Government Executive - Authors - Carrie Dann

Congress in no rush to cut mail delivery

Carrie Dann — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Despite the U.S. Postal Service's persistent financial distress, Congress appears unlikely this year to approve the postmaster general's cost-cutting proposal to eliminate Saturday mail delivery.

"There's no political will to do it right now," said Jerry Cerasale, a lobbyist for the Direct Marketing Association, a trade group of businesses and nonprofit organizations that relies largely on mail to communicate with customers. "The only way that you'd really see it happen is if the dire financial straits of the Postal Service continue well into the future."

As they have every year since 1983, House and Senate appropriators stipulated in the fiscal 2010 spending bills covering the Postal Service that it must deliver mail six days a week. There were no attempts to change the language in the Financial Services Appropriations bill before it passed the House in July. The companion bill in the Senate awaits floor action, but so far there has been no groundswell of support for cutting back on mail delivery.

But House and Senate lawmakers have not completely abandoned the idea of a shift to five-day delivery. Chairmen of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and House Homeland Security subcommittees that deal with postal issues -- Sen. Thomas Carper, D-Del., and Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass. -- have said lawmakers should keep the option on the table.

The urgency to make drastic changes in mail delivery waned significantly last month when Congress passed a one-year fix to relieve the Postal Service of having to make a $5.9 billion advance payment to its retiree health fund.

Also hurting prospects for a cutback in mail delivery is a continuing dispute over how much money the change could save.

Postmaster General John Potter, who proposed five-day delivery in January, contends that ending Saturday delivery could save his agency up to $3.5 billion annually. But a concurrent estimate by the Postal Regulatory Commission put projected savings at $1.9 billion.

Unions representing postal workers have lobbied heavily against the slashing of Saturday delivery, arguing that the move would not only cost jobs but would create a void that would be filled quickly by private services such as United Parcel Service and Federal Express.

"It would be the beginning of the death knell," said Drew Von Bergen, spokesman for the National Association of Letter Carriers.

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Park Service finalizes policy limiting snowmobile access in Yellowstone

Carrie Dann — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Three Wyoming lawmakers are anything but jolly after the National Park Service issued an order this week that limits some outdoor enthusiasts from dashing through the snow.

The state's congressional delegation produced a flurry of frosty statements on Thursday after the park service finalized a two-year policy limiting snowmobile access inside Yellowstone National Park during the winter months.

"Putting limits on public access is not required by law and is not backed by science" said Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo. "The administration has put politics ahead of management by limiting public access to our parks."

The park service's plan allows for just 318 snowmobiles and 78 commercial "snowcoaches," or bus-like vehicles popular with sightseers, each day. The limit is less than half the cap set by the Bush administration of 720 vehicles a day.

The rule will be assessed over the next two years to determine the environmental impact of the recreational vehicles.

A blizzard of controversy over snowmobile access to the park has been raging for years, exasperating local businesses as lawmakers, environmentalists and the courts have wrangled over efforts to reduce noise and pollution.

Fearing the limits will discourage tourists from visiting the park and harm the local economy, Rep. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., called the park service ruling "both disgraceful and wrong."

The resort industry has been eager to capitalize on what one snowmobile operator hails as "the privacy and seclusion of Yellowstone in winter." On its Web site, it adds: "Follow all 400 miles of groomed trails with exhilarating landscapes and breathtaking views ... warm, steamy waterfalls and rivers rushing through frozen vistas, Old Faithful, Mammoth Hot Springs, the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, the Tetons, wolves, bison, coyotes, elk, and moose ... infinite beauty."

And, perhaps, less traffic, if the park service has its way.

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Barofsky cites Treasury 'failure' on bonuses

Carrie Dann — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Millions of dollars in bonus payments to employees of insurance giant American International Group resulted from a "failure of management" by the Treasury Department, the top overseer of the Troubled Asset Relief Program told a congressional panel on Wednesday.

Neil Barofsky, special inspector general for TARP, said the Federal Reserve Board of New York -- which was charged with examining the company's executive pay structure late last year -- failed to notify Treasury officials, including Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, about the bonuses because communication between the two agencies was "virtually nonexistent."

Barofsky, who presented his office's audit of the bonus payments to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, asserted that compensation contracts could have been renegotiated.

The New York Fed viewed the $168 million in executive compensation payments as "a drop in the bucket" compared to the massive debt the company owed the federal government, Barofsky said, and it failed to ring alarm bells about the costly bonuses until days before they were paid in March.

"This was the problem of the outsourcing of oversight to an entity that just didn't have [the] political sensitivity" to anticipate the public firestorm prompted by the hefty bonuses, he said.

The committee will hear testimony this month from "pay czar" Kenneth Feinberg, the Treasury official charged with monitoring executive compensation in firms that received federal bailout funds, including AIG and General Motors Corp.

Feinberg is now trying to force AIG to curtail a round of bonuses -- totaling $198 million -- owed to company executives under compensation contracts, with payment due in March.

Members of both parties lauded Barofsky, who has clashed with Treasury officials over access to information regarding TARP funds.

But the watchdog's testimony was delayed by a prolonged debate at the start of the hearing over demands by Republican members that the committee use its subpoena power to obtain documents related to a VIP mortgage program offered by Countrywide Financial Corp.

Some federal officials, including Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., were revealed last year to be recipients of below-market mortgages, but the Senate Ethics Committee cleared the two Democrats earlier this year.

"That is not the work that this committee ought to be doing," said Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, after nearly 40 minutes of partisan tussling over the appropriateness of a new congressional probe into the Countrywide program. "It would just be a partisan morass."

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Cost of 2010 census remains elusive, officials tell panel

Carrie Dann — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Overseers of the 2010 census said on Wednesday that it is almost impossible to determine the total cost of the decennial count.

"At this point, it's just unknown" if the cost of the census will ultimately surpass the current estimate of $14.7 billion, Commerce Department Inspector General Todd Zinser told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Federal Financial Management Subcommittee, which oversees the count.

A GAO report released at the subcommittee's hearing showed that the first major operation conducted by census workers -- the "address canvassing" campaign to confirm millions of addresses nationwide -- went $88 million over budget, or 25 percent of costs.

"We deserve tighter controls or better estimates, one of the two," said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., ranking member of the panel.

Once expected to cost $11.5 billion, estimates of the funds required to conduct the count jumped last year after a failed effort to equip census workers with handheld computers.

Census Director Robert Groves, who took the reins of the bureau in July, acknowledged last month that the agency is revising its methods of cost modeling.

At the hearing, Census officials pointed to several factors that make the final cost difficult to predict.

A low rate of response to the mailed census would mean higher costs, for example, because more census workers would have to be dispatched to retrieve the forms in person.

Officials noted flaws in the bureau's process for fingerprinting its temporary workers as part of their criminal background checks.

Robert Goldenkoff, director of strategic issues at GAO, told senators that as many as 200 workers who participated in the address canvassing effort may have committed crimes. Adequate background checks would have prevented their hiring, he said.

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Lawmaker battles distrust of census

Carrie Dann — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0400

The top House Republican overseeing the 2010 census is enlisting his GOP colleagues in an effort to maximize participation in the decennial count by constituents who may be reluctant to disclose information to government officials.

The effort of Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C. -- and his message that completing a census form is a "patriotic duty" -- aims in part to fight an undercurrent of suspicions about the government's collection of personal data that has been churned by some conservative media personalities as well as Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn.

The ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Census Subcommittee and his staff are kicking off an education blitz with a Friday workshop to coach GOP chiefs of staff and communications directors on the value of the census and to help dispel the perception that it invades the privacy of Americans.

The effort comes against the backdrop of conservative attacks on the now-defunct community outreach partnership between the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now with the Census Bureau and public assertions by Bachmann that she would refuse to respond to the "intrusive" survey.

In an interview on Thursday, McHenry declined to point fingers at other Republicans, emphasizing that his goal is to underscore to his colleagues that encouraging participation in the census is "in their own self-interest" because it affects the allocation of federal aid and congressional seats.

"If none of their constituents answer the census," he said, "then they do not have any constituents, and they don't have a district."

McHenry may be keenly aware of the need for full participation because his home state narrowly won a 13th House seat after the 2000 census. A legal battle ensued between North Carolina and Utah, which fell 857 residents short of qualifying for that extra seat.

With the 2010 census approaching, both Democrats and Republicans fear that their constituents' reluctance to respond to the survey could hurt them electorally. Minorities, recent immigrants and homeowners facing foreclosure are especially at risk of being undercounted.

Those who raised concerns about the security of the data "may have jumped to seriously flawed conclusions" about how the census is performed, McHenry said.

Bachmann said in an e-mail that the head count is "an essential function of our federal government." But, she added, "The blatant politicization of the 2010 survey has undermined many Americans' faith in the system."

A deep mistrust of government is being considered by authorities as a possible motive in the hanging death of a census worker in Clay County, Ky., whose body was found Sept. 12 with the word "fed" scrawled on his chest. As the FBI began investigating if the death was a homicide, the Census Bureau suspended door-to-door interviews in the county.

McHenry's staff is coordinating with GOP leadership offices, Republican Study Committee, and House Republican Conference to publicize the Oct. 2 workshop, which will feature a presentation by census officials.

Through the workshop, lawmakers will be encouraged to link to census information on their Web sites, mention the census frequently during public appearances in their districts, send franked mail about the census to their constituents and even use online tools like Facebook to remind citizens to fill out their census forms next year.

"We're at a moment when the American people are even more concerned and fearful about government intervention," McHenry said. 'We must make every effort to communicate as clearly as we can that this is a constitutional process."

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Postal Service reports loss, while Senate delays action on bill

Carrie Dann — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0400

The U.S. Postal Service on Wednesday announced a loss of $2.4 billion in its third quarter, underscoring the financial woes of an agency already groaning under the weight of the recession.

USPS reported a $1.6 billion decrease in revenue between April and June, and a total net loss of $4.7 billion so far for fiscal 2009. It has now suffered net losses for all but one quarter in the last three fiscal years.

Some attribute the staggering net losses to a requirement, approved by Congress in 2006, that the Postal Service make advance payments to cover the costs of health benefits for retirees.

Sen. Thomas Carper, D-Del., chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Federal Financial Management Subcommittee, wanted Senate leaders to bring to the floor this week legislation that would tweak the timing of those payments and give USPS more flexibility to borrow funds to cover costs.

But Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is not expected to bring up the bill until after the August recess.

Carper and other sponsors of the bill are getting an earful from postal union workers furious about an amendment, introduced by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and tacked on to the bill during its July 29 markup by the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

The unions say the amendment, which won support from co-sponsors Carper and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., will harm their collective bargaining rights.

A competing bill to address the postal shortfall, sponsored by Rep. John McHugh, R-N.Y., is pending in the House, but progress on the measure hit a snag when CBO estimated its cost at $2.5 billion.

CBO has not scored Carper's bill, but aides anticipate a similar price tag. Backers of the Senate's version say it provides a longer-term fix than the House bill.

Carper's subcommittee plans to hear from Postmaster General John Potter, as well as union officials, at a hearing on Thursday. The hearing, meant to address the agency's spiraling financial woes, was planned well before Wednesday's release of the postal service's quarterly financial report.

Potter has pointed to the plummeting volume of letter mail as businesses and individuals increasingly rely on the Web and other electronic means of communications.

Mail volume during the third quarter dropped by 7 billion pieces, or over 14 percent, compared to last year, according to Wednesday's financial report.

The gloomy figure comes on the heels of GAO's recent addition of the postal service's financial condition to its list of "high risk" areas of the federal government.

Earlier this week, USPS released a list of nearly 700 post offices that could be closed or consolidated to cut costs after the fiscal year begins Oct. 1.

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Postal unions seek White House help on pay, benefits

Carrie Dann — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Four unions representing the nation's postal workers are pleading for a meeting with the White House to address possible funding shortfalls for workers' payroll and retiree health benefits, according to a letter obtained by CongressDaily.

The presidents of the American Postal Workers Union, National Rural Letter Carriers' Association, National Association of Letter Carriers and National Postal Mailhandlers Union co-signed the Tuesday letter to White House Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina, warning that the U.S. Postal Service is at risk of defaulting on a $5.4 billion payment to prefund retiree health benefits at the end of September.

The letter alleges that USPS "may not be able to make payroll in October and will be forced to issue IOUs instead."

Yvonne Yoerger, a spokeswoman for USPS, confirmed that the unions wrote the letter but disputed the claim that payroll deadlines will be missed.

"That's not something that's been discussed at all," she said. "We are committed to making payroll."

Yoerger said USPS will continue to work with OMB and the Office of Personnel Management to determine if and how the Postal Service can meet the Sept. 30 deadline to pay forward $5.4 billion in future health liability costs.

The Postal Service is required by law to set aside funds for future retiree health care costs, rather than paying recipients as costs are incurred as other government agencies do. As a result of a $3 billion loss to date this year, the unions wrote, no money is available for those future payments, and regular payroll deadlines may not be met unless other funds are tapped.

"Such a [financial] collapse can be averted without resort to a taxpayer bailout by reforming the retiree health prefunding provisions of the law and [by] giving the Postal Service access to its own resources in the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund, which now has a balance of $32 billion," the unions wrote.

But that transfer of funds would require congressional approval, and the unions fear that pressure from the White House will be needed to prompt quick action. "We believe that the Obama administration must intervene now to avoid both a political and economic train wreck," they wrote.

Reps. John McHugh, R-N.Y., and Danny Davis, D-Ill., introduced legislation this year that would amend the law to allow USPS to reach deeper into the flush Retiree Health Benefits Fund, but the unions argue the measure would not do enough to fix the financial problems.

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Ousted IG cited for behavior, absences from Washington

Carrie Dann — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0400

The White House informed Congress Tuesday night that federal officials requested a review of AmeriCorps Inspector General Gerald Walpin's conduct after a May 20, 2009, board meeting "at which Mr. Walpin was confused, disoriented, unable to answer questions and exhibited other behavior that led the Board to question his capacity to serve."

In a letter to the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, White House ethics chief Norman Eisen also noted that in the resulting review, Walpin's absence from Washington surfaced as well as evidence that the IG "had exhibited a lack of candor in providing material information to decision makers; and that he had engaged in other troubling and inappropriate conduct."

Reached for comment Tuesday, Walpin said there was "no merit" to the White House's statement about the May 20 meeting, saying that during that conference he had a "disagreement" with board members over the conduct of a case involving a nonprofit organization run by Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, an Obama friend.

"We had a disagreement," Walpin said. "They broke into what I was saying."

Walpin, who worked at the Corporation for National and Community Service, the agency that includes AmeriCorps, described the White House's description of his conduct as an attempt "to shore up what was otherwise a clear failure to provide any sort of reason for the termination."

In January, Walpin tried to step down from his post because he no longer wanted to commute weekly to Washington from his home on New York's Park Avenue.

But he rescinded his resignation within days and announced he would work from New York -- which he did until dismissed by President Obama last week.

According to a source familiar with agency operations, Walpin's decision to telecommute met with objections from the agency director, although it apparently was not in direct violation of his contract.

Nonetheless, his not being present at agency headquarters was a cause for great concern, the source said.

In an interview earlier Tuesday Walpin confirmed his decision to stay in New York was originally made because he no longer wished to make the commute to Washington. He said he wanted to resign in January when then-President George W. Bush -- who appointed him to the post -- left office.

He said he rescinded his resignation after entreaties from his staff to do so.

"They said ... [they] had never seen nor had an IG as great as I was, who would work hard, take the time to support the staff and help the staff and represent the whole office so well," Walpin said.

He heard no complaints after deciding to work mainly from home, Walpin added.

On Tuesday, sources familiar with communications between the White House and key lawmakers indicated that the Obama administration has been trying to provide evidence that Walpin's ouster is justified.

The administration has publicly stated only that the president "lost confidence" with the IG.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., requested Tuesday that his committee be briefed on the matter, saying that the White House's justifications to date for Walpin's dismissal have been inadequate.

"I believe disclosure of the investigations of Mr. Walpin's conduct that prompted his removal is necessary in the interests of transparency and accountability," Towns said in a written request to the White House.

Towns said he does not believe that the president violated the law by his abrupt firing of Walpin, as some -- including House Oversight and Government Reform Committee ranking member Darrell Issa, R-Calif., -- have suggested but warned that "the lack of information has prompted uninformed speculation in the media and by members of Congress."

The White House briefed the staff members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Monday. Participants declined to discuss details, citing the sensitivity of the information.

In a written response this week to Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, White House General Counsel Gregory Craig noted that a council that oversees federal inspectors general has been investigating Walpin's conduct. The probe was launched in response to Walpin's handling of an investigation of a nonprofit group run in part by the Sacramento mayor.

Walpin said he knows of no basis for his dismissal. He vigorously denied that his ouster could have been motivated by anything other than political pressure and insisted that he is under no scrutiny for potential criminal or unethical conduct.

"I know of no basis whatsoever," Walpin said. "If there were any basis, it would only be fair for [the president] to have called me in ... and tell me what the basis is and ask for my side of the story. He never did."

He dismissed as "frivolous" the suggestion that he could potentially be implicated in any ongoing investigation into allegations of criminal or unethical activity.

"If there had been [any such allegation], I would have heard about it."

Late Tuesday, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., who is a close ally of the president, issued a statement that sharply criticized the administration's handling of the matter and for "fail[ing] to follow the proper procedure in notifying Congress" of Walpin's removal.

"'Loss of confidence' is not a sufficient reason," she said. "I'm hopeful the White House will provide a more substantive rationale, in writing, as quickly as possible."

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Unexpected funding cut puzzles Census Bureau's backers

Carrie Dann — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0400

The Census Bureau, which launches the massive 2010 census in a matter of months, may have a $206 million hole to fill if the House Appropriations Committee's version of the fiscal 2010 Commerce-Justice-Science spending bill reaches the White House unchanged.

The bureau's potential problem emerged June 9, when the committee cut its $7.4 billion budget request by $206 million, the amount of money appropriators thought Census officials would have in leftover fiscal 2009 funds.

But Census officials had committed the money to pay for a media campaign, according to Hill aides, sparking concern over how to make up the deleted fiscal 2010 funding.

The Commerce Department sent a memo to House appropriators Monday, warning that the gap might have to be bridged by dipping into a $573 million pot reserved for contingencies that might occur during the course of the decennial count.

Such contingencies, officials explained in the department's "impact statement" distributed to lawmakers, include a physical event, such as a natural disaster that displaces huge populations, or another crisis that might arise as the census gets under way.

"If that were to happen, we would have to seek an emergency supplemental appropriation to complete the census as planned and on schedule," they warned.

One Obama administration aide described the potential shortfall as "a technical mistake," saying the department and House appropriators crossed wires on the status of the bureau's fiscal 2009 funds.

But, the aide added, the funds may be restored in conference negotiations, assuming the Senate approves the bureau's full $7.4 billion request in its version of the spending bill.

Confusion about the budget cut surfaced as backers of the bureau were preparing to fight amendments to fiscal 2010 spending bill that would poach funds from the decennial count. The bill is expected to be considered on the House floor Tuesday.

"Census stakeholders are focused on heading off amendments" that would strip 2010 funding, said Terri Ann Lowenthal, who chaired Obama's transition team for the Census. "It is foolhardy to shortchange the bureau in a census year."

At least one amendment is expected to seek a redirection of census funds, which are a perennial target for lawmakers hoping to shake loose extra dollars for law enforcement grants and other largesse for their home districts.

Rep. Pete Olson, R-Texas, is expected to propose an amendment that would move $566.5 million from the census to restore the NASA Exploration account.

In last week's markup, Democrats voted down an amendment by Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif., that would have moved $100 million in census funds to the Justice Department's State Criminal Alien Assistance Program.

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White House briefs Hill aides on IG dismissal

Carrie Dann — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Trying to assuage concerns about President Obama's dismissal of the AmeriCorps inspector general late last week, White House officials have briefed Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee staffers and are expected to hold another meeting with aides, said Capitol Hill sources.

Aides to Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., and ranking member Susan Collins, R-Maine, requested more information about the dismissal after last week's abrupt announcement that Gerald Walpin, a watchdog who had recently alleged misuse of AmeriCorps funds by an organization founded by one of Obama's political allies, would be suspended with pay from his post at the Corporation for National and Community Service.

A committee aide said there have been "near daily" discussions with White House officials, most recently on Monday, regarding the timing of the Obama administration's notice to Congress that Walpin would be fired, as well as the underlying reasons for Walpin's removal.

"The White House has been forthcoming," said the aide. "They're trying to work with us on this."

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, sounded the alarm about Walpin's dismissal Thursday, saying Obama might have compromised the independence of all IGs by the move. His staff has been in close contact with the White House Office of Legislative Affairs regarding the matter.

Grassley has asked the head of the Corporation for National and Community Service to provide "any and all records, e-mail, memoranda, documents, communications or other information" that his agency had with the office of First Lady Michelle Obama, whose former chief of staff will join the agency as a senior advisor later this month."

Lawmakers have raised concerns about whether the president failed to follow the letter and spirit of the Inspector General Reform Act enacted last year, which requires that the president give Congress 30 days notice before terminating an IG.

The administration points to concerns raised by acting U.S. Attorney Lawrence Brown -- a Bush administration appointee -- about Walpin's conduct during an investigation involving Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, an Obama friend.

Walpin, named to his post in 2007 by then-President George W. Bush, accused Johnson of misusing over $800,000 in AmeriCorps funding granted to a nonprofit organization that Johnson helped to run.

The matter has been referred to an independent federal council that oversees inspectors general.

"For obvious reasons, we won't get into details of a personnel decision like this, but I can tell you that the president lost confidence in Mr. Walpin's performance," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Thursday.

Walpin claims he was blindsided by a call from White House ethics chief Norm Eisen Wednesday, in which he was informed that he must decide within an hour to resign or be terminated. The White House informed members of Congress that Walpin would be removed in letters sent the following morning.

On the other side of the Capitol, majority and minority staffs of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee are requesting answers from the White House regarding the dismissal.

Oversight and Government Reform ranking member Darrell Issa, R-Calif., wrote to White House Counsel Gregory Craig Tuesday to request documentation explaining why Walpin was dismissed. Issa has requested communications between the White House counsel's office and the Justice Department regarding Walpin by June 26.

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Obama fires Bush-appointed IG overseeing AmeriCorps

Carrie Dann — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0400

President Obama has notified Congress that he will dismiss the inspector general charged with overseeing the Corporation for National and Community Service, which administers the AmeriCorps program.

"It is vital that I have the fullest confidence in the appointees serving as inspectors general," Obama wrote in letters delivered to lawmakers Thursday. "That is no longer the case with regard to this inspector general."

But Obama's decision to terminate Inspector General Gerald Walpin earned the ire of a top Republican advocate for federal inspectors general, who called the dismissal of the AmeriCorps watchdog a blow to the independence of the nation's IGs.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, wrote the White House back, pointing out that Walpin has not come under criticism by the Integrity Committee of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, which oversees the conduct of federal IGs.

"[Walpin] has identified millions of dollars in AmeriCorps funds either wasted outright or spent in violation of established guidelines," Grassley wrote. "In other words, it appears he has been doing his job."

A White House spokesman declined to explain the dismissal. "For obvious reasons, we won't get into details of a personnel decision like this, but I can tell you that the president lost confidence in Mr. Walpin's performance," he said. "The president will appoint a replacement in whom he has full confidence as the corporation carries out its important mission."

An acting IG was named Thursday, according to the agency Web site.

The Inspector General Reform Act enacted last year dictates that the president must notify Congress of his intention to dismiss an IG 30 days before the termination takes effect.

Grassley questioned whether Obama complied with the law, citing news reports indicating that Walpin may have received a White House ultimatum Wednesday night directing him to resign within an hour.

The White House disputed those reports, saying Walpin was not fired, but has been suspended with pay.

Walpin, appointed by former President George W. Bush and sworn into office in January 2007, recently penned a report questioning the costs of an AmeriCorps program operated by the Research Foundation for the City University of New York.

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Firing of IG followed his probe of Obama friend

Carrie Dann — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0400

After criticism from a high-ranking Republican senator over President Obama's dismissal of the inspector general overseeing AmeriCorps Thursday, the White House has provided assurances that the decision was "carefully considered" and conducted in full compliance with the Inspector General Reform Act.

Gerald Walpin, inspector general for the Corporation for National and Community Service, recently spearheaded an investigation into the alleged misuse of AmeriCorps grants by a nonprofit agency run by recently elected Sacramento, Calif., Mayor Kevin Johnson, a former National Basketball Association star and a friend of Obama's.

Walpin's conduct of the investigation has been questioned by the acting U.S. attorney for Sacramento, who referred the case to an ethics panel that oversees IGs.

Obama's announcement Thursday that he intended to fire the AmeriCorps overseer prompted a fiery letter from Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, a champion of federal watchdogs, who cautioned that Obama's abrupt decision to terminate Walpin could demonstrate a threat to the independence of federal IGs.

In a written response to Grassley sent late Thursday, White House Counsel Gregory Craig attributed Walpin's dismissal to the U.S. attorney's complaint and subsequent request that his conduct of the Sacramento investigation be reviewed by the IG oversight panel.

"We are aware of the circumstances leading to that referral and of Mr. Walpin's conduct throughout his tenure and can assure you that the president's decision was carefully considered," Craig said.

Walpin's investigation of Johnson's St. HOPE nonprofit agency alleged that managers improperly diverted over $800,000 in AmeriCorps funding from 2004-2007. Federal officials subsequently determined that the allegations did not warrant criminal charges, and the mayor attributed any improprieties to "administrative errors."

St. HOPE repaid almost $425,000 in the federal funds as part of a settlement in April.

Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project on Government Oversight, said Johnson's connection to Obama warrants a hard look by lawmakers to assure the legitimacy of Walpin's dismissal.

"I hope Congress holds hearings soon," she said.

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GOP stalls confirmation of Census nominee

Carrie Dann — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0400

The nomination of Robert Groves, President Obama's choice to lead the Census Bureau, hit a snag Thursday night when Republicans blocked the motion of Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to proceed with Groves' confirmation.

"We have not yet been able to get [the nomination] cleared on this side," said Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in objecting to Reid's unanimous consent request.

Senate and House aides were unable to specify the cause for the holdup but noted that some Republicans may have outstanding questions for Groves, whose nomination was brought with unusual haste to the Senate floor after its approval on a voice vote by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee shortly before the Memorial Day recess.

One Democratic aide said the apparent hold on Groves' nomination is not cause for concern, considering how quickly the confirmation vote was brought to the Senate floor.

"Sudden movements make people nervous," said the aide. "Next week we'll know if there's a real problem or not."

Still, Census officials and outside groups have been frustrated by issues surrounding the director's nomination, which surfaced months ago when Republicans alleged that the Obama administration hoped to manipulate census data for political purposes.

Several Capitol Hill sources pointed to Republican members of Utah's congressional delegation as possible causes for the delay.

Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, met with Groves last month to express concerns about the undercount of Mormon missionaries in the 2000 census, which some say cost the state the apportionment of an additional House seat.

But Bennett indicated after the meeting he was confident that Groves would address his concerns.

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OMB nominee vows to use 'inclusive' approach to regulations

Carrie Dann — Tue, 12 May 2009 00:00:00 -0400

The White House's choice to be the federal "regulatory czar" sought to assure lawmakers on Tuesday he will not use dispassionate cost-benefit analysis of government programs as an "arithmetic straitjacket" to restrict regulators and stymie the intent of legislators.

Cass Sunstein, whom President Obama picked to be the director of OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, said at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that his guiding force will be the rule of law -- not cold-hearted numbers-crunching -- in his role as the top evaluator of government regulations.

Sunstein, a Harvard law professor and longtime friend of Obama, has come under fire from critics of cost-benefit analysis, who say this approach waters down regulations that might be costly to businesses and government but could vastly improve hard-to-measure outcomes like the quality of life.

Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., asked Sunstein to differentiate his views from those of former OIRA Administrator John Graham, a lightning rod for controversy when he served in the Bush administration. Graham's nomination to the post in 2001 was vigorously contested by environmental, health and civil rights activists, who said Graham, founder of the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, relied too heavily on ham-handed formulas that placed dollar values on human life.

Sunstein promised on Tuesday that if confirmed, his decision-making process will be "inclusive and humanized" and take ethical considerations into account. Rena Steinzor, an environmental lawyer and the president of the Center for Progressive Reform, an organization that has been critical of cost-benefit analysis, called Sunstein's testimony "very heartening." But she added, "the proof will be in the pudding."

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Orszag: More must be done to evaluate programs

Carrie Dann — Fri, 08 May 2009 00:00:00 -0400

The White House budget chief told statistics professionals Friday that more must be done to empirically evaluate the effectiveness of the nation's healthcare and education systems.

"We are making huge investments without doing enough to measure what works and what doesn't," said Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag.

Speaking at a symposium on the use of statistics in federal programs, Orszag highlighted the administration's efforts to boost funding for "effectiveness research" in the $787 billion economic stimulus package.

But Orszag warned that more data systems, or protocols for statistical analyses, must be put in place to help policymakers determine the best ways to educate the nation's children and keep citizens healthy. "In health care, we are doing lots of things without measuring the impact," he said, noting that the costs of the same medical procedures sometimes vary wildly from hospital to hospital. Citing a Dartmouth College study showing that $700 billion is spent annually on healthcare services with no proven outcomes, he said the system is "wasting substantial amounts of resources on procedures that don't work."

Noting the administration's commitment to "evidence-based policy making," Orszag defended the elimination of programs in the president's fiscal 2010 budget details that were released Thursday. The Even Start program -- which supports family literacy projects and was protected from the Bush administration budget ax by its champions in Congress -- has simply performed too poorly on empirical tests to warrant funding, Orszag said. The administration's commitment to data analysis, Orszag later added, informs its commitment to evaluating teacher performance in the classroom rather than rewarding educators only on the basis of "upfront credentials."

He told the statisticians, "There could be a potentially very big payoff, but we're not going to be able to do that kind of analysis if we don't have a data system in place in the first place."

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Senate approves weapons acquisition overhaul

Carrie Dann — Thu, 07 May 2009 00:00:00 -0400

The Senate passed legislation Thursday, 93-0, to overhaul the Pentagon's weapons acquisition process, but the bill's sponsors warned of a potential conference dispute over the details about the role of a new oversight official.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., said putting that official in charge of the existing Cost Analysis Improvement Group could present "a major sticking point" in negotiations with the House. The Senate-passed bill would place the group under the purview of a new Director of Independent Cost Assessment, a Senate-confirmed official who would report directly to the Defense secretary, while companion legislation in the House would not mandate those changes. Levin added that the elevated authority the Senate bill grants the new director is a key feature of the legislation.

"It's a major advance in our bill," Levin said. "We give clout to that person." The Michigan Democrat added that, if the House passes the bill within the next week, he hopes to wrap up conference negotiations before Memorial Day.

But President Obama's goal of signing the bill into law by the end of the current work period will depend on how quickly the House completes its version.

Despite the "significant differences" between the House and Senate versions, Levin and Armed Services ranking member John McCain said they are optimistic about efforts to control the swelling price tags on weapons programs. "There's a real determination here on a bipartisan basis, and it's bicameral, to act in the area of these cost overruns," said Levin. "They just simply are unaffordable. They endanger not just our taxpayers but our troops."

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Mounting workload prompts IGs to seek help

Carrie Dann — Wed, 06 May 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Federal financial agency watchdogs are so inundated by mandatory reviews of the nation's failed banks that they have been forced to abandon inquiries into money laundering, offshore banking operations and the house of cards that caused the financial crisis, the Treasury Department's inspector general told lawmakers Tuesday.

The inspectors general who oversee the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. used a hearing by the House Financial Services Oversight Subcommittee to ask Congress to loosen the requirements that trigger "material loss reviews" -- mandatory analyses of failed banks -- that have swamped their staffs.

Under current law, the IGs must conduct a full review of any failure by a financial institution in their jurisdiction that costs the Deposit Insurance Fund more than $25 million.

That $25 million threshold has forced the three agencies to launch at least 48 such reviews since January 2007, the IGs said. FDIC Inspector General Jon Rymer estimated that each review requires about 2,000 hours of staff work.

In a letter to House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., Rymer and his colleagues have recommended that Congress raise the threshold to between $300 million and $500 million.

Even a bump up to a $200 million trigger would substantially lighten their workloads, they told lawmakers.

In response to their pleas, Rep. Steve Driehaus, D-Ohio, is expected to introduce legislation soon to change the threshold, an aide to the lawmaker said after the hearing. The bill will likely include a threshold in the range of $200 million to $250 million, the aide said.

Without some tweaking of the threshold, the IGs warned at the hearing, their offices could go from being swamped to sinking deep under water.

The workload has caused the Treasury Department to nix or defer audits within its terrorist financing and anti-money-laundering units, said Treasury IG Eric Thorson.

His office would like to examine the role of the Office of Thrift Supervision's relationship with insurance giant American International Group, but it simply does not have the resources, Thorson said.

Rymer agreed, saying that if banks continue to fail at expected rates, FDIC will not have enough staff to complete all the mandatory bank failure reviews they are required to conduct. "Depending on the level of this growth, my office may not be able to keep up," he said.

Meanwhile, another government watchdog appealed Tuesday for public help in tracking economic stimulus spending and rooting out fraud and waste in the $787 billion recovery program.

Earl Devaney, chairman of the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, told the House Science Committee he was considering creating a citizens' hotline with which the public would be able to share with the board "potentially critical information" on suspected spending abuses.

"Citizen participation, I hope, will be my force multiplier," he told reporters later.

He also pledged to shield whistleblowers who gave the board tips about waste and abuse. "I have been pretty aggressive about protecting federal whistle-blowers ...," said Devaney, former Interior Department IG. "I do not intend to abandon that practice now."

Terry Kivlan contributed to this report.

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Leaders clear way for bipartisan probe of financial crisis

Carrie Dann — Tue, 05 May 2009 00:00:00 -0400

After months of wrangling, the House is poised to approve legislation that would create an independent, bipartisan commission to evaluate the origins of the financial crisis.

The creation of the commission, which would be made up of 10 members and have subpoena power, is expected to pass on suspension during Wednesday's consideration of the mortgage fraud legislation. Last week, a companion bill cleared the Senate with language proposed by Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., to create such a commission.

The House language resulted from a streamlining of separate proposals by House Democratic Caucus Chairman John Larson of Connecticut and Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., after the Senate passed its version with bipartisan support.

Larson's original proposal would have required that the commission report back to Congress within 90 days, and it would have prohibited only those with a "conflict of interest" from sitting on the panel -- not specifically sitting lawmakers.

Both lawmakers suggested the creation of an independent commission in the fall. At that time, according to a Democratic aide, the proposal "was not exactly the most popular idea in the room," with some lawmakers concerned that an independent group might encroach on the turf of the congressional committees charged with monitoring the nation's financial system.

In April, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., recommended that the panel be created in the model of the Pecora Commission, a subgroup of the Senate Banking Committee established in 1932 to evaluate the causes of the stock market crash of 1929.

But aides said increasing public outcry about the poorly understood financial meltdown nudged House and Senate leaders to favor a panel of independent evaluators instead.

Issa, a vociferous opponent of the congressionally-funded bailout of American banks, on Monday offered former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor as a model for the kind of commissioner he hopes to see on the panel.

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Army's largest contractor in Iraq under renewed attack

Carrie Dann — Mon, 04 May 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Kellogg Brown & Root, the Army's largest contractor in Iraq and frequent target of critics for its alleged wasteful management of a $31.7 billion logistics contract, came under renewed fire Monday from a special bipartisan oversight panel and the Pentagon's top auditor of defense contracts.

In testimony before the Commission on Wartime Contracting, Defense Contract Audit Agency director April Stephenson said KBR, working under a wartime logistics services contract called LOGCAP III, continually failed to seek out and track cost-efficient subcontractors, costing taxpayers millions of dollars. It also became the focus of the "vast majority" of 32 cases that have been referred to prosecutors for possible fraud charges, she said.

Commissioner Linda Gustitus asked a group of military contracting officials why the Army continued to contract with KBR despite the firm's failure to overhaul monitoring of subcontractors that administer the vast majority of its war-zone services.

"The history of KBR is delay, delay, delay in fixing up these systems," Gustitus said. "How could you possibly assume that they were going to do what they said that they would do on these business systems, and go ahead and award them a contract?"

The critique came in the wake of a letter sent Friday to Defense Secretary Robert Gates by Sens. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, who slammed "the Army's continued reliance on KBR's monopoly contract." The lawmakers said the Defense Department has failed to transition expeditiously to LOGCAP IV, a new incarnation of the wartime logistics contract that splits the workload between KBR and two other companies charged with providing dining, laundry, housing, and other services for military personnel on the battlefield. McCaskill and Collins, the chairman and acting ranking member of a new Senate Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight, charged that the Pentagon has failed to recover at least $100 million in overpayments to tainted KBR subcontractors.

During Monday's commission hearing, the panel's eight members -- including its newest member, former Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., -- expressed concern about the dearth of contract oversight officials in Iraq and Afghanistan, where hundreds of oversight positions remain vacant.

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Budget generates more of a buzz among advocacy groups than citizens

Carrie Dann — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0400

With President Obama's $3.6 trillion budget hitting the House and Senate floors this week, groups for and against the spending plan have issued strong appeals for citizens to pick up their phones and let their voices be heard on Capitol Hill.

But, even in the offices of targeted Democrats whose budget votes may be up for grabs, the phones are not ringing off the hook.

"It's kind of like crickets chirping," said one Democratic leadership aide, who last week asked members, including Blue Dogs with targets on their backs, about the grassroots response to the budget plan.

Despite urgent pleas by interest groups over cable TV, radio, and the Web, congressional switchboard operators have not seen any noticeable spike in calls, according to the office of the Senate sergeant-at-arms. Over the past few days, the switchboard has handled about the same number of calls it typically experiences on a normal legislative day.

Aides to moderate Senate and House Democrats being targeted by ads and e-mail campaigns said their offices have fielded a relatively light volume of telephone calls, especially in comparison to the crushing response to debate on the economic stimulus package earlier this year.

The office of one Democratic senator targeted by several pro-budget media campaigns reported about 2,600 calls last week about the budget, a mere fraction of the amount of feedback generated by the stimulus debate.

Several offices observed that calls in support of the budget peaked in the middle of last week but tapered off to a trickle by Friday after the budget cleared key committees on party-line votes.

Hoping to reproduce the grassroots buzz that defined Obama's presidential campaign, the Democratic National Committee's Organizing for Change initiative, the progressive group MoveOn.org, and Americans United for Change launched media blitzes last week in support of the White House's ambitious spending plan.

A "significant six-figure buy" by Americans United for Change used cable and broadcast television ads in target markets to put the heat on members in 12 states, including Virginia, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and New Hampshire. MoveOn.org launched radio ads targeting Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., Mark Warner, D-Va., and Evan Bayh, D-Ind., as well as seven House members.

Jeremy Funk, spokesman for Americans United for Change, called reports of normal call volume "surprising" because aggregate call logs from all of the coalition's member groups show Democrats have made more than 50,000 calls to Congress.

The coalition's efforts to rally support for Obama's healthcare and energy plans will continue through the spring recess, with members hosting town hall meetings and rallies around the country, Funk added. Another TV ad in advance of possible conference negotiations is in the works, he said.

While television ads from Democratic groups have been beamed into many Americans' living rooms, fiercely worded opposition to Obama's budget has streamed into their e-mail inboxes. Citizens Against Government Waste, Club for Growth, and Americans for Tax Reform are among the fiscally conservative groups taking the fight against the budget online in the form of "action alerts" to group members.

After public passions were aroused over Obama's massive stimulus proposal and outrage over AIG bonus payments prompted late-night comedians to invoke images of torch-wielding peasants storming the Capitol, a new outpouring of grassroots energy around the budget proposal seemed likely. But the pitchforks appear to have been returned to the tool shed, for now.

Both budget supporters and opponents observed that the arcane legislative process makes the pending House and Senate resolutions unlikely lightning rods for public passion. Despite the eye-popping numbers associated with the budget, its nonbinding blueprint for federal spending does not carry the same clear-cut consequences as a spending or tax bill.

" 'Reconciliation' doesn't really lend itself to grassroots [action]," said Tom Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste.

Anger is brewing about wasteful government spending among fiscal hawks, Schatz added, but grassroots activities -- including the anti-tax "tea parties" being thrown by regular citizens in localities nationwide -- are likely to accelerate in advance of Tax Day on April 15, long after this week's scheduled budget votes.

Fatigue over spending battles also may be a factor in the tepid response so far. Lobbyists and activists agreed that the stimulus, omnibus fiscal 2009 spending bill, and financial bailout measures may be bleeding together in the minds of regular Americans.

"People are just being bombarded with so many bad pieces of legislation," said Andy Roth, of the anti-spending group Club for Growth. The tangle of recent spending issues makes it hard to "zero in on the budget" as a single grassroots cause, he said.

For some lawmakers, the threat of being attacked from the left may actually be a blessing in disguise. "If you're a Democrat in a moderate to conservative district, having a liberal group go after you isn't exactly the worst thing," said the Democratic leadership aide.

And for new members who rocketed to victory in states that leaned heavily in Obama's favor, ads that echo both candidates' messages have left some Democrats scratching their heads, but smiling.

"Senator Shaheen has said from the start that she shares the president's budget priorities -- to reform our healthcare system, develop a sustainable green economy, expand access to education, and develop a path toward a balanced budget at the same time," said Alex Reese, spokesman for the New Hampshire senator, one of MoveOn.org's targets. "Running ads to persuade her to support those issues makes about as much sense as trying to persuade a bear to eat honey."

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Census officials launch bid to win trust of immigrants

Carrie Dann — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0400

With a year to go until Census Day, earning the trust of historically undercounted communities remains a key challenge for decennial headcounters, census officials and lawmakers said on Monday.

In a kickoff event for "census partnership" organizations ranging from the NAACP to the Target Corp. retail chain, leaders of the 2010 effort stressed the need to demystify the census among hard-to-reach populations that may be reluctant to offer personal information to government workers.

Recent immigrants, low-income urban workers and others may confuse a census worker with a police officer or tax collector, they warned.

"We have one year to convince populations that may approach 18 to 20 percent who are cynical about the census that this is a good thing to do," said Arnold Jackson, associate director of the 2010 census.

Census officials are in the process of mobilizing tens of thousands of churches, community groups, nonprofit groups, schools, and businesses to join in the public relations campaign. The effort to make the census brand sparkle includes the distribution of brochures and information to schoolchildren who, in turn, will be asked to encourage their parents to complete the census forms mailed to their households. "Those materials say, '[The] census is the best thing since steak and eggs," joked partnership operations chief Tim Olson. Census workers will begin canvassing neighborhoods to verify millions of addresses this week, and 150 offices have already been opened nationwide.

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, in his first public appearance since his confirmation by the Senate, urged partner organizations to remind members of their community that their answers to census questions will remain confidential. "It is your familiar trusted voices that will help us succeed," he said. "We need you." Also speaking at the conference were House Oversight and Government Reform Census Subcommittee Chairman William Lacy Clay, D-Mo., and ranking member Patrick McHenry, R-N.C. Clay pledged that the subcommittee will "closely monitor the selection and appointment" of the as-yet unnamed new director for the Census Bureau.

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Transparency for stimulus spending remains a work in progress

Carrie Dann — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Good-government groups and administration officials envision the Recovery.gov Web site as a clearinghouse that lets citizens monitor the dollar-by-dollar effects of economic recovery funds in their hometowns. But with a variety of details in weekly reports from federal agencies, duplicative or hard-to-decipher data sources and reporting requirements that critics say are too shallow to offer meaningful oversight at the local level, the site so far offers little help to watchdogs hoping to map the flow of $787 billion in funds.

"We are waiting for Recovery.gov to post useful data, and that has just not happened yet," said Jerry Brito of the George Mason University Mercatus Center. Brito is a co-founder of independent site StimulusWatch.org, which allows citizens to rate the merit of potential stimulus projects in their communities.

White House accountability czars at the Office of Management and Budget and the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board share Brito's goal, but they say that supplying the public with the tools to become stimulus watchdogs will take months. Building a database on Recovery.gov with that level of transparency, stimulus overseer Earl Devaney told a group of state recovery representatives Thursday, could take over a year.

A spokeswoman for Devaney said planners are in the initial stages of mapping out the architecture of the expensive and gigantic database, and the cash to pay for it has yet to be transferred to the board's coffers. Creating the site will cost the vast majority of Devaney's $84 million budget, she added.

Without a central infrastructure, the first two rounds of weekly data submitted by federal agencies to Recovery.gov offer little information for curious money trackers.

The site provides links to spreadsheets filed by federal agencies since reporting began March 3. But most merely list lump sums allocated under the Recovery Act to agency programs, with little new information other than the Treasury account codes that have been assigned to the cash pools.

"In a case like this, you have to think through what information you want and how you want to present it," said Ken Mead, the Transportation Department inspector general from 1997 to 2006. "It's apparent from these reports that they're all over the map."

A quick perusal of agency Web sites, he says, shows wild inconsistencies in the detail of descriptions provided and only the broadest calculations of how appropriated and obligated funds will be divided within agencies.

The most recent weekly report from the Veterans Affairs Department, for example, provides no descriptions of the eight agency programs receiving the funds, listing each one only by its four-digit Treasury account number. That report from the VA, which received over $1.4 billion in stimulus funds, lists only one major action taken to date: submitting its spending plans to OMB.

OMB has promised that more reporting guidelines will be established in coming weeks for agencies' monthly reports, which will offer much more rigorous tracking of individual tranches of disbursed cash. Agencies eventually will be required to provide data feeds outlining the details of their grants, loans, and loan guarantees. Submission deadlines for both sets of information do not begin until May.

Agency financial administrators, OMB officials and congressional oversight aides agree that, with stimulus money being readied to go out the door, it is too early for much hard information to be available on how dollars will be spent. "The initial steps already visible at Recovery Act are the beginning, not the culmination, of our transparency efforts," said OMB spokesman Tom Gavin. "The funds are really just starting to move to the public, and more details will be available as the investments are made."

But concern is growing among some lawmakers and watchdog groups that reporting mandates may not require the depth needed to meaningfully track federal dollars once they are in the hands of state and local grantees.

Requirements say "prime non-Federal recipients" of federal dollars must submit a wealth of information about how money is spent, but this applies only to principal grantees and contractors receiving the cash. If a state receiving federal aid gives a $5 million grant to a town for a bridge repair, for example, the town would not be required to report how it spent the cash or which contractor and subcontractors did the bridge work.

"That contractor could be the mayor's brother," says Craig Jennings, a fiscal policy analyst at OMB Watch, a nonprofit group dedicated to oversight of the president's budget office. "We would never know."

House Oversight and Government Reform ranking member Darrell Issa echoed Jennings' criticism in a letter to Devaney Thursday, saying the OMB requirements represent a "backing away from the President's commitment to the American people by directing agencies to withhold key data that should be disclosed to the American public."

Procurement experts point out that stricter reporting requirements risk exposing proprietary information that would require reports receive labor-intensive redaction, and transparency advocates privately acknowledge that rounding up spending data from multiple degrees of sub-awardees may not be feasible.

Oversight of subcontractors, they say, will largely fall to journalists and citizens manipulating Recovery.gov data on local projects.

That will be possible through sites like StimulusWatch, which Brito hopes will become an interactive bonanza for stimulus trackers to critique the use of government funds for projects as localized as repair to an elementary school down the street.

Brito calls it a great idea. "But in order to do that," he said, "we just need the data."

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Partisan spat has oversight panel leaders trying to hit the right notes

Carrie Dann — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0400

The initial chorus of bipartisan harmony from the House's principal oversight panel hit a discordant note Thursday, when its lead Republican accused Democrats of being tone deaf to one alleged case of perjury while aggressively pursuing another.

The blast was sounded by House Oversight and Government Reform ranking member Darrell Issa, R-Calif., after Chairman Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., announced a new investigation of allegations that Merrill Lynch executives lied to the committee last year.

Earlier this week, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo accused Merrill Lynch of misleading Congress in November by saying it would pay out over $5 billion in executive bonuses at the end of the year when it decided to award the money earlier.

Within hours of Towns' announcement of the committee probe, Issa fired off a news release accusing the chairman of "a double standard on pursuing allegations of perjury and obstruction."

Issa has accused former Fannie Mae CEO Franklin Raines of giving false testimony to the committee in December by saying he was unaware that he received preferential treatment on a loan from Countrywide Financial. On Thursday, Issa asserted that his Democratic colleagues are looking out for their own by shielding Raines from the same scrutiny that will be applied to Merrill Lynch.

"This committee, unfortunately, applies one standard in deciding whether or not to investigate a prominent, wealthy and politically connected Democrat like Franklin Raines and another to those who aren't," Issa said in his release.

Towns reacted quickly to attempt to defuse the situation, responding in an interview that he does not object to Issa's call for scrutiny of Raines and is open to dispatching attorneys to investigate the matter.

"If [Issa is] requesting it, I don't have a problem with it at all," Towns said.

The exchange between Issa and Towns exposed what sources called a behind-the-scenes partisan spat between the committee's majority and minority staffs. Republicans have accused Democrats of dragging their feet on a Raines inquiry, noting that Towns' aides did not support a March 6 letter requesting further documentation on Countrywide's so-called Friends of Angelo VIP loan program, which charged below-market interest rates.

Democratic aides said they have been looking into the Raines matter and countered that Republicans have been more interested in scoring political points in public than coordinating a bipartisan inquiry.

Towns, known for his even-tempered style, shrugged off Issa's partisan shot as a holdover from the committee's rancorous past.

"They're so used to fighting around here," he said. "When they have a member who wants to work in a bipartisan fashion, it just takes a little while to get there."

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Union steps up campaign against outsourcing debt collection

Carrie Dann — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Tax collection may not be considered America's most glamorous profession, but hundreds of federal workers are descending on Capitol Hill this week to lobby for a chance to do the job.

Members of the National Treasury Employees Union will urge senators this week to preserve language in the House-passed fiscal 2009 omnibus spending bill that would stop the stream of federal funds to private tax collection agencies under Internal Revenue Service contracts.

The NTEU and its allies argue that private collectors deny troubled low-income taxpayers a range of payment options while pulling work away from government workers.

But the union will face opposition from Senate Finance ranking member Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, who fears the demise of the fledgling debt collection program would cost his home state jobs. One of the IRS contractors is CBE Group of Waterloo, Iowa.

Grassley hopes to introduce an amendment that would strike the House language, which forbids the use of federally appropriated funds for the IRS contracting program, which began in 2006.

NTEU President Colleen Kelley said Tuesday that turning off the federal spigot would "effectively shut [the program] down" over time even if the IRS chooses to renew its contracts -- set to expire this week -- with the private agencies.

In a letter co-signed by Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. and Iowa Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin, Grassley urged Treasury and IRS officials last week to allow the program time to work.

They argued that private agencies are more nimble at collecting debt than federal employees. Halting the private contracts, they added, would cost their home states almost 200 jobs.

The union's lobbying forces this week will also seek support for a fiscal 2010 pay raise for federal workers that matches the 2.9 percent the Obama administration proposed for military personnel. The administration's fiscal 2010 budget request seeks a 2 percent raise for civilian federal workers.

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New oversight committee chairman mounts charm offensive

Carrie Dann — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0500

For most other committees, such a planning meeting may be routine, but for the famously rancorous Oversight and Government Reform panel, it's a dramatic change. While the former chairman, House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman, was prone to hoarding choice pieces of information and leaving GOP members agape during testimony, new Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Edolphus Towns welcomed Republican aides to join the hearing preparations. And when Oversight and Government Reform ranking member Darrell Issa saw before the hearing began that an attorney he invited to testify was relegated to a second panel of witnesses, Towns agreed to combine the two panels so the attorney could be heard sooner.

The gestures are only the beginning of an effort by Towns to depoliticize the committee, which Waxman ruled with an iron fist, a partisan heart and an eye toward the television lights. Unlike his predecessor or his Republican counterpart on the committee, the New York Democrat has a reputation for shying away from cameras in favor of behind-the-scenes collaboration.

But not all Democrats are pleased with Towns' bipartisan overtures, which they say only grant the outspoken Issa more opportunities to use the committee as a GOP grandstand. "He's just setting the stage for Republicans to take control of the agenda," said one Democratic aide, who painted Towns as naive about Republicans' ambitions to push partisan agenda items. "We just think that he really doesn't get it."

Jenny Rosenberg, a spokeswoman for Towns, said the new chairman takes his cues from the new administration. "The president has set a tone for bipartisanship," Rosenberg said, adding that Towns and Issa together are "trying to keep the door open and work in a way that gets things done."

Some Republicans remain skeptical that Towns will be much more open to their ideas than his predecessor, and they grumble that Democratic leaders appointed him to the chairmanship in the hopes that he would keep oversight out of the spotlight. His truancy last year as a member of the committee does not help, Towns' detractors say. By one count, he attended fewer than a quarter of full committee hearings in the 110th Congress.

"The sense is that Ed Towns was not exactly given that job because he has a reputation for vigorous oversight," complained one Republican aide.

Still, Towns' defenders say that comparing him to Waxman is unfair, especially because efforts to rebuild the committee were delayed by personnel issues. Although Waxman ousted Energy and Commerce Chairman John Dingell in a Democratic Caucus battle, Dingell's aides were allowed to stay in place through this month. That has kept aides loyal to Waxman in a holding pattern in their old office, preventing Towns from hiring key aides until just recently.

While Towns might not have Waxman's tough demeanor or media savvy, his efforts to reach across the aisle are viewed by some on both sides of the aisle as a refreshing change. Give him more time to see what he can accomplish, they say.

"It's not unrealistic for Towns to try to change the tone," said one Democratic aide who has worked with Towns for years. "No one's going to push him over."

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