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Bipartisan Former Oversight Officials Urge Congress to Monitor $2.2T CARES Act

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Ari Goldberg

WASHINGTON—A BPC task force on inspectors general—which includes former members of Congress, cabinet and executive branch officials, inspectors general, and senior congressional staff—sent a letter today to House and Senate leaders warning of the “pervasive” risk of waste, fraud, and abuse in the $2.2 trillion CARES Act without effective and independent oversight.

Noting that Americans have little tolerance for corruption or seeing tax dollars misspent, they write, “Inspectors general (IGs) are one of the most effective tools for accountability in government. [They] must be able to do their jobs independently and without politically motivated intervention or meddling.”

The Task Force argues that accountability measures built into the CARES Act will only be effective if seven main actions are taken: 

  1.  IGs will need unfettered access to agency information and data related to the CARES Act;
  2. The Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery must be able to communicate freely with Congress, regardless of executive branch directives to the contrary;
  3. Congressional committees should call relevant IGs before their committee for oversight hearings related to administration of the CARES Act;
  4. Congress should consult with IGs before requesting or mandating them to engage in investigations, audits, or other lines of work;
  5. Once officially nominated, the Senate should move quickly to consider the president’s nominee for the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery position;
  6. The Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery and other IGs may need emergency hiring authority to marshal the response necessary to bring accountability to this historic moment; and
  7. House and Senate committees should conduct an inquiry and, if appropriate, hold hearings regarding the replacement of Mr. Glenn Fine as Acting Inspector General for the Department of Defense, which forced him to step aside as chair of the panel of IGs overseeing the governments pandemic response.

Read the full letter.

Members of the BPC Task Force on Inspectors General include:

Dan G. Blair,
Former deputy director/acting director, U.S. Office of Personnel Management; former CEO, National Academy of Public Administration

G. Edward DeSeve
Former Special Advisor to the President for Recovery Implementation
Former Deputy Director, Office of Management and Budget

Dan Glickman
Former Secretary of Agriculture and U.S. Representative
Senior Fellow, Bipartisan Policy Center

James Huse
Former Inspector General, Social Security Administration

John McHugh
Former Secretary of the Army and U.S. Representative

Robert Shea
Former Associate Director, Office of Management and Budget
Former Counsel to the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs

Bettilou Taylor
Former Staff Director, Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education

David Williams
Former Inspector General, U.S. Postal Service; Tax Administration of the Department of Treasury; Department of Treasury; Social Security Administration

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