Chairman Towns Requests Bipartisan Meetings With Secretary Robert Gates and Other Cabinet Secretaries

WASHINGTON – U.S. Representative Edolphus “Ed” Towns (D-NY), chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform announced that a major portion of the committee’s agenda will be focused on working with the Obama Administration and its cabinet secretaries to form action plans to combat waste, fraud and abuse – detailed today by the Government Accountability Office’s report on high risk federal programs…


Wednesday, January 14, 2009 | Administration Oversight

Chairman Towns Rolls Out Oversight Committee Priorities

WASHINGTON – One week into his tenure as the Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, U.S. Representative Edolphus “Ed” Towns (D-NY), discussed his plans for the Committee at a panel discussion on the future of government oversight and investigations in the 111th Congress….

Friday, January 09, 2009 | Administration Oversight, Communications and Information Technology

Rep. Towns Passes Major Transparency Reforms: Presidential Records Act Amendments and Presidential Library Donation Reform

Seeking to create a seamless transition, U.S. Rep. Edolphus “Ed” Towns (D-NY) hit the ground running on the first day of the 111th Congress with two major pieces of legislation, which passed the House of Representatives: the Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2009 (H.R. 35) and Presidential Library Donation Act of 2009 (H.R. 36). Rep. Towns’ bills were the first order of business and the first to be considered on the first day Congress met to address legislative business. Both bills include significant transparency reforms that would overhaul the process for accessing presidential records and disclose donations to presidential libraries.

Friday, January 09, 2009 | Administration Oversight, Energy Policy, Environment, Chemical Regulation

Towns Launches Probes Into Tennessee Coal Ash Spill

U.S. Representative Edolphus “Ed” Towns (D-NY), Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate the massive coal ash spill at a facility operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in Kingston, Tennessee, one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history.

Friday, January 09, 2009 | Administration Oversight

Unimplemented IG Recommendations Costing Taxpayers Billions of Dollars

Today, Rep. Edolphus “Ed” Towns, Rep. Henry A. Waxman, and Sen. Claire McCaskill issued a new report that finds that the Bush Administration has failed to implement over 13,000 recommendations made by Inspectors General (IGs) since 2001. Federal agencies could save taxpayers over $25 billion by implementing these open recommendations.

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