Weekly Spotlight: Bending the Knee
The military right-to-repair provisions you advocated fiercely for all year were excised in their entirety from the final text of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) earlier this week.
Editor’s Note: This will be our last edition of Weekly Spotlight for the year. We will be back in your inbox January 10, 2026. Happy Holidays!
Congress bends the knee to industry lobbyists
(Illustration: Ren Velez / POGO)
The military right-to-repair provisions you advocated fiercely for all year were excised in their entirety from the final text of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) earlier this week. Even the provision that we opposed for giving too many concessions to the weapons manufacturing industry failed to make the cut. This is more than a disappointment. It is infuriating. It was a hard-fought effort across party lines to get right-to-repair provisions into the House and Senate versions of the NDAA. But at the most critical moment, certain members of Congress chose to fold to industry interests instead of protecting our service members, enhancing military effectiveness, and cutting costs for you. The representatives who let themselves be bought should be horribly ashamed of themselves. While we are frustrated, we will not let this setback define the fate of this vital legislation. We will keep working with a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers to ensure that your best interests — not CEOs’ bank accounts — drive decision-making.
- “Given that we had support in the House and the Senate on a bipartisan basis, and we had the support of the Trump administration and the secretary of defense, I don’t know how to interpret this, other than to say that industry prevailed in their influence over Congress, and the NDAA now reflects the interests of the business community instead of the American taxpayers and service members,” POGO's Greg Williams told Federal News Network.
- The House voted 312-112 to pass the 2026 NDAA. At a hefty $900 billion, it includes increases in pay for service members and signals a shift to an acquisitions process that prioritizes speed above all else.
Not a ‘can’ or ‘should’ — a ‘must’
Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ), a former naval officer, is currently under investigation by the Pentagon for asserting that the military and intelligence communities can refuse illegal orders under the law. This is a brazen weaponization of the court-martial system, and an unconstitutional attempt to punish a sitting senator for making a completely accurate statement. Service members must disobey unlawful orders. Congress needs to urgently expand and clarify protections for service members who disobey unlawful orders to uphold the rule of law.
- TAKE ACTION Tell Congress to Expand Protections for Refusing Unlawful Orders: Service members should have clearer legal protections if they refuse orders they believe to be unlawful. Email Congress now.
- The Navy has completed its report on Kelly, but the contents or conclusions from the report are not yet known. We’ll be following the story.
If Congress is serious about “cutting waste and crushing fraud”...
(Illustration: Ren Velez / POGO)
Then it needs to get serious about oversight. POGO’s Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette testified at a Senate committee hearing on “Running Government Like a Small Business: Cut Waste, Crush Fraud” and urged lawmakers to recognize the enormous value of oversight mechanisms like the inspectors general system and the Government Accountability Office, whose efforts have saved the government, in aggregate, trillions of dollars. With an administration that has systemically undermined these and other oversight mechanisms since its first day in office, it is all the more important for Congress to own its oversight duties and demand accountability for the destruction. Read POGO’s commonsense proposals for addressing waste and fraud on pogo.org.
- Dylan was also just named one of the top grassroots lobbyists in Washington by The Hill. Congratulations to Dylan for being recognized as one of the most effective advocates for the people for four years and counting.
- Related: The Supreme Court seems poised to summarily expand executive authority and shift power away from Congress in the process. A reminder that every attempt to undermine Congress is an attempt to undermine your voice. We are living through an existential crisis for the balance of power in our government, and what Congress does to defend itself will define the future of our democracy.
A report back: When Congress Comes Calling
This week, POGO and Jenner & Block’s Congressional Investigations Practice released the 2025 edition of When Congress Comes Calling, a handbook offering practical guidance on conducting oversight investigations. When Congress Comes Calling has been a vital resource to the oversight community for over two decades and was in need of an update to reflect the changed landscape and the new political and legal challenges of the present day. Representatives Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Jim Jordan (R-OH) spoke at the book release. We will continue to do everything we can to support Congress in its oversight duties, at a time when rigorous oversight is more important than ever.
EXECUTIVE POWER GRAB
(Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
“So we’ve been trying to get access to Tom Homan…” Read more on the new hub for our investigative work, POGO Investigates. This story was reported with Mother Jones.
