Releases

In 2004, the Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 (HSPD-12) mandated a government-wide standard for secure IDs for federal employees and contractors accessing government facilities. In response, the National Institute of Standards and Technology developed biometric credentials for agencies to use to control access to secure government facilities.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) today announced the issuance of a subpoena for documents related to the risky Obamacare health CO-OP loan program after repeated requests for the documents were ignored.

“At a time when over $80 billion is spent and over 10 percent of it goes completely wasted… there’s never been a more important time to update the legendary, historic Clinger-Cohen Act,” amendment sponsor and House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrel lssa, R-Calif., said in remarks on the floor.

“Because of our failure to control spending and fix our broken federal government, we are mortgaging the American dream and piling mountains of debt on top of our children,” said Chairman Issa. “We need a serious, practical plan to make our federal government more efficient and more effective. The next step to formulating that plan is to hear from experts who have been involved in prior government overhauls.”

“In our April 19th letter, we asked whether you have the legal authority to transfer funds from sources other than the Health Insurance Reform Implementation Fund (HIRIF) to finance the establishment and operation of Federally Facilitated Health Care Exchanges (FFEs),” the letter, signed by , signed full Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., Economic Growth Subcommittee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio and Health Care Subcommittee Chairman James Lankford, R-Okla., states.

“Your public comments that ‘the case is solved’ and that you would ‘wrap this case up and move on’ stand in stark contrast to the facts,” Issa writes. “There is still much that we do not know about how and why certain applications for tax-exempt status were denied, delayed…”

Members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform today responded to a declaration regarding the investigation into the IRS’ targeting of Tea Party and conservative groups made by Ranking Member Elijah Cummings (D-MD) on CNN’s State of the Union with Candy Crowley.

“I strongly disagree with Ranking Member Cummings’ assertion that we know everything we need to know about inappropriate targeting of Tea Party groups by the IRS and the case is, in his word, ‘solved.’ His extreme and reckless assertions are a signal that his true motivation is stopping needed Congressional oversight…”

“The wasteful Anaheim conference is one example of a culture of excess that plagues the IRS and many federal agencies,” said Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif. “Taxpayer money meant to pay for a core agency mission, the hiring of more enforcement personnel, was instead spent on a lavish party.”

“As late as last week, the administration was still trying to say the [IRS targeting scandal] was from a few rogue agents in Cincinnati, when in fact the indication is that they were directly being ordered from Washington,” Issa told CNN.