Oversight Committee

September 29, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – In 2008 the federal government paid $530 billion to contractors, but today it was made clear that the system for tracking key information about these contracts is in need of major improvement.

The Senate Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight, led by Chairman Claire McCaskill (D-MO) and ranking member Bob Bennett (R-Utah), examined in a hearing the issues surrounding the current decentralized, cumbersome system and the plans to develop a new platform for integrating these databases.    » read more »

Statement of David Arkush, Director, Public Citizen’s Congress Watch Division

June 30, 2009 -- For too long, financial regulators have been too cozy with the financial services industry that they were supposed to be overseeing. Moreover, not a single federal agency focuses primarily on consumer protection for credit products. Lenders have run amok, writing their own rules and creating a maze of unfair and predatory products that have harmed consumers and destabilized the economy.

The lack of oversight and regulation, along with Wall Street’s unchecked greed, drove this country into its current financial crisis. Americans deserve an agency that will put their financial well-being ahead of the short-term profits of a few Wall Street banks.    » read more »

Senate hearing on Alaska Native Corporations planned for July 16th

June 23, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – As the Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight continues its investigation into Alaska Native Corporations (ANC) and contracting policies that favor them, Chairman Claire McCaskill today released a preliminary analysis of publicly-available data about contracts awarded to ANCs from 2000 through 2008.

This information shows that federal government contracts to ANCs have increased dramatically and that ANCs have received a disproportionate share of small business loans. The preliminary analysis also indicates many ANCs are not based in Alaska and most of the work awarded to ANCs, which primarily contract through the Department of Defense, is not performed in Alaska at all.    » read more »

August 12, 2008 -- The Department of Defense announced today that an independent advisory panel, the Defense Business Board, will review the overall performance of the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA).

The review follows a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released July 23 that concluded DCAA auditors were improperly hindered in some of their investigations of defense contractors.

The Defense Business Board, an independent federal advisory committee comprised of senior business executives, has agreed to form an independent review panel supported by subject matter experts to review DCAA procedures and make recommendations for improvement as appropriate.    » read more »

May 20, 2008 -- The Committee held holding a hearing titled, “EPA’s New Ozone Standards” at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, May 20, 2008, in 2154 Rayburn House Office Building.

The hearing examined the new ozone national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) and the process the Environmental Protection Agency used in setting them.    » read more »

May 20, 2008 -- A House Judiciary Committee investigation has uncovered details of White House involvement in EPA’s regulation of ozone on the eve of a court imposed deadline, forcing EPA staff to scrap a standard supported by its independent panel and to perform “emergency rewrites” to the regulation.

Documents obtained by the Committee show that EPA staff raised serious concerns about the merits and legality of the decision.

Click here for more information and supporting documents.

Source: Oversight Committee

April 16, 2008 -- Oversight Committee Chairman Waxman issued a subpoena to compel the White House Office of Management and Budget to provide documents relating to EPA’s recent decision to establish ozone air quality standards that disregarded the recommendations of EPA staff and EPA’s independent scientific review committee.

Chairman Waxman made the following statement,

“Deadline after deadline has slipped and the White House has not provided the documents the Committee needs to understand what happened with this EPA rulemaking. We need these documents so that we can evaluate the President’s decision to overrule EPA and its panel of independent experts.”

Source: Oversight Committee

April 09, 2008 -- Oversight Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman today issued a subpoena to compel EPA to provide unredacted copies of documents involving the White House that have been improperly withheld from the Committee regarding EPA’s decision to reject California’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles.

Tailpipe emissions: Photo by Simone Ramella (CC)

The subpoena compels production of approximately 100 EPA documents involving the White House. Chairman Waxman released the following statement:    » read more »

March 31, 2008 -- House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman released the following statement in response to EPA’s issuance of a final rule on lead renovation, repair, and painting:

“The new lead rule cuts too many corners. It won’t provide the comprehensive protection for children that the law requires.    » read more »

March 27, 2008 -- House Oversight Committee Chairman Chairman Henry A. Waxman released the following statement in response to a letter from EPA Administrator Johnson:

“This is a transparent delaying tactic and a major reversal of EPA’s position. In December, Administrator Johnson found that CO2 emissions endanger the environment and proposed new standards for motor vehicles. Today’s action repudiates those efforts.    » read more »

March 13, 2008 -- Oversight Committee Chairman Waxman issued a subpoena to compel EPA to provide unredacted copies of documents that have been improperly withheld from the Committee regarding EPA’s decision to reject California’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles.

Chairman Waxman made the following statement,    » read more »

February 05, 2008 -- Reps. Henry A. Waxman, John D. Dingell, Bart Stupak, and Frank Pallone, Jr., called on members of one of FDA’s own advisory committees to provide Congress with its assessment of the resources needed to remedy the crisis at the agency stemming from years of chronic underfunding.    » read more »

January 23, 2008 -- (Washington D.C.) -- Congressman John P. Murtha, Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, announced today that the subcommittee has begun oversight hearings in advance of the Department of Defense’s FY2009 budget request.

“The goal of these hearings is to restore accountability and oversight at the Department of Defense and to work with them to meet the needs of our troops and their families,” said Murtha.    » read more »

January 11, 2008 -- In October 2006, the Transportation Security Administration launched a website to help travelers whose names were erroneously listed on airline watch lists. This redress website had multiple security vulnerabilities: it was not hosted on a government domain; its homepage was not encrypted; one of its data submission pages was not encrypted; and its encrypted pages were not properly certified. These deficiencies exposed thousands of American travelers to potential identity theft.    » read more »

December 19, 2007 -- Chairman Henry A. Waxman released the following statement today in response to EPA’s denial of California’s waiver request:

“EPA’s decision ignores the law, science, and commonsense. This is a policy dictated by politics and ideology, not facts. The Committee will be investigating how and why this decision was made.”

Source: Oversight Committee