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• Oversight covid19clark theverge series#

"President Trump is abusing the coronavirus pandemic to eliminate honest and independent public servants because they are willing to speak truth to power and because he is so clearly afraid of strong oversight," Schumer said in a statement after news broke of Fine's removal. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., accused Trump of corruptly using the global pandemic to punish honest government employees. He is bringing suck-ups to the challenge," he added. "The president is not bringing talent to the challenge. Theoretically, IGs are not simply subject to the whims of presidents," Smith said. He's going to try to expand what he can control.

First and foremost, that is what he wants in every position that he can control. "I think we all understand President Trump, very clear and, frankly, on his first day in office: He wants people who are loyal to him.

Oversight covid19clark theverge series#

"This is a major problem that I'm very concerned about on a whole series of levels," House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith, D-Wash., said on a call with reporters Tuesday. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley tweeted Tuesday that the president should view inspectors general as assets who help Trump to hold the federal bureaucracy accountable and fulfill his campaign promise to "drain the swamp."ĭemocrats, however, had much harsher criticism for Trump's decision. Bipartisan pushbackĪt least one powerful Republican appeared to publicly disagree with Trump's decision to remove Fine shortly after it was first reported. This undercuts a fundamental part of the SIGPR's job, namely, to ensure that Congress can effectively oversee what the Trump administration is doing with the $500 billion bailout. In it, Trump wrote that his administration would not be "permitting the to issue reports to the Congress without the presidential supervision."Įssentially, Trump was trying to assert control over what the SIGPR would be permitted to report to Congress and what they would not. When Trump signed the $2 trillion package on March 27, he issued what's known as a signing statement, or a declaration of how a president intends to interpret the new law he is signing. They are also required to inform Congress if the White House ever tries to block their requests for information about what's happening to the funds.

The position of Special Inspector General for Pandemic Relief, or SIGPR, was created in response to concerns that there would be little transparency as to which companies got the billions in taxpayer funded relief, and why.Īs part of their job, the SIGPR is required to deliver independent reports to Congress on how the money is being spent.