Congress unleashed $2 trillion amid pandemic. One person is overseeing how it’s spent – By Mary Clare Jalonick and Matthew Daly (The Associated Press) / April 18 2020
WASHINGTON — One person is overseeing how $2 trillion is spent to deal with the coronavirus crisis.
Bharat Ramamurti is starting out as a watchdog of one, the sole appointee to a five-member Congressional Oversight Commission. Sheltering at home with preschoolers, Ramamurti has been writing letters and taking to Twitter to try and jump-start his work, asking the Trump administration for “detailed and timely information” about coronavirus payments. But he’s eager for reinforcements.
“I’d love to have other members of the committee appointed so we can all do this together,” says Ramamurti, a former aide to Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren who was appointed by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer. Three additional members will be appointed by congressional leaders, along with a chairperson.
It’s a halting start for the oversight structure built into the coronavirus relief law, which Democrats demanded as a condition for empowering a White House and administration they deeply distrust. The law establishes three different watchdogs, with a fourth being created by House Democrats as part of multi-pronged effort to prevent fraud and abuse as the Trump administration and Congress pump unprecedented sums into the economy.
A slow rollout is typical for Washington, said Noah Bookbinder, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, “but this is not a normal circumstance,” with the administration intent on disbursing funds at a rapid clip.
“If oversight is not happening, that’s a problem, because the actual assistance is happening,’’ Bookbinder said.
The oversight structure will be put to the test in the coming weeks, as deadlines arrive for the Trump administration to deliver data and other information to Congress. While the disclosure duties mostly fall to the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve, President Donald Trump has set the tone, making clear his disdain for the process.
Trump suggested the oversight provisions were unnecessary and immediately moved to undercut them, saying even as he signed the law that the administration didn’t have to comply with some of them. He then ousted the official quickly named chairman of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, a board of inspector generals established to monitor the unprecedented spending. “I am the oversight,” Trump had declared.
Continue to article: https://www.federaltimes.com/federal-oversight/congress/2020/04/17/congress-unleashed-2-trillion-amid-pandemic-one-person-is-overseeing-how-its-spent/
