Trump says he won't comply with key transparency measures in the coronavirus stimulus bill
Source: VOX
The administration says it won’t provide documentation for audits into $500 billion in corporate bailout funds.
By Anya van [email protected] Mar 28, 2020, 11:41am EDT
President Donald Trump said on Friday that he will not adhere to a portion of the $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus bill that would authorize an inspector general to oversee how $500 billion in business loans will be spent.
In a statement released early Friday evening, Trump announced that he had signed into law the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security or CARES Act, a relief package aimed at mitigating some of the economic fallout caused by efforts to allay the spread of Covid-19.
That bill also establishes a Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery (SIGPR) within the Treasury Department to audit and investigate half a trillion dollars in loans for large businesses. In his signing statement, Trump said that this provision raises “constitutional concerns,” adding that his administration would not comply with such an official’s request for documents.
“I do not understand, and my Administration will not treat, this provision as permitting the SIGPR to issue reports to the Congress without the presidential supervision required by the Take Care Clause,” part of Article II Section 3 of the Constitution that states a sitting president “shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.” This seems to suggest the administration believes it is the president’s duty and not that of an inspector general to ensure the funds are distributed as the law intends.
Read more: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/3/28/21197995/coronavirus-stimulus-trump-inspector-general-wont-comply?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=vox.social&utm_content=voxdotcom&fbclid=IwAR0BH5tnKELWW055w5C0fAcdHLnQUxcZRt45NTwxzLbpff0JkzskzP4vqCA
Anyone surprised?
Can you say Kleptocracy Trump Style?
= new reply since forum marked as read
Trump to adhere to any rules or laws he doesn't like? He never has, but everyone thought he'd start now? 
He's gotten away with more things that would have put any other president out on the street looking for work, but with the help of his loyal asskissers in Congress, and the butt-lickers he's installed in every key Cabinet post, he'll continue to back the Trump Trucking Company 18 wheeler right up to the Treasury's loading dock for pallets of the taxpayers money. 
Trump, follow laws and rules? HA! 
That's for chumps and losers.
Tens of thousands of Americans are going to die and all he can think of is looting the U.S. Treasury.
Prison is too good for this criminal.
But there are also other things being set up -
The bill would also set up several layers of independent oversight for the rollout of more than $2 trillion in emergency spending. First, the bill creates a new inspector general post inside the Treasury Department. The president would appoint and the Senate would confirm a Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery. This IG would oversee a $500 billion Exchange Stabilization Fund. Oversight of this particular fund, which Treasury will use to provide some relief to the airline and other industries, was a sticking point for senators during legislative negotiations earlier this week.
The bill would also stand up a Pandemic Response Accountability Committee made up of agency inspectors general who would conduct audits and investigate claims of fraud, waste and abuse of coronavirus spending. The bill would give the committee an $80 million budget, and would ensure IGs have access to documents and testimony from agency officials and private-sector recipients of funding. It would also require the committee to post its findings on Oversight.gov.
Members of the committee would include IGs from several agencies involved in coronavirus response. Michael Horowitz, the Justice Department’s inspector general and chair of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, would consult with House and Senate leadership to name the executive director of the committee. “I am very pleased that the bill includes important provisions to ensure that taxpayer dollars are used effectively and efficiently,” House Oversight and Reform Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) said in a statement Thursday.
The Government Accountability Office would receive an additional $20 million to audit agency coronavirus spending, and would receive authority to oversee and investigate private entities that receive funding. GAO wouldn’t be the only legislative watchdog. The bill would also stand up a five-member Congressional Oversight Commission that would oversee spending from the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve.
https://federalnewsnetwork.com/legislation/2020/03/what-the-2t-coronavirus-stimulus-means-for-federal-employees-retirees-and-contractors/
(bolding mine)
But there will be a Congressional oversight function as well - where a (what I assume will be) bicameral oversight panel set up with members of Congress to oversee and monitor what is going on. Katie Porter (D-CA) was on MSNBC's Last Word (this past Friday) and mentioned wanting to be part of that panel. She is currently a member of the House Oversight Committee (Chaired by Carolyn Maloney) -
Guess again mofo. 
