The Senate Armed Services Committee is now considering whether to bring out from behind closed doors its discussion of a bill that puts over half a trillion dollars into war preparations. Please join RootsAction, POGO (Project on Government Oversight), and Rep. Hank Johnson in signing this petition which we will deliver to them:
When Congress is deciding how to spend more than half a trillion dollars of the taxpayers' money, it needs to do so in public. It is deeply troubling that the Pentagon’s budget (the National Defense Authorization Act or NDAA) that last year authorized $585 billion in spending—is drafted and voted on by the Senate Armed Services Committee almost entirely in secret. Last year, only one quarter of Senators had an opportunity to amend the NDAA—and they did so almost entirely behind closed doors. The bill—usually more than 1,000 pages long—is often then voted on with little or no chance for public debate and amendments by the full Senate. The public has a right to know how Congress is conducting the people’s business, particularly when so many taxpayer dollars and important wide-ranging policies are at stake. Unlike the Senate, the House Armed Services Committee conducts its work on the NDAA in the open and has done so for years. It’s time to bring the Senate NDAA into the light of day.