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Floor Speech

I rise today to oppose S. 1627, a bill to require Presidential appointment and Senate confirmation of the inspector general and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection.

This bill, certainly on its surface, may look like good government, but in reality, it would give President Trump more partisan, political control over the independent Federal Reserve.

I fully support independence for our inspectors general. I worked with Senator Grassley to pass bipartisan legislation that was signed into law that strengthened the independence by requiring the President to provide an explanation to Congress before firing an IG to ensure that these watchdogs cannot be removed for political reasons.

Well, President Trump violated the law 18 times in his first week in office. That is a lot of lawbreaking in a short period of time. And after the President fired the IGs with stellar track records of protecting taxpayer dollars and detecting waste, fraud, and abuse, basically, he then nominated partisan operatives to take their place.

So let's take a look at some of the nominees he put in place. Trump's nominee for labor IG is a former Republican Congressman and the subject of multiple past investigations for ethical misconduct. The nominee to be IG for Health and Human Services is a former Republican official who was forced to resign due to unethical conduct.

The nominee to be IG of the VA, the intelligence community, and the USDA have all served as political appointees in the very Agencies that they are now asked to be independent from. A very difficult task.

These nominees are basically an insult--an insult--to the very concept of independent oversight.

We need an independent inspector general conducting oversight of the Fed and the President's actions to gut the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. What we don't need--we don't need another partisan IG nominee who is more interested in pleasing Donald Trump than in holding him accountable. President Trump has done enough to damage independent oversight, and it must stop here.

I would be glad to work with my friend, the senior Senator from Florida. We have talked about this. I look forward to working with him on meaningful, truly impartial, and effective oversight that would truly result in a more independent watchdog.

But passing this bill now would give President Trump more of what he wants while actively undermining the very mechanisms of independent accountability--if that is what we want, this is not the measure. And I look forward to working with the senior Senator from Florida to make that happen in the future.

But because of that, I must object now.

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Mr. PETERS. I have to go.

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