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WOLF ASKS JUSTICE DEPARTMENT TO HOLD WHITE HOUSE SCIENCE ADVISER ACCOUNTABLE FOR BREAKING LAW

Washington, D.C. – Rep. Frank Wolf, chairman of the House Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations subcommittee, today asked the Justice Department to hold the head of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) accountable for breaking the law for leading science policy discussions with China.

The request comes after a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released earlier this week said that OSTP broke the law when it spent money on May meetings with the Chinese, despite language in a FY 2011 spending bill specifically barring them from doing so.

Federal agencies are prohibited from spending funds they do not have under the Antideficiency Act.  Federal employees who violate the Antideficieny Act can be fired and are subject to fines and imprisonment.

Wolf talked to OSTP Director Dr. John Holdren on Wednesday and asked if the office was going to follow the law and comply with the reporting requirements of the Antideficieny Act.  When he did not hear back from Holdren or the White House counsel’s office by the end of the day, Wolf decided to write Attorney General Holder and ask that the law be enforced.   He also wrote Holdren to express his disappointment and to make him aware that he was involving the attorney general.

Click to read Wolf’s letters to Holder and Holdren.

Click to read the response from the Justice Department.