POGO -- Weekly digest on government accountability, Sat., September 26, 2026

Your weekly digest on government accountability September 26, 2026   A broken record

CHECKS AND BALANCES A broken record (Illustration: Luna Velez / POGO) The Senate had a chance to end the Iran war by following the lead of the House and passing a war powers resolution this week. But the vote failed — again — this time by a narrow margin of 50-49. We are incredibly disappointed that your senators did not choose to reclaim their authority over war-making. This is the third time a war powers resolution has failed since the Iran war started almost seven months ago. Your senators should be ashamed for not stopping this endless war. The president has suggested that the war will go on until after the midterm elections. But it's not up to him. Congress must reclaim its responsibility.   ABUSING POWER AND RIGHTS Disappearing act (Illustration: Ren Velez / POGO; Photo: Gage Skidmore / Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)) ICE has removed the locations of thousands of detained people with final deportation orders from its tracking system without any warning. Families are facing the impossible task of trying to find their loved ones, while lawyers say the new dearth of information makes it “nearly impossible” to challenge unlawful deportations. POGO’s Katherine Hawkins says, “this is another escalation of DHS’s efforts to disappear people and deny them their rights.” White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller is leading a cross-agency mass deportation effort specifically focused on children, The Guardian reports. The scale and haste of this campaign raise serious concerns about potential violations of these children’s due process rights — not to mention its outright cruelty. Last year, we published an analysis about Miller’s threat to suspend habeas corpus, the fundamental legal principle that protects people from an overreaching, abusive state. An ICE agent shot and seriously wounded a man in Austin, Texas, last weekend. This is not normal and we cannot let it become normal. The Department of Homeland Security must cooperate with local investigations of the incident and answer for its use of violence.   EXECUTIVE POWER GRAB Press release(d) (Illustration: Ren Velez / POGO) Late last week, President Donald Trump banned CNN, MS Now, and Politico from the White House via a post on Truth Social. The very next day, journalists from those outlets had their badges deactivated and confiscated when they arrived on premises. President Trump argued that the ban should not be taken as “an assault on the Free Press,” but experts — including us — and nearly every major news outlet — including, notably, Fox News — disagree. The three banned outlets are suing and have been partially reinstated while the lawsuit proceeds. The Justice Department responded to the suit, defending the ban by claiming threats to “national security.” No president should get to hinder critical coverage. We need journalists in the room because you deserve to hear about the inner workings of the White House from a free press. Freedom of the press fuels a democracy.  Traditional news outlets and others reflecting a wide range of political leanings took a stand against the ban. The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press organized a coalition of 50 outlets for an amicus brief to the court: Read more. Deja vu? Almost exactly a year ago, the Pentagon issued a memorandum forbidding reporters from reporting information that hadn’t been authorized for release by the Pentagon. Those who didn’t agree to the terms (the majority of outlets) were barred, effective immediately. The memorandum was later struck down by a federal judge, but the Pentagon found a way to block reporters from its press office anyway. All to say: the administration has tested this tactic before. Dig deeper: Why the Court Fight Over the White House Media Ban Isn’t Over   Everything else (Illustration: Luna Velez / POGO) Also at the Senate: A hearing on Flock Safety that we emailed you about earlier this week. We were glad to see bipartisan criticism of the company’s mass warrantless surveillance network and that FISA reform was part of the conversation. As POGO’s Donald Bell told The American Prospect this week, “(E)verything we’ve seen this year illustrates why there needs to be real guardrails, and importantly, penalties, in this space.” The Past, Present, and Future of Federal Spending Transparency: On Friday, POGO hosted an event commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act. Special guests Sean Moulton, Linda Miller, Mark Tapscott, John Hart, and Gary Bass reflected on the momentous legislation and looked ahead to current efforts to further strengthen transparency in federal spending.

Weekly Spotlight is produced by the digital and editorial teams at the Project On Government Oversight.

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