jcarbaugh won't say this, but the Sunlight Foundation to which he works for is pretty much pushing the government to adopt API standards. They were the folks who were partially responsible for this great link among other amazing products.
I've only been involved in this for a little under two years and it is amazing to see how quickly the government has become interested in open data. There is still a LONG way to go, but I think we are going to see some great things in the coming years.