New Bill Would Shutter Key Oversight Body and End Government Accountability as We Know It 

(WASHINGTON) — In response to House legislation that would eliminate the independent Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) and transfer its oversight responsibility to the Executive Office of the President’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Joe Spielberger, senior policy counsel at the Project On Government Oversight, issued the following statement:

“Handing CIGIE’s oversight authority to the White House is not a bureaucratic reshuffle — it is a direct threat to the checks and balances that keep our government honest and accountable. If Congress gives the administration control of the entity responsible for making sure that inspectors general do their job, it will end independent oversight as we know it.

“It’s hard to see the Restoring Integrity and Efficiency to Inspector General Oversight Act as anything other than the latest attempt to politicize an accountability system that was purposefully designed to be independent. First, the president fired more than a dozen inspectors general responsible for investigating government malfeasance. Then, the administration attempted to defund the critical body responsible for ensuring that Inspectors General are doing their job. Now, lawmakers are piling on to the president’s agenda by trying to abolish CIGIE altogether and hand its authority over to the very office that tried to defund it. That office is led by OMB Director Russ Vought, who has repeatedly used his position to undermine oversight and consolidate power in the executive branch.

“Putting CIGIE under White House control would deliver a serious blow to accountability and undermine the safeguards that protect taxpayers from abuse. Members of Congress must reject this legislation and preserve ethical and accountable government.”