Weekly Spotlight: Tips for tips
Editor's Note:No Weekly Spotlight next week. We will be back in your inbox on November 7.
Tips for tips
(Photos: Getty Images; Illustration: Leslie Garvey / POGO)
The Trump administration announced the creation of a Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program (WHIP): A $25 million fund that will reward tipsters (including members of the public) for exposing fraud in government programs. Blow the whistle on suspected fraud, and if your tip leads to a crackdown, you could win a 1% commission on the money you helped save. (Commissions are capped at $30,000.) Waste and fraud in government spending are serious issues. But this is not a serious solution. We have seen this administration many times cite efforts to combat fraud as a cover for targeting states with Democratic governors, weakening federal agencies, and pressuring federal workers to leave. “There is no evidence that tips generated from the public will be treated similarly and consistently investigated,” POGO’s Joe Spielberger told the New York Times. “This only incentivizes political provocateurs to target anyone the administration deems an enemy.”
- “[We] will not let our country be looted and plundered by thieves and pirates and foreign fraudsters and basically, scum,” President Trump said in his politically-charged announcement of the program.
- Focusing on singular, high-profile instances of fraud without addressing the issues within the government that allow fraud to happen in the first place is “like bailing out a boat without bothering to find and patch the leaks,” POGO’s Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette wrote in a testimony to Congress earlier this year, outlining what it will take to truly address waste and fraud in government programs.
Veterans Affairs watchdog undercuts her own office
(Photos: Getty Images; Department of Defense; Illustration: Leslie Garvey / POGO)
Reporting from Government Executive revealed an oversight crisis at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of the Inspector General. Some employees allege that staff cuts, an exodus of institutional knowledge, and a chilling environment perpetuated by Inspector General (IG) Cheryl Mason have “watered down” the work of the watchdog office. Mason was a political appointee before becoming an IG, part of an ongoing trend in which this administration replaces independent IGs with people more politically aligned. It's alarming to hear these concerns come out of the VA's watchdog office, and we are urging Congress to intervene and investigate. Strong and unhindered oversight is essential to ensuring the VA effectively serves our veterans.
- TESTIMONY Congressional Oversight Is Crucial for VA Accountability: To effectively serve veterans, Congress must conduct vigorous oversight and protect the institutions and authorities that make oversight possible.
More than a buzz word
(Illustration: Luna Velez / POGO)
We wrote to you earlier this week about our resource outlining what it means to be a pro-oversight member of Congress. POGO's Tim Stretton — director of the Congressional Oversight Initiative and author of the guide — joined Terry Gerton on The Federal Drive podcast to discuss what robust oversight looks like, where Congress has been falling short, and what impact its failures have had. Overseeing the executive branch is Congress's job and a fundamental aspect of our system of checks and balances. There is no democracy without oversight. It's crucial that members of Congress, old and new, take that duty seriously.
- Eight constitutional principles members of Congress must embrace to strengthen oversight, accountability, and checks and balances.
AI companies are spending big on lobbyists
(Illustration: Luna Velez / POGO)
A spike in spending on lobbying in the third quarter comes as the artificial intelligence industry faces bipartisan criticism and the prospect of greater regulation. Read the new investigation by POGO's Nick Schwellenbach on pogo.org/investigates.
