Yesterday, the Project On Government Oversight sent a letter to Congress with our picks for the most important provisions that should be included in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 (NDAA, H.R. 4310 and S. 3254). Even though election season is in full swing and Congress has passed very little legislation as of late, the NDAA has become something of a must-pass bill and is one of the few bills that’s highly likely to reach the President’s desk for signature this year. The House passed H.R. 4310 and the Senate Armed Services Committee passed S. 3254 in May. Now Hill staffers are in discussions about how to reconcile the two versions during the lame duck session.
Some of POGO’s recommendations center on reining in wasteful Pentagon spending by cutting unnecessary weapons systems and nuclear programs. (Many of these are drawn from Spending Even Less, Spending Even Smarter in which we and Taxpayers for Common Sense identified over $600 billion in defense budget savings.) Of course, several of the measures we champion would enhance oversight and accountability to taxpayers. These range from strengthening whistleblower protections to increasing contractor accountability to improving information about how the Pentagon spends taxpayer dollars.
POGO is also urging Senate leadership to allow adequate time for debate and amendments to the NDAA on the Senate Floor. In addition, the NDAA should be reconciled by an open, transparent conference committee with all proceedings webcast live for the public. A bill of this magnitude, authorizing over $600 billion taxpayer dollars, with such important consequences for our national security and economy should not be rushed through committee or passed behind closed doors.
POGO’s recommendations are listed below. You can also read the letter we sent to HASC and SASC for the details.
POGO’s Picks for the NDAA
Whistleblower Protections
Wasteful Spending in the Pentagon Budget
- Support more accountability on the littoral combat ship (LCS)
Government Contracting Accountability
- Support the anti-trafficking in government contracting provision
- Reduce contractor employee compensation caps
- Don’t allow the “commercial” item misnomer to bilk taxpayers
- Increase accountability in wartime contracting
Wasteful Spending on Nuclear Weapons Programs
There are also several issues we flag that are not yet adequately addressed in either bill, but ought to be because of significant events or information that has emerged since Congress last acted on the NDAA:
- Freeze the Pentagon budget at current levels
- Restore whistleblower and merit system protections for employees labeled “sensitive”
- Eliminate unrequested funding for the M1 tank
- Review and upgrade Pentagon service contract spending
- Cancel the CMRR-Nuclear Facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory
- Cancel the Uranium Processing Facility (UPF) at Y-12 National Security Complex
We will keep you informed on how the NDAA pans out. Check back here for updates.
Suzie Dershowitz is a public policy fellow with the Project On Government Oversight.
Follow @suziedershowitz
Gov needs to reform "shelf life" relevance and limits. Many items that don't deteriorate are mis-classified as shelf life items. A perfect example is aircraft parts. DOD sells off or destroys good parts that are needed to keep the forces airborne because of "expired shelf life". These parts often have to be recreated by hand at places like SPAWAR. The gov also buys back the parts from surplus dealers. I bought an unused fuel gauge at a mil auction for $5, sold it to a dealer for $100, who sold it back to the military for over $400. These were no longer manufactured by Sikorsky (previous list price of $150).
I spoke with a VA SD nurse about this problem, and she sees it in Mil (VA) hospitals. Equipment and parts, not just drugs, are being surplussed out because they are wrongly classed as shelf-life material.
Posted by: Tom Hamilton | Jan 01, 2013 at 01:39 PM
Address the war zone creep. Expressly require that defense money used in conflict areas be restricted to areas that Congress has declared war on.
The President does not have Constitutional powers to send overt or covert forces into combat in any area of the world. Yet he assumes such power. Further in previous DMAAs declaring the whole world a "war zone" gives way too much authority to the President, and it provides a fig leaf of cover for charges of war crimes.
Additinally the "Murder List" of the President which includes citizens of the US is illegal and should be expressly unfunded.
If public money is used there should be accounting, and oversight. It is simply an invitation to graft, corruption and outright theft if some agency is not charged with, authorized as necessary and held accountable to account for the money.
Finally secret agencies like the CIA or "Private Contractors" are funded using Public Money there should be oversight and CONTROL. We should not be funding a private army that the President can send where he chooses without declaration of war or oversight.
Its time to hold government accountable for the use of public money. If an agency cannot account for its expenses its funding should be reduced!!!
Posted by: Makaainana | Oct 27, 2012 at 02:23 PM
Outside of Defense spending, I believe the huge amount of money spent in "the voting season" is the most dangerous issue that will destroy our way of life in this unique country. I advocate a common push for equality in our voting system, that being, make the public finance candidates equally
and rid our system of lobbyists. That may require changing the Constitution to not recognize corporations being equal to humans. Corporations have become a real danger to our way of life and we must all fight them, especially the multinational corporations. There is no reason for companies to hire professional lobbyists to represent them to Congressional members who later may be lobbyists.
Yes, we face real dangers to our way of life. It should be obvious to all of us
Posted by: Ronald Woodhouse | Oct 26, 2012 at 02:53 PM