Weekly Spotlight: Oversight Under Siege

WAR POWERS

Big checks and needed balances

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth returns to Capitol Hill next week, testifying before both the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on Defense. Last week’s combative hearings produced a lot of theatrics, but little in the way of questions and answers about the Pentagon’s preposterous proposal of a $1.5 trillion budget — a record-breaking request from a department that routinely takes more of your taxpayer dollars, fails financial audits, enriches defense company executives, and falls short of making us safer.

Congress holds the purse. Its members are not obligated to open that purse freely, especially without oversight and accountability. Committee members MUST ask critical questions about Pentagon spending and what safeguards, if any, will be put in place to reduce waste and abuse. And, in the midst of an illegal war that has exposed some of the pitfalls of inefficient Pentagon spending, Secretary Hegseth MUST justify his commitment to pass even higher costs to the American taxpayer.

• President Trump may have told Congress that hostilities with Iran have been “terminated,” and Hegseth may have claimed that declaring a cease-fire stopped the time limit in the War Powers Resolution, even though both sides are still shooting at each other. But time is up, and it’s clear that war operations and threats continued after the 60-day deadline had passed. This war was always illegal, but now even the half-baked excuses have expired. The president must justify this war and receive authorization from Congress. And if he defies the law, Congress members must find the courage to enforce it. To reclaim their war powers and their place as the people’s branch.
• ICYMI: “If Congress fails to act, there is no reason to think this will be the last illegal, unconstitutional war the country is forced to endure.” POGO’s David Janovsky explains what happens when an administration ignores, and Congress fails to enforce, the War Powers Resolution.

OVERSIGHT UNDER SIEGE

DHS closing down a critical internal watchdog

The number of immigrants detained by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) surged wildly after President Trump started his current term. The number of inspections of ICE facilities has subsequently fallen. And now, DHS is closing a critical oversight office that investigates possible abuse within the immigration detention system. This coincides with the news of the 18th person dying in ICE custody this year — putting the agency on pace for its deadliest year on record. Shutting down the Immigration Detention Ombudsman sends a clear and troubling message: the administration does not want you to see what’s going on in immigrant detention facilities and it does not want to be held accountable for putting people in danger. We will not allow federal agencies to to hide abuses of power within their walls. We hope you’ll support us as we continue to investigate abuses at DHS and demand that the guardrails of oversight that govern it return.

• “This is part of a broader, dangerous push from the administration and its allies to dismantle the systems of oversight that keep our government accountable to the people,” says POGO Senior Legal Analyst Katherine Hawkins. “Advocates for a more accountable government — and a more accountable DHS— cannot let this stand.”
• POGO INVESTIGATES: The number of ICE detention facility inspections dropped by 36.25% in 2025, even as detention rates — and deaths in ICE custody — surged across the nation. Read our investigation on this decline in critical oversight.

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

The fix is in

For several weeks, POGO has raised concerns about the threat of insider information being used to profit from emerging prediction markets. When people in the halls of power can monetize the decisions they make behind closed doors, corruption waits on the other side. We even went to Congress with those concerns. On Monday, the Senate took a step in an encouraging direction, voting unanimously to ban senators from using insider information to game prediction markets. We applaud Senator Bernie Moreno (R-OH) for pushing the measure and echo calls for the White House and House to follow suit.

But we’re not stopping there — and we hope you’ll help us capitalize on this momentum to curb corruption in Washington. Members of Congress and their families can still trade and capitalize on stocks. And just because a seemingly new method of making money off insider information has entered the chat, it doesn’t mean we are letting stock trading slide by. You deserve to know what influences your representatives’ decisions. Their role is to enrich your lives and secure your safety, not enrich their bank accounts and secure their own wealth. Stay tuned for ways you can help us turn his small victory against corruption and conflicts of interest into a movement to end congressional stock trading once and for all. into a movement to end congressional stock trading once and for all.

• On Thursday, Representative Ashley Hinson (R-IA) introduced a bill in the House banning members from betting in prediction markets.
• “Congress can act now to address these risks by passing meaningful legislation to protect the public from corruption in prediction markets and ensure that our government preserves independent policymaking, free from financial conflicts of interest.” POGO Policy Analyst Janice Luong lays out the many safeguards Congress can put up to prevent prediction market manipulation by those in power.
• It’s Finally Time to Ban Congressional Stock Trading: POGO’s Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette explains “the numerous ways Congress could get a stock ban done.”

POGO INVESTIGATES

An Exciting Announcement

We are excited to finally share that POGO Investigates will serve as the home for the Center for Public Integrity’s (CPI) investigative reporting archive. For more than 30 years, the Center for Public Integrity (CPI) set the standard for independent, hard-hitting, accountability-driven journalism. We’re honored to help carry on that legacy.

Through POGO, CPI’s past investigative work will remain available to the public. We are also committed to honoring CPI’s remarkable legacy by continuing to produce hard-hitting investigative journalism that exposes wrongdoing in the federal government.

• PRESS RELEASE: Project On Government Oversight to Preserve the Center for Public Integrity's Archives

POGO IMPACT

POGO’s Danielle Brian (and you) make a difference

On Monday, Washingtonian published its annual list of “the 500 most influential people in Washington,” defining influence as a trait of those with genuine expertise who drive tangible action in our federal government. We are proud to see POGO President Danielle Brian recognized for her 35 years of immense efforts to champion an accountable, ethical government. But this recognition is also about you. The work of Danielle and the work of POGO is not possible without our coalition of supporters who believe in good government, who demand a better government, and who take action when government behaves badly. Any influence we have is, at the root, driven by you — and we are grateful for all the ways you have supported us and Danielle over the years.