Updated Feb. 20, 2009 to include second article (below the first) where Obama says he would ensure oversight - but I didn't see that he promised to reverse the hidden provision below...vj
This just in from my daily internet search
It is from another blog, so I will let him explain it. Basically, a tiny, new last minute provision inserted by Democrats in the final Federal Stimulus bill seems designed to allow a new Stimulus Oversight committee to PREVENT Federal Inspector Generals from auditing specified programs. Imagine if you would that they give millions to Acorn, and then refuse to allow the relevant Federal Inspector General from auditing the use of the funds by Acorn.
The official website for the Stimulus bill is at www.Recovery.gov and described the "RAT" Board, or Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board) says:
Who runs Recovery.gov?
A: The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
establishes an oversight board of inspectors general (the watchdogs of
government) called the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board,
which is responsible for overseeing Federal agencies to ensure that
there is transparency and accountability for the expenditure of
recovery funds. For the interim period until that board becomes
operational, the President has coordinated a team from across Federal
agencies to track Recovery Act dollars and report findings on this
website.
You can also find third party info on the stimulus bill at www.stimuluswatch.org .
vj
Here it is:
posted at 10:11 am on February 19, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
Byron York smells a RAT. Charles Grassley smelled a RAT right before the Senate vote on Porkulus, but couldn’t get his statement to the floor on time. You’ll smell a rat, too, when you’re done reading this post, and it won’t just be the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, either:
You’ve heard a lot about the astonishing spending in the $787 billion economic stimulus bill, signed into law this week by President Barack Obama. But you probably haven’t heard about a provision in the bill that threatens to politicize the way allegations of fraud and corruption are investigated — or not investigated — throughout the federal government.
The provision, which attracted virtually no attention in the debate over the 1,073-page stimulus bill, creates something called the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board — the RAT Board, as it’s known by the few insiders who are aware of it. The board would oversee the in-house watchdogs, known as inspectors general, whose job is to independently investigate allegations of wrongdoing at various federal agencies, without fear of interference by political appointees or the White House.
In the name of accountability and transparency, Congress has given the RAT Board the authority to ask “that an inspector general conduct or refrain from conducting an audit or investigation.” If the inspector general doesn’t want to follow the wishes of the RAT Board, he’ll have to write a report explaining his decision to the board, as well as to the head of his agency (from whom he is supposedly independent) and to Congress. In the end, a determined inspector general can probably get his way, but only after jumping through bureaucratic hoops that will inevitably make him hesitate to go forward.
First, let’s ask ourselves how this stimulates the economy. Why include this in an emergency stimulus bill when it has nothing to do with stimulus or economics? This rule change should have come in separate debate in Congress — like so many other portions of Porkulus.
It does, however, have everything to do with Hope and Change. What the RAT Board can do, as York points out, is direct or quash investigations by Inspectors General throughout the federal bureaucracy. Until now, IGs have had independence of action in order to avoid charges of politicization (remember that word?) and to conduct probes without interference from the Department of Justice, the White House, or Congress. Now they will answer to Congress not on general performance, but on the specifics of their probes.
How did it get into Porkulus? Grassley says it wasn’t in the original bill passed in the Senate, and it suddenly appeared in the conference version. No one has claimed ownership of the RAT Board yet, but clearly the Democratic majority wants full control over oversight in the bureaucracy — which more or less means an end to effective oversight over the majority, which is the entire point of the IG position. After all, if we could rely on politicians and bureaucrats to police themselves, we wouldn’t need Constitutional checks and balances at all.
The name of the RAT Board is Orwellian, as is its appearance in the administration that claimed it would have the most transparency in American history. Putting IGs under Nancy Pelosi’s thumb eliminates transparency and accountability, and calling it an Accountability and Transparency Board is a grim joke. It’s simply a mechanism to shut down potentially embarrassing (or worse) IG investigations while commanding others against political foes.
Put simply, it brings the worst aspects of the Chicago Machine to Washington DC — a result which we repeatedly warned would happen with Obama’s election.
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Added Feb. 20, 2009 from Reuters...
WASHINGTON, Feb 20 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday promised careful oversight of a $787 billion stimulus package he signed into law this week and said he would call to task any instances of government waste.
"If a federal agency proposes a project that will waste that money, I will not hesitate to call them out on it, and put a stop to it," Obama said in excerpts from a speech to be delivered to the nation's mayors.
"If a local government does the same -- I will call them out on it as well, and use the full power of my office and our administration to stop it," Obama said, adding he would name a team of managers to make sure the money is spent wisely.
(Reporting by Caren Bohan, editing by Jackie Frank)
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