News
Before the Senate recessed last week, Sens. Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Barack Obama (D-IL) succeeded in attaching an amendment they sponsored to the chamber's fiscal year 2007 defense spending bill that would mandate posting a number of Defense Department reports on the Internet.
During Aug. 3 floor debate, Coburn sought support for the measure by arguing it would strike a blow for increased transparency in the way the government conducts its business.
Of particular interest to Coburn and Obama are the budget justification materials DOD delivers to Capitol Hill each year. If their proposal becomes law, the Pentagon would have 48 hours to post the documents on one of its Web sites after they are sent to Congress.
"If [DOD is] reporting to the Appropriations Committee or the authorization committee [for the armed services], then [it] ought to be reporting to the American public," Coburn said. "The American public ought to see what those reports say, provided there is no risk to national security within them."
Under the legislation, the defense secretary could redact information that could compromise national security.
However, the amendment offered by the two lawmakers did not survive the debate intact because Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-AK) raised a procedural objection to one of its provisions. Later in the day, the full chamber approved a somewhat modified version by voice vote.
Specifically, Stevens said the amendment as presented would violate the chamber's "Rule XVI" policy.
The rule prohibits senators from offering an amendment to an appropriations bill that proposes "general legislation," according to the Senate Appropriations Committee's Web site. Nor does it allow amendments that are deemed irrelevant to the subject matter of the bill.
In addition to DOD reports related to the fiscal year 2008 budget destined for the House and Senate Appropriations committees, the amendment also would have applied to those sent to other congressional panels.
Therein lied the Rule XVI violation, Stevens said on the chamber floor, while adding he could support the amendment if it only applied to the appropriations committees.
"In regard to the basic concept, we [the defense appropriators] have no problem with having all of the items submitted to the Appropriations Committee put on the Web," he said. "Almost all of them are anyway."
Stevens then asked Coburn if he would agree to limiting the legislation in a way that would apply only to the appropriations committees.
In response, Coburn said he had worked with the Senate parliamentarian in crafting the amendment and claimed it does not violate Rule XVI.
Both lawmakers then asked for a vote on the matter, but after the Senate considered other business. This vote, though, never took place because Coburn subsequently agreed to Stevens' proposal and the modified version was adopted.
Speaking to Inside the Pentagon this week, Steven Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists' Project on Government Secrecy and an advocate for making more defense-related information public, said DOD has been better than other federal agencies in placing its budget justification materials on the Internet so the public can review them. He questioned whether lawmakers should have focused their attention instead on other defense-related reports that are not available to those outside DOD and members of Congress.
During the floor debate last week, Coburn said lawmakers who were not on the Senate Appropriations Committee were unable to see all the annual budget justifications for fiscal year 2007.
"Other members of the Senate could not see the justifications, the reasoning behind the requests," he said. "Even though we are going to be required to vote on them, we could never see the president's reasoning for why he was asking for what he was asking for."
The Office of Management and Budget, though, has agreed to put next year's justification data online and make them available to the public, Coburn added.
"The rest of America ought to see what the justifications are," the lawmaker continued. "Sunshine is the best thing we have to hold us accountable to do what is in the best interest of our country. Not only should the American public know it, the media should have availability to it so that information can be spread."
The Senate did not finish work on its appropriations bill last week. The chamber is scheduled to resume work on the legislation early next month.
During Aug. 3 floor debate, Coburn sought support for the measure by arguing it would strike a blow for increased transparency in the way the government conducts its business.
Of particular interest to Coburn and Obama are the budget justification materials DOD delivers to Capitol Hill each year. If their proposal becomes law, the Pentagon would have 48 hours to post the documents on one of its Web sites after they are sent to Congress.
"If [DOD is] reporting to the Appropriations Committee or the authorization committee [for the armed services], then [it] ought to be reporting to the American public," Coburn said. "The American public ought to see what those reports say, provided there is no risk to national security within them."
Under the legislation, the defense secretary could redact information that could compromise national security.
However, the amendment offered by the two lawmakers did not survive the debate intact because Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-AK) raised a procedural objection to one of its provisions. Later in the day, the full chamber approved a somewhat modified version by voice vote.
Specifically, Stevens said the amendment as presented would violate the chamber's "Rule XVI" policy.
The rule prohibits senators from offering an amendment to an appropriations bill that proposes "general legislation," according to the Senate Appropriations Committee's Web site. Nor does it allow amendments that are deemed irrelevant to the subject matter of the bill.
In addition to DOD reports related to the fiscal year 2008 budget destined for the House and Senate Appropriations committees, the amendment also would have applied to those sent to other congressional panels.
Therein lied the Rule XVI violation, Stevens said on the chamber floor, while adding he could support the amendment if it only applied to the appropriations committees.
"In regard to the basic concept, we [the defense appropriators] have no problem with having all of the items submitted to the Appropriations Committee put on the Web," he said. "Almost all of them are anyway."
Stevens then asked Coburn if he would agree to limiting the legislation in a way that would apply only to the appropriations committees.
In response, Coburn said he had worked with the Senate parliamentarian in crafting the amendment and claimed it does not violate Rule XVI.
Both lawmakers then asked for a vote on the matter, but after the Senate considered other business. This vote, though, never took place because Coburn subsequently agreed to Stevens' proposal and the modified version was adopted.
Speaking to Inside the Pentagon this week, Steven Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists' Project on Government Secrecy and an advocate for making more defense-related information public, said DOD has been better than other federal agencies in placing its budget justification materials on the Internet so the public can review them. He questioned whether lawmakers should have focused their attention instead on other defense-related reports that are not available to those outside DOD and members of Congress.
During the floor debate last week, Coburn said lawmakers who were not on the Senate Appropriations Committee were unable to see all the annual budget justifications for fiscal year 2007.
"Other members of the Senate could not see the justifications, the reasoning behind the requests," he said. "Even though we are going to be required to vote on them, we could never see the president's reasoning for why he was asking for what he was asking for."
The Office of Management and Budget, though, has agreed to put next year's justification data online and make them available to the public, Coburn added.
"The rest of America ought to see what the justifications are," the lawmaker continued. "Sunshine is the best thing we have to hold us accountable to do what is in the best interest of our country. Not only should the American public know it, the media should have availability to it so that information can be spread."
The Senate did not finish work on its appropriations bill last week. The chamber is scheduled to resume work on the legislation early next month.
