Congress has a responsibility under the Constitution to conduct oversight of the executive branch. The Committee on Government Reform has the specific responsibility to oversee whether laws and programs are being implemented and carried out in accordance with the intent of Congress and whether they should be continued, curtailed, or eliminated; the application, administration, execution, and effectiveness of laws and programs; and the organization and operation of federal agencies and entities having responsibilities for the administration and execution of laws and programs. As set forth in House Rule X, clause 4, the Committee also may, at any time, conduct investigations of any matter regardless of whether another standing committee has jurisdiction over the matter.
On Tuesday, July 21, 2009, at 10:00 a.m., the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing titled: “Following the Money: Report of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP).”
Chairman Edolphus “Ed” Towns (D-NY) is taking action to ensure that the Department of Transportation (DOT) is awarding Recovery Act funds to economically distressed areas nationwide. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) testified before Towns’ Oversight Committee that DOT is not giving priority to funding projects in “economically distressed areas,” as required by the Recovery Act.
Hearing titled: “Tracking the Money: Preventing Waste, Fraud and Abuse of Recovery Act Funding.”
During the Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s third in a series of stimulus oversight hearings today, Government Accountability Office (GAO) Acting Comptroller General Gene Dodaro endorsed legislation introduced by Committee Chairman Edolphus “Ed” Towns (D-NY) that will amend the Recovery Act titled, “Enhanced Oversight of State and Local Economic Recovery Act” (H.R. 2182).
At 10:00 a.m., the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing titled: “Tracking the Money: Preventing Waste, Fraud and Abuse of Recovery Act Funding.” The hearing took place in room 2154 Rayburn House Office Building.
Committee to receive an overview and update on the situation facing the United States and Mexico in their efforts to disrupt and dismantle Mexican drug cartels
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will hold the third in a series of hearings examining the implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
U.S Representative Edolphus “Ed” Towns (D-NY), the Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, today announced that he is calling on Vice President Joseph R. Biden to convene a high-tech roundtable of information technology (IT) leaders to develop a uniform approach to track and account for ARRA funding. Chairman Towns is concerned that Recovery.gov, the Administration’s primary transparency tool, is not yet capable of tracking funding from each federal, state, and local agency that receives stimulus funds.
On Thursday, March 19 at 10:00 a.m., the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing titled, “Preventing Stimulus Waste and Fraud: Who are the Watchdogs?” The hearing took place in room 2154 Rayburn House Office Building.
WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Representative Edolphus “Ed” Towns (D-NY), Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and U.S. Representative William Lacy Clay (D-MO), Chairman of the Information Policy, Census and National Archives Subcommittee today released the following statement regarding oversight of the 2010 Census…
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Representative Edolphus “Ed” Towns (D-NY), Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, today wrote to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner; urging the adoption of recommendations made by the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP), and to provide greater accountability and transparency in TARP agreements…
WASHINGTON – U.S. Representative Edolphus “Ed” Towns, Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is pleased to announce the Chairs and selections for the Subcommittees of the 111th Congress…
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…
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….
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.
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.
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.
Rep. Edolphus “Ed” Towns (D-NY), incoming Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, named Ronald Stroman as staff director and Michael McCarthy as deputy staff director of the committee.
This evening, the House Democratic Caucus formally elected Rep. Edolphus “Ed” Towns (D-NY) as Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
The Committee will next Tuesday consider a report supported by Chairman Henry A. Waxman and former Ranking Member Tom Davis finding that President Bush made a “legally unprecedented and an inappropriate use of executive privilege” when he directed Attorney General Mukasey to withhold Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald’s interview of Vice President Cheney from the Committee.
Chairman Henry A. Waxman issued a statement regarding the transition efforts of the Government Accountability Office.
According to a report released today by Chairman Waxman, key FDA career officials strongly objected to Bush Administration drug labeling regulations that would preempt state liability lawsuits, asserting that the central justifications for the regulations were “false and misleading” and warning that the changes would deprive consumers of timely information about drug hazards.
Chairman Waxman requested an explanation from HHS Secretary Leavitt on why a proposed rule that would threaten access to reproductive and other health services was issued in apparent violation of an executive order requiring interagency coordination and review.
The Committee held a hearing titled, “The Financial Crisis and the Role of Federal Regulators” at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, October 23, 2008, in 2154 Rayburn House Office Building. The hearing examined the roles and responsibilities of federal regulators in the current financial crisis.
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