Senate approves measures to improve Defense accountability

The Senate took steps on Thursday to impose greater public accountability on Pentagon operations by approving several amendments to the fiscal 2007 Defense appropriations bill.

The amendments, sponsored by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., passed easily as senators worked through the remaining amendments to the bill and Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., announced his intention to complete work on the measure Thursday night.

One of the Coburn amendments, which passed 96-0, would require the Defense Department to review any "improper payments" made for travel expenses. Another, approved by voice vote, would require the department to post online all reports mandated by Defense appropriations bills. It would, however, give the Defense secretary the authority to redact any information that could compromise national security.

Defense Department studies typically arrive on Capitol Hill with little fanfare and often go unnoticed by lawmakers, rarely seeing the light of day. "Whatever they report ought to be made available to the American public," Coburn said.

The Senate also approved by voice vote a third Coburn amendment that would limit the annual military travel budget to $70 million, amid strong opposition from Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska.

Coburn has sharply criticized military meetings in choice destinations, such as Florida, Las Vegas and Hawaii. "The Defense Department spends more on conferences than anybody," said Coburn, noting that last year's conference travel bill came to $77 million, up from $62.3 million in fiscal 2001.

"We are not saying eliminate the needed conferences," Coburn said on the Senate floor. "We're saying do some sacrifice when it comes to conferences so that we have money to fund our troops appropriately. Use digital video conferencing where you can and make some sacrifice within the ease of travel and conference fun and fare."

But Stevens said a $70 million cap is not a "reasonable limitation."

"We're unable to run the department at $70 million a year," Stevens said.

A vote to kill Coburn's amendment failed 36 to 60, and his language passed by voice vote.

In a hearing earlier this year, Coburn criticized agencies for what he perceived to be increasing conference spending. In a supporting document for his amendments, Coburn praised Defense officials for trimming back conference spending in June when an emergency supplemental appropriations bill was delayed.

On another proposal, the Senate passed by voice vote an amendment sponsored by Sens. Christopher (Kit) Bond, R-Mo., and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., to ensure that $2.4 billion of a $13.1 billion emergency wartime spending package approved Tuesday will be earmarked for the National Guard and Army Reserve.

The Senate had agreed to add $13.1 billion to the $50 billion supplemental bridge fund included in the spending bill to repair and replace Army and Marine Corps gear destroyed or damaged in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"The problem ... is that much of the National Guard's equipment has been left in Iraq, where the National Guard has been indispensable," said Leahy, who co-chairs the National Guard Caucus with Bond. "These low levels of equipment threaten the Guard's ability to carry out the two critical prongs of its dual mission."

Earlier this week, Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, the National Guard Bureau chief, said his force would need $23 billion to replace Guard equipment worn out in Iraq and Afghanistan and to remedy years of underfunding. The Guard's combat readiness situation is "worse" than the active-duty Army's, he said.

Daniel Pulliam contributed to this report.