This was a vote on an amendment by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) that would have required the Defense Department to publicly disclose attempts by senior officials within the department to obtain employment at private defense contractors. This amendment was offered to legislation authorizing annual funding for Defense Department programs.

Maloney urged support for her amendment: “This amendment is about bringing more accountability and sunshine to the $379 billion average annual defense contracting business by making a revolving door database, which already exists, publicly available. It would allow the public access to important ethics information about some DOD employees who leave to go through the resolving door to jobs in the defense contracting industry, often with companies with whom they have been negotiating billions of dollars in contracts. Current and former public servants should not be able to use their positions for private gain, and powerful defense contractors should not be able to rig the system.”

Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA) opposed the amendment: “Public disclosure of this personal information serves no purpose but to infringe on the rights and the privacy of civil servants. The second point, the data required is already being reviewed by the DOD [Department of Defense] Inspector General. There's no oversight value in making it publicly available. This will only hamper the DOD's efforts to recruit talented acquisition personnel.”

The House rejected this amendment by a vote of 176-248. Voting “yea” were 169 Democrats—including a majority of progressives--and 7 Republicans. 229 Republicans and 19 Democrats voted “nay. As a result, the House rejected an amendment that would have required the Defense Department to publicly disclose attempts by senior officials within the department to obtain employment at private defense contractors.