Letter to Greg Friedman, Vice Chair of the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency, and Christine Boesz, Vice Chair of the Executive Council on Integrity and Efficiency. Re: Misuse of Taxpayer Funds By Contractors and Federal Agencies

Letter

Letter to Greg Friedman, Vice Chair of the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency, and Christine Boesz, Vice Chair of the Executive Council on Integrity and Efficiency. Re: Misuse of Taxpayer Funds By Contractors and Federal Agencies

GRASSLEY WORKS TO KEEP TO A MINIMUM THE MISUSE OF TAXPAYER FUNDS BY CONTRACTORS AND FEDERAL AGENCIES

Senator Chuck Grassley has asked the federal government panels that oversee the federal agency inspectors general to help keep an eye out for waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars following the devastating floods in the Midwest. Grassley specifically asked the panels to pursue unscrupulous contractors that waste federal money and ensure that agencies implementing the relief effort are held accountable.

Grassley made his request in letters to the Vice Chairs of both the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency and the Executive Council on Integrity and Efficiency. The two Councils provide oversight of the inspectors general throughout the federal government. Inspectors general are responsible for oversight and investigation of waste, fraud and abuse within the federal government.

Grassley asked that the Councils assist in creating an effective system to ensure coordination and cooperation between various inspectors general in the aftermath of the floods. He noted that the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency and the Executive Council on Integrity and Efficiency played an integral role following the tragic events of 9/11 by forming a working group among affected inspectors general, and following Hurricane Katrina by establishing a bi-weekly Interagency Homeland Security Roundtable on Hurricane Oversight. He requested that the two Councils establish a similar working group to ensure that funds appropriated to the flood damaged areas truly reaches those who need it most.

Here is a copy of the text of the letter Grassley sent to Greg Friedman, the Vice Chair of the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency and Christine Boesz, the Vice Chair of the Executive Council on Integrity and Efficiency.


June 27, 2008

Via Electronic Transmission

The Honorable Greg Friedman
Vice Chair President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency
Inspector General
Department of Energy
1000 Independence Ave. S.W,
Washington, DC 20585

The Honorable Christine C. Boesz
Vice Chair, Executive Council on Integrity and Efficiency
Inspector General
National Science Foundation
4201 Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, VA 22230

Dear Inspectors General Friedman and Boesz:

As a senior member of the United States Senate, I have been an outspoken critic of waste and abuse of taxpayer dollars. I request your assistance in ensuring that proper and effective oversight controls are in place by the Inspectors General of all agencies providing assistance to Midwestern states impacted by the catastrophic tornadoes storms, and floods that have occurred in recent weeks and are ongoing. People in the Midwest are hurting and federal assistance is required, but we must ensure taxpayer dollars are not being abused by unscrupulous contractors and agencies implementing this relief effort are held accountable.

The recent floods and storms in the Midwest have been unprecedented in scope and the devastation has been remarkable. This severe weather impacted my home state of Iowa in addition to Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Michigan, and Missouri. Flooding is still occurring and assessments have not been completed so the full extent of the damage may not be known for some time. However, what is known is that it will take billions of dollars to help the impacted areas recover.

Congress appropriated $2.65 billion in emergency funding to deal with the flooding and storm damage across the Midwest. Because this relief will be spread across multiple government programs and will be administered by a multitude of Federal agencies, the potential for waste or abuse of these funds is real. For instance, agencies responding to the floods will include, at a minimum, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Small Business Administration (SBA), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and many others. Taken together, this formula of multiple relief programs, agencies, and taxpayer dollars poses a potential situation where money could be lost to ineffective controls, poor management, or program abuse.

As you may recall, I wrote a similar letter requesting the cooperation of the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency (PCIE) and the Executive Council on Integrity and Efficiency (ECIE) in determining the best model for oversight of relief and reconstruction funding authorized by Congress following Hurricane Katrina. Given the magnitude of that undertaking and the grand scope of this current crisis in the Midwest, I believe your resources and lessons learned from 2005 will prove helpful in creating an effective oversight structure for relief funds authorized in this current crisis. In your capacity as Vice Chairmen of both the PCIE and the ECIE, you are both in the position to help assist Inspectors General in creating an effective system to ensure coordination and cooperation between various Inspectors General.

As Congress begins to appropriate funding for relief and reconstruction to the communities impacted across the Midwestern states, it will be vitally important to ensure that effective controls and procedures are in place. Both the PCIE and ECIE played an integral role following the tragic events of 9/11 by forming a working group among affected Inspectors General, and following Hurricane Katrina by establishing a bi-weekly Interagency Homeland Security Roundtable on Hurricane Oversight. These important collaborations helped to ensure that federal agencies provided an effective emergency response while maintaining financial and program integrity by agencies providing relief. Accordingly, I also request that the PCIE and ECIE work quickly to establish a similar working group to ensure that funds appropriated to the flood damaged areas truly reaches those who need it most.

Thank you in advance for your immediate attention to this matter. I would appreciate an update as to the status of your efforts as soon as possible. As past emergency events have shown, we need to build an effective oversight structure as soon as possible to prevent the potential loss of vital reconstruction dollars before it occurs. Communities across the country are counting on this relief funding and we owe it to these individuals and the American taxpayers to see that these dollars are spent wisely.

Sincerely,



Charles E. Grassley
United States Senator


Cc: The Honorable Clay Johnson III
Deputy Director for Management
Executive Office of the President
Office of Management and Budget

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