McCaskill Secures Transparency Measures in Defense Bill

Press Release

Wins whistleblower protections for defense contractors and gains disclosure of projects in legislation

he Senate Armed Services Committee late Thursday passed the 2008 National Defense Authorization bill that authorizes over $500 billion in spending for the Department of Defense.

U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill fought to increase transparency in the bill and pushed several successful amendments through the committee, including provisions to enhance whistleblower protections for employees of federal defense contractors and require all member projects included in the bill be made public.

McCaskill's whistleblower amendment would toughen current protections for defense contractor employees by expanding the definition of the information that can be disclosed, ensuring a timely review of reprisal claims in cases of contractor retaliation, cracking down on contractors proven to have retaliated against whistleblowers, and requiring contractors to notify employees of their rights. The measure is a result of recent defense oversight hearings where McCaskill found loopholes in the law that do not adequately give federal contract workers the same whistleblower rights as federal employees.

"Employees of private contractors in Iraq have witnessed all kinds of fraud, waste and abuse," McCaskill said. "They desperately need stronger whistleblower protection so they can help us stop the incredible waste of taxpayer dollars. These changes will help inform them of their rights and provide them with protection so they feel comfortable coming forward. We need their help."

In addition to the whistleblower amendment, the committee passed an amendment that McCaskill offered with Senator John McCain (R-AZ) to force all of the "earmarks," or individual member projects, in the bill to be made public. Specifically, the amendment requires that all earmarks be fully disclosed, including the name of the sponsor and location of the program.

"These requests, which are so often done in secret and without any sort of public scrutiny, are sending the federal budget and our national deficit through the roof," McCaskill said. "No project should be funded with taxpayer dollars without close examination. Public disclosure will help us weed out the wasteful pet-projects from those that truly deserve federal funds."

And in another effort to bring new transparency to the defense authorization bill, McCaskill moved to open the normally closed-door committee markup to the public

Traditionally, the Senate Armed Services Committee closes its meetings where it considers the DOD bill to the general public, justifying the policy by pointing out that some of the material discussed contains classified information. In reality, only a small proportion of the legislation deals with classified information. McCaskill argued that while classified information must remain behind closed-doors, all other aspects of the legislation should be discussed openly, rather than in secret.

As the committee began its consideration of the defense authorization bill earlier this week, McCaskill declared her opposition to committee secrecy in a roll call vote to close the meeting. While alone in her vocal opposition to the closed meeting, McCaskill said today she hopes some of her colleagues might join her in similar efforts in the future.

"We're deciding how to spend billions of dollars of taxpayer money, and we're doing it behind closed doors. This is the public's business, this is their money - the public needs to be in the room," McCaskill said. "I'm not going to let the outcome of this vote keep me from trying again."

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