Protecting whistleblowers from retaliation and bringing hidden government records into the light top the list of challenges facing the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in 2015.
Under the new leadership of Rep. Jason Chaffetz, the committee will also confront crippling environmental regulations, a lack of inspector general independence and the ongoing secrecy of the Internal Revenue Service, among many other issues.
The Utah Republican succeeds Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who was term-limited out of the chairmanship under the House Republican Conference’s rule that limit committee chairmen to a maximum of three terms.
The fact that Chaffetz has expressed a willingness to work with the committee’s top Democrat, Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, is a “refreshing” sign that the committee could pass key legislation, said Daniel Epstein, executive director of Cause of Action.
Epstein told the Washington Examiner Chaffetz has staffed the committee with a “dynamite” investigative team, highlighting the appointments of deputy staff director Rachel Weaver and general counsel Andrew Dockham.
“Staffers are key to whether you get effective oversight,” Epstein said.
Chaffetz has pledged to continue many of his predecessor’s investigations, including probes into the Secret Service, the Fast and Furious scandal and the IRS.
Inspectors General
Chaffetz will take charge of the Oversight Committee just months after the watchdogs of 47 government agencies sent a letter to Congress expressing their frustration with the investigative obstacles they often face.
The IGs described restrictions that agencies often place on their watchdogs to prevent them from obtaining records in clear violation of the statutes establishing those offices in the first place.
Issa and Cummings co-sponsored a bill in September 2014 that could strengthen the independence of government watchdogs, but meaningful IG reform is still on the horizon.
Epstein said IG reform is an area where the committee could be effective in 2015. He compared the issue to the “political theater” that has characterized committee endeavors in the past.
Epstein said IGs have felt “stonewalled” by their agencies. “Congress needs to conduct oversight to see how they can better leverage” existing IG legislation, he said.
The Obama administration has “consistently denied inspectors general the records they need to conduct oversight” and “failed to fill inspector general vacancies,” a committee report summarizing its accomplishments since 2011 said.
Whistleblower Protections
The Obama administration has prosecuted more whistleblowers under the Espionage Act than any previous administration, according to the oversight summary.
Many others have faced retaliation at the hands of their agency supervisors.
While lawmakers added to existing legal protections in 2012, government agencies have continued to retaliate against employees who come forward and intimidate others into silence.
Tom Devine, legal director at the Government Accountability Project, said Congress will have to confront the erosion of a century-old policy to preserve whistleblowers’ rights.
The career civil service merit system, which governs federal employee performance and gives them the right to a hearing to defend their innocence for any discipline more severe than a two-week suspension, has been undermined by a federal court decision, he said.
“[The civil service system] has kept politics out of the federal labor force since 1883,” Devine noted.
The decision opened a loophole in the system that could allow agencies to terminate their staff without just cause, he said.
“This would be open season to remove federal workers on national security grounds. It could be because they’re whistleblowers, minorities, members of the wrong political party, are connected with an out-of-favor contractor, or for valid national security reasons, but it would all be an honor system,” Devine said.
He said the incoming Congress should act quickly to stop a policy he called “bad news … for any federal worker who wants to blow the whistle.”
“It’ll be a real test of the new Republican Congress, to see whether it’s committed to keeping politics out of the federal bureaucracy or whether it just wants to reduce the rights of federal workers,” Devine said.
FOIA Reform
Contrary to President Obama’s assertion that his would be the “most transparent administration in history,” government resistance to the Freedom of Information Act has reached new heights under his leadership. More FOIA lawsuits were filed in 2014 than in any year since at least 2001.
The law was meant to open government records to the public upon request except those covered by at least one of nine exemptions, which agencies often interpret broadly to justify withholding documents.
Both the House and the Senate passed FOIA reform bills with bipartisan support, but lawmakers failed to pass a compromise measure before the 113th Congress drew to a close.
The reform effort, backed by over 70 advocacy groups, will resurface in 2015 thanks to transparency supporters on both sides of the aisle.
Environmental Protection Agency
Chaffetz announced the formation of a new subcommittee, lead by Wyoming Rep. Cynthia Lummis, to oversee the Environmental Protection Agency and its sprawling energy regulations Dec. 17.
Patrick Michaels, director of the Center for the Study of Science at the Cato Institute, said he expects the subcommittee to be “quite prominent.”
He said the EPA subcommittee will likely hold hearings that publicize the limited benefit of greenhouse gas regulations.
Another potential interest of the subcommittee could be to explore the “growing disconnect between the ensemble of climate models that are used by the policy community,” Michaels said.
Michaels said EPA policies contributed to the Democrats’ defeat in the last election.
“If you look at election results from 2014, sort of the epicenter for the disaster for the Democratic Party was in Kentucky, particularly eastern Kentucky, and West Virginia,” Michaels said.
“To appreciate the depth of the problem there, consider that Alison Grimes was supposed to be in a very close race with Mitch McConnell,” he said, referring to the incoming Senate Majority Leader from Kentucky.
Grimes lost to McConnell by 15 points. Michaels noted the Kentucky coal counties that traditionally vote Democrat cast very few ballots for her.
He also cited a West Virginia race that saw Rep. Nick Rahall, a 38-year Democratic veteran of the House, lose by 10 points in a district he won by eight in 2012.
Michaels said it was evidence of “discontent in places where EPA regulations have the most effect on the local economy.”
In its summary report, the Oversight Committee said the spate of greenhouse gas regulations “continues to generate concern among job creators who are unclear” as to whether the agency’s rules will affect their industries.
“This will be the fireworks committee,” Michaels said. “Bring an extinguisher.”
IRS Probe
The nearly three-year congressional probe of the IRS has focused considerable attention on the need for effective government oversight.
After denying allegations that staff had unfairly scrutinized conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status, Lois Lerner, then the agency’s director for exempt organizations, admitted in May 2013 that Tea Party applicants were selected for heightened review in Cincinnati.
Since then, Lerner has become the public face for the IRS wrongdoing that was unearthed by an exhaustive Oversight Committee investigation.
Committee staff under Issa have reviewed more than a million pages of documents and 309 hours of testimony in the IRS probe, according to the report detailing their accomplishments since 2011. Their work revealed more than 80 percent of delayed applications were associated with conservative organizations while less than 7 percent were associated with liberal ones.
Chaffetz has said he plans to keep digging. Given the inexplicable disappearance of emails that could have explained the IRS discrimination, the committee said in its final report that “it is unclear whether American taxpayers will ever receive answers.”
