McCaskill Statement on Opening Defense Bill Debate to the Public

Press Release

U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, today released the following statement after the committee concluded its consideration of the annual National Defense Authorization Act in closed, non-public session:

"The American public deserves the opportunity to scrutinize and understand the decisions made by their elected leaders on a more than half-trillion dollar defense budget. There's just no reason we shouldn't hold these sessions on the future of this country's defense in the light of day. As long as I serve on this committee, I'll continue pushing for the kind of accountability that should only serve to strengthen Americans' confidence in this process."

Since McCaskill joined the Senate in 2007, she has consistently advocated that the committee open the normally closed-door committee markup to the public in order to strengthen transparency and accountability in the process.

The annual defense bill also included a host of McCaskill's priorities, such as the Military Retaliation Prevention Act--McCaskill's bipartisan legislation with Republican Senator Joni Ernst to target the stubbornly high rates of survivors who report that they have been retaliated against by their peers after coming forward to report a sexual assault. It also includes McCaskill's plan establishing a permanent prohibition on infrastructure projects in Afghanistan that can't be accessed by oversight personnel.

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