Weekly Spotlight: Finally, the House Asserts Its War Powers

REPORTING BACK: You may remember that POGO is suing the Pentagon for access to footage of the second strike on a boat in the Caribbean Sea on September 2, 2025, which reportedly shows the U.S. military killing shipwrecked survivors. The Pentagon is illegally concealing that video from public scrutiny. Good news: the courts just denied the Pentagon’s motion to stay the case. POGO will now move to summary judgment to argue why the agency’s actions are rooted in saving face, not following the law. You have a right to see what the Pentagon is so desperate to hide, and we will not drop this case. But we need your support to keep fighting. Support our battle for transparency.

CHECKS AND BALANCES

Finally — finally — House asserts its war powers

More than three months since the start of the Iran war, your representatives in the House finally succeeded in passing a bipartisan resolution to force an end to the unconstitutional, illegal, unsanctioned conflict. This is what you have been demanding relentlessly for months. After far too many failed votes and missed opportunities, POGO is relieved to see the House get its act together and is urging the Senate to follow suit. “The House has not only shown that people can count on their representatives to champion their interests and uphold the rule of law — they have also reclaimed Congress’s constitutional power to sanction war,” says POGO’s David Janovsky.

• The president is lashing out, but POGO applauds the four Republican representatives who bucked the leader of their party to do what’s right.

DEPARTMENT OF (IN)JUSTICE

White House abandons slush fund ship

The Anti-Weaponization Fund is no more — allegedly. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche testified to a House subcommittee this week that the Justice Department is “[Not] moving forward with the fund, period” — an about-face we can entirely credit to the immediate, widespread backlash to the settlement, including from Republican lawmakers. But we’re not celebrating this as a win just yet. Trump still says he wants the fund. And the part of the settlement that “forever” shields the president, his family, and his businesses from federal tax audits still stands. We hope that the federal judge who reopened the Trump v. IRS case will intervene on the matter, but Congress has the power to act too. The president is not above the tax laws that every other American is beholden to. We have proof that public pressure works; it’s crucial you keep voicing your outrage until the audit immunity addendum is flushed, too.

• Just Security’s explainer on how Congress can and should dismantle this sweetheart deal.
• Get it in writing: With the president seemingly uncertain about whether the slush fund is really dead, legislators on both sides of the aisle are pushing for an official ban. Unfortunately, the Senate punted its first chance by funding the administration's immigration crackdown without addressing the settlement.

SURVEILLANCE STATE

The fight for your privacy blazes on

For the past few months, you’ve been telling Congress that it cannot reauthorize FISA without closing the data broker loophole. We sent out an alert on Thursday: A new director of national intelligence appointee escalates the stakes on issue. Acting Director Bill Pulte has no national security experience and a history of weaponizing government systems against the president’s political rivals. That the mass surveillance apparatus is now in his hands is deeply alarming to us and should worry you, too. We need to do everything we can to safeguard the Fourth Amendment right now. Join us in demanding that Congress close the data broker loophole before it's too late.

• FISA Reform Needs to Happen Now:Read the new analysis by Don Bell on pogo.org.
• On Thursday night, a bipartisan coalition of senators once again refused to pass a version of FISA without reform, in part because of Pulte’s nomination. With the law’s expiration date fast approaching — June 12 — next week is our narrow opportunity to force reform on this dangerous law. Take action now.

FOLLOW THE MONEY

Congress takes up Pentagon budget

This week, the House began debating the fiscal year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (henceforth called the NDAA), the bill that sets the Pentagon’s budget for the coming year, with the Senate set to do the same next week. As you know, the White House requested a staggering $1.5 trillion for the Pentagon — a 44% increase from this year’s enacted spending — with a hefty portion of that request (approximately $350 billion) intended to be tacked on after the fact through the budget reconciliation process. If that sounds strange to you, it’s because it is. POGO’s Greg Williams analyzed the use of reconciliation to boost the defense budget in 2026, criticizing how it broke with decades of congressional norms and bipartisanship. It is simply unacceptable that the Pentagon receives an under-the-table check again — especially with multiple illegal conflicts in process and more potentially on the horizon.

• Big wins: The House Armed Services Committee adopted both a military right-to-repair amendment and crucial Nunn-McCurdy reforms to their version of the NDAA. POGO’s experts have been working with our partners on the Hill to advance these provisions for quite a long time. We applaud your congressional champions for getting these reforms on the table. The House’s NDAA will now advance to a full-floor vote. The pressure is on to ensure these amendments clear the next hurdle.
• The bad: The Pentagon has proposed that the NDAA include language that would weaken revolving door restrictions and lobbying rules, making it easier for former officials to peddle influence for the gain of defense companies — at your expense, and to the detriment of the military. We’ve seen the Pentagon try and pull this number before. POGO is urging Congress to reject this proposal.

Too suspicious to ignore

Former Representative George Santos is reportedly under investigation by the DOJ and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for alleged insider trading on the prediction market site Kalshi. Santos allegedly bet against his own attendance at the State of the Union address in February, misleading the public and turning a profit of tens of thousands of dollars. Kalshi itself reported suspicious activity to federal authorities, which is great — but we cannot just leave it to these companies to catch and turn in inside traders. Congress must act on this pressing issue, POGO’s Janice Luong urges in an op-ed in The Hill.

• Dig Deeper: Prediction markets are out of control — Congress must act to ban insider trades now, The Hill