Political Quotes

“it is becoming too common a theme that the U.S. Senate, in the closing days of session, rushes to consider a conferenced defense authorization bill. Earlier this year, we considered one of the largest defense authorization bills in history, and the Senate considered few amendments and was afforded a truncated debate period. Worse, the authorization threatened to bust a carefully balanced budget agreement, by misusing overseas contingency operations, OCO, funds for base spending. I opposed that bill. Now, in the closing hours of the Congress, we are faced with a vote on a conferenced version of that bill. It is far from perfect. However, like open government groups across the spectrum, I am pleased to see that a dangerous provision concerning the Freedom of Information Act, FOIA, that Senator Grassley and I strongly opposed has been removed from the final bill. This overbroad provision, which was part of the reason I opposed the Senate bill, could have categorically exempted a vast amount of Department of Defense information from public disclosure, including potentially the Pentagon's handling of sexual assault complaints, reports about defective equipment issued to soldiers in combat zones, and documented health hazards faced by military families living on bases abroad. Hiding such information from public scrutiny would directly undermine the transparency required to address threats to the safety and security of our troops.…”