercise the power of the purse in a transparent way in order to restore public confidence.
