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May 25, 2012

SASC Completes Markup of $630 Billion Dollar Defense Budget, but the Public is Left in the Dark

The public is in the dark
By SUZANNE DERSHOWITZ

Yesterday the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) debated and voted on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2013, authorizing an enormous sum of taxpayer dollars—more than $630 billion--and defining important policy on issues ranging from nuclear weapons facilities to contractor pay. POGO would have liked to share our opinion on the bill's provisions, but we can’t.

That’s because the SASC markup takes place behind closed doors (even though the House process is open to the public), and even now that the votes have taken place, the Committee has not released the bill. Concerned citizens and watchdog organizations alike are effectively shut out of the debate and left in the dark.

All we have to go on is this cryptic 30-plus page press release.

Stay tuned...

Suzanne Dershowitz is POGO's public policy fellow.

Image via alumroot.

Posted at 02:04 PM in Budget, Defense, Open Government |

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