We write regarding the President’s signing statement for the “Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act” (the CARES Act). Upon signing the CARES Act, President Trump issued a statement claiming the right to interfere with the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery (SIGPR) designated under the Act. The CARES Act passed Congress with overwhelming bipartisan support, and it was made clear to the Administration that strong oversight was critical to gaining that bipartisan support. The use of a signing statement by this and past presidents to undermine the ability of Inspectors General to provide Congress statutorily-required information is troubling and unacceptable. Faithful application of the law is not optional. It is a requirement.
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You, on behalf of the Administration, negotiated and agreed to the scope and terms of the SIGPR authority, both generally to Congress and to each of us personally. This oversight authority was critical for gaining support for your request for over $500 billion to aid struggling companies, states, municipalities, and other troubled entities. Provision of these funds was conditioned on the SIGPR’s creation. As such, the SIGPR’s unfettered operation is not only a legal necessity, but also a condition you personally agreed to – SIGPR’s structure is your structure, and it imperative that you defend it.
As we discussed on Monday, Congress has other means of oversight. But it is hard to do oversight when Congress is out of town until April 20, and physical meetings are hazardous. Kyle Cheney and Melanie Zanona at Politico:
Pelosi has promised robust oversight but has also signaled that any probes into early failures by the administration would likely have to wait until after the immediate emergency subsides; she has called repeatedly for an “after-action review.”
[CA Democrat Katie] Porter said she’s voiced to House leaders the urgency of appointing members to the congressional oversight commission, noting Treasury will imminently start pumping billions of dollars into the economy, even as the safeguards on those decisions aren’t in place. Porter added she’s written to Pelosi and expressed her interest in serving as the speaker’s appointee on the panel, noting her background on the Oversight and Financial Services committees.
Porter is pretty good at oversight:
I did the math: a full battery of coronavirus testing costs at minimum $1,331.— Rep. Katie Porter (@RepKatiePorter) March 12, 2020
I also did the legal research: the Administration has the authority to make testing free for every American TODAY.
I secured a commitment from a high-level Trump official that they’d actually do it. pic.twitter.com/RmolCtmNbG
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