{"id":14287,"date":"2020-04-20T13:54:33","date_gmt":"2020-04-20T13:54:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/04\/20\/watchdog-panels-slowly-take-shape-over-2t-in-virus-cash\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:40:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:40:11","slug":"watchdog-panels-slowly-take-shape-over-2t-in-virus-cash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/congress\/2020\/04\/20\/watchdog-panels-slowly-take-shape-over-2t-in-virus-cash\/","title":{"rendered":"Watchdog panels slowly take shape over $2T in virus cash"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 Congressional oversight of about $2 trillion for the coronavirus crisis began to take shape Friday as three members were appointed to a congressional commission that will monitor how the money is spent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Penn. and Reps. French Hill, R-Ark., and Donna Shalala, D-Fla., were added to the five-member Congressional Oversight Commission by congressional leaders. They join Bharat Ramamurti, a former Democratic Senate aide who until Friday has been the panel\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.federaltimes.com\/federal-oversight\/congress\/2020\/04\/17\/congress-unleashed-2-trillion-amid-pandemic-one-person-is-overseeing-how-its-spent\/\" target=\"_blank\">sole appointee<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With four out of five members appointed, the congressional commission is further along than three other watchdogs created to oversee the massive pot of spending. They are all in limbo even as President Donald Trump\u2019s administration and Congress begin to pump unprecedented sums of money into the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A board of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.federaltimes.com\/federal-oversight\/2020\/04\/07\/trump-removes-acting-pentagon-inspector-general-from-job\/\" target=\"_blank\">inspector generals<\/a> designed to track the money is in disarray after Trump ousted its chairman, and a special official in the Treasury Department is on hold as the Senate isn\u2019t around to confirm him. A new congressional commission to investigate the administration\u2019s response to the pandemic can\u2019t start its work until the House returns to create it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s a halting start for the oversight structure built into the coronavirus relief law, which Democrats demanded in return for empowering a president and administration they deeply distrust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sheltering at home with preschoolers, Ramamurti has been writing letters and taking to Twitter to try and jump-start his work, asking the administration for \u201cdetailed and timely information\u201d about coronavirus payments. A former aide to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Ramamurti was appointed April 6 by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Friday, Ramamurti was joined by the three members of Congress. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell added Toomey, House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy added Hill and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi added Shalala.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe must ensure that taxpayer dollars given to industry go to workers\u2019 paychecks and benefits, not be used for CEO bonuses, stock buybacks or dividends,\u201d Pelosi said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">McConnell and Pelosi will jointly appoint the panel&#8217;s chairperson. Pelosi said Thursday that the two were trading suggestions for who should take that lead position and to expect an announcement soon..<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">McConnell said Friday he is naming Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo, who chairs the Senate Banking Committee, to coordinate the Senate\u2019s oversight of the law. He said \u201cappropriate, objective and nonpartisan oversight will be key to ensuring its dollars and programs find their mark.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Still, there are few people in place to do that oversight, and looming deadlines for the Trump administration to deliver information to Congress and the public will test the system in the coming weeks. The disclosure duties mostly fall to the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve, but Trump has set a tone of disdain toward the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A slow rollout is typical for Washington, said Noah Bookbinder, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, \u201cbut this is not a normal circumstance,\u201d with the administration intent on disbursing funds at a rapid clip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf oversight is not happening, that\u2019s a problem, because the actual assistance is happening,\u2019\u2019 Bookbinder said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The president has suggested the oversight provisions were unnecessary, saying even as he signed the law that the administration didn\u2019t have to comply with some of them. He then ousted the official named chairman of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, the board of inspectors general established to monitor the unprecedented spending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pelosi has moved on her own to form a special oversight panel led by Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C. Unlike other entities, Clyburn&#8217;s panel will have subpoena power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Still, no members of the committee have been appointed since Clyburn was named to the post in early April, and it is not clear if Republicans will participate. Pelosi said this week that the House will vote on the Clyburn committee upon its return, currently scheduled for early May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWith all the money going out, we really need to do it in a timely fashion,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump has nominated one of his White House lawyers, former inspector general Brian Miller, to the new Treasury inspector general position created to track coronavirus relief for industry. But he can&#8217;t start his work until he is confirmed, and the Senate is also out until early May,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The delays have watchdog groups concerned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis is an unprecedented level of relief and it needs an unprecedented level of oversight,\u201d said Sean Moulton of the Project on Government Oversight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With four out of five members appointed, the congressional commission is further along than three other watchdogs created to oversee the massive pot of spending.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":45323,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":38,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[38,106,31,33,9],"tags":[],"coauthors":[2924,1182],"class_list":["post-14287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-congress","category-daily-brief","category-home","category-newsletters","category-federal-oversight"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"VN3HJTJ6NVAWHLMA22HSI7TP2I","arc_canonical_url":"\/federal-oversight\/congress\/2020\/04\/20\/watchdog-panels-slowly-take-shape-over-2t-in-virus-cash\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Watchdog panels slowly take shape over $2T in virus cash - Federal Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"With four out of five members appointed, the congressional commission is further along than three other watchdogs created to oversee the massive pot of spending.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Watchdog panels slowly take shape over $2T in virus cash\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With four out of five members appointed, the congressional commission is further along than three other watchdogs created to oversee the massive pot of spending.\" 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