Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) is calling for more details on the inner workings of an oversight board that is drawing scrutiny on Capitol Hill.
A watchdog of government watchdogs known as the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency has called for the firing of Department of Homeland Security IG Joseph Cuffari, a Trump appointee who has investigated the agency’s immigration policies.
CIGIE released a 1,000-page report complaining, among other things, that Cuffari spent $1.4 million investigating three of his employees and settling a related lawsuit for $1.2 million. But Grassley says the group’s own finances are not as transparent as they should be.
“My oversight is simply asking CIGIE to provide detailed spending data so that taxpayers know how the agency is spending their hard-earned money,” he said. “Executive agencies and Inspectors General ought to be using federal funds to best serve the American people, and it’s Congress’s job to make sure of that. Letting the sunshine in early helps prevent waste down the line.”
Grassley has penned a letter to CIGIE Chairman Jason Miller saying its publicly listed spending is too vague and cut into broad categories such as “Travel and Transportation of Persons” and “Other Goods and Services from Federal Sources.” He’s seeking a detailed breakdown of its finances dating back five years.
CIGIE spokesman Juan Lara acknowledged receipt of the letter but did not respond to questions from the Washington Examiner.
While Cuffari remains in office, two other IGs have been ousted this year amid CIGIE investigations. President Joe Biden fired Railroad Retirement Board IG Martin Dickman in March, and Social Security Administration IG Gail Ennis, another Trump appointee, resigned in May.
Grassley is also pushing for more information on Dickman’s firing.
“Your communication failed to adequately provide Congress the details and case-specific reasons for the RRB IG’s removal, as required by law,” he wrote in a letter to Biden earlier this year.
Congress created CIGIE in 2008 to provide oversight of the government’s inspector general, but the group now stands accused of becoming a political actor weeding out IGs who step out of line.
The 91-year-old senator has fought to reform the process of hiring and firing inspector generals before, once blocking two of then-President Donald Trump’s nominees because Trump had fired two IGs.
A bill Grassley introduced that passed in late 2022 requires the president to send Congress written communication before removing an inspector general, outlying the “substantive rationale, including detailed and case-specific reasons.”
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But recent developments suggest the process is still not operating as Grassley would like.
Jim Read, Cuffari’s general counsel, sued CIGIE in his personal capacity in June, and another lawsuit against the group filed last year was dismissed by a federal court.