House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa today released a new Committee staff report chronicling the impact of oversight in the 112th Congress as result of efforts to restore meaningful oversight that had been diminished during the two years of one-party rule in the previous Congress. Continue reading →

The report notes, “The controversial and legally questionable selection of its first director – former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray – adds unneeded uncertainty to financial markets. The CFPB’s apparently close relationship with the Obama Administration has allowed the White House to attempt to use the Bureau to further its partisan agenda.” Continue reading →

The report details how the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) appears to have shifted from an equitable treatment of job creators and labor unions under previous Administrations to a politicized pro-union bias under the Obama Administration. Continue reading →

Chairman Darrell Issa released a staff report entitled “None of the Below: The Truth About President Obama’s Actions Against Domestic Energy Production,” summarizing the steps President Obama’s political appointees at the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Interior have taken to restrict or regulate into nonexistence the production of oil, natural gas, and coal. Continue reading →

Chairman Darrell Issa: “The report discloses widespread management failures within the hierarchy of the Justice Department. The Justice Department has yet to evaluate these management issues and implement structural changes to prevent another disaster like Operation Fast and Furious from occurring. Furthermore, the Justice Department has taken limited action against these negligent managers.”

Senator Chuck Grassley: “Officials in the Justice Department saw any number of warnings and some even had the gunwalking information right in front of them, yet nothing was done to stop it. Countless people may be murdered with these weapons, yet the Attorney General appears to be letting his employees slide by with little to no accountability. The Attorney General needs to make changes to ensure that department leadership provides oversight of the agencies they are tasked with supervising, instead of pointing fingers at somebody else.” Continue reading →

No one should be discouraged from making a request under either law. No special
expertise is required. Using FOIA and the Privacy Act is as simple as writing a letter. This
Citizen’s Guide explains the essentials. Continue reading →

Today House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa released a new staff report entitled, “The Federal Government’s Failure to Prevent and End Medicaid Overpayments,” which examines outrageous abuses of federal tax dollars within the Medicaid program, specifically regarding New York State developmental centers. Continue reading →

In the wake of a massive taxpayer-funded bailout and effective government control of General Motors and Chrysler, the Obama Administration took unprecedented action to extract agreement for strict new fuel economy standards from auto manufacturers. This places ideology over science and politics over process. This action has serious consequences for consumers in the choice, cost, and safety of vehicles.
While the Obama Administration has told the public and Congress it followed the statutory rulemaking process in developing these regulations, material produced by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform documents how the Administration under an imperial presidency performed an end-run around the law and ran a White House-based political negotiation, led by “czars” who marginalized federal agencies charged in statute with setting fuel economy standards. Regulatory expertise from Department of Transportation officials, the agency charged with protecting automotive safety, were frequently mocked and belittled. Continue reading →

This report is the first of three completing the investigative work of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Senate Committee on the Judiciary. This report chronicles the fundamentally flawed firearms trafficking case from the perspective of the United States Attorney’s Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. Part two will look at the devastating failure of supervision and leadership by officials at Justice Department headquarters, principally within the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, and within the Criminal Division. Part three will address the unprecedented obstruction of the investigation by the highest levels of the Justice Department, including the Attorney General himself. Part two will be released shortly, and part three can only be prepared after the Justice Department fulfills its obligations to cooperate with the Congress and produce documents. Soon, the U.S. House of Representatives will commence legal proceedings to enforce its prerogatives following the June 27, 2012, vote holding Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr. in criminal and civil contempt. Continue reading →

Chairman Issa released a new report documenting the strangling effect of red tape on job creation. In this report, job creators across the country describe problems with these regulations that prevent them from adding new jobs into our economy. Continue reading →