Leaders on the House Oversight Committee on Friday called on the Senate to move quickly in confirming Beth Cobert, President Obama’s nominee to head the Office of Personnel Management.
“She is a qualified and competent choice to manage OPM, which is need of strong leadership, and we urge the Senate to approve her nomination swiftly,” committee chairman Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, and ranking member Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., said in the March 3 letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky and Minority Leader Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.
Cobert has been serving as the agency’s acting director since her predecessor, Katherine Archuleta, resigned over the data breach in July 2015 that resulted in the theft of personal information from 22.1 million people. The president nominated Cobert on Nov. 10, and a Senate panel granted her bipartisan approval in February. The next step is a vote on the Senate floor.
Cobert has had a more contentious relationship with the House Oversight Committee, which has subpoenaed the OPM for details surrounding failings related to the data breach. The OPM has been slow to turn over all of the documents the committee has requested, an issue that gave rise to concern for some members.
However, committee leaders assured senators that document production was now proceeding at an acceptable pace. “The agency produced some responsive documents by the February 16 … deadline and has agreed to produce outstanding documents on a rolling basis,” they wrote.
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Cobert’s nomination still faces some hurdles. Her approval by the full Senate was blocked last month by Sen. David Vitter, R-La., who is demanding that OPM answer questions regarding agency policies that allow congressional staffers to enroll in the District of Columbia’s health insurance exchange. Vitter said the allowance “amounts to a special exemption for Congress.”
