Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., (left) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), listen to testimony from Reserve and National Guard leaders April 17, 2013, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. The senators lead the largest committee in the U.S. Senate. They are responsible for reviewing the FY14 President's Budget Request, hearing testimony from government officials and drafting the spending plans for the coming fiscal year. Mikulski is the chairwoman of the full U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations and Durbin is the chairman of the Subcommittee on Defense. (U.S. Air Force photo/Col. Bob Thompson)
Mikulski To Pentagon: Respect Congress -- Kevin Baron, The E-Ring/Foreign Policy
Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., admonished Pentagon leaders on Wednesday for not treating members of defense oversight committees seriously or respectfully. She said they make national security decisions without adequate congressional notification, and she demanded a change in tone from those across the river.
Mikulski said defense committee chairmen seem to get plenty of attention, but backbenchers are shut out. When they do get answers from Pentagon officials, she said, it feels as if the officials are just "checking a box."
"We have been deeply troubled from time to time that we have been treated in a dismissive way," Mikulski said, in a budget hearing of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense.
"We want meetings, and we want meetings that count. We don't just want meetings that give updates for decisions that were made," she told Navy Secretary Ray Mabus; Adm. Jonathan Greenert, the chief of naval operations; and Gen. James Amos, the commandant of the Marine Corps.
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My Comment: She is not the first politician to complain .... but at least she is not like her fellow Senator from California who wants Generals to always call her Senator.
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