Sessions: Transparency and Efficiency Within CIGIE is Critical to Supporting Inspector General Offices

WASHINGTON—Subcommittee on Government Operations and the Federal Workforce Chairman Pete Sessions (R-Texas) today delivered opening remarks at a hearing titled “Oversight of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency.” Chairman Sessions discussed the Subcommittee’s goal to examine CIGIE’s legislative priorities, day-to-day operations, and internal processes.

Subcommittee Chairman Sessions’ remarks as prepared for delivery appear below.

I would like to welcome today’s witness, Mr. Mark Greenblatt, to the Subcommittee. 

In addition to his duties as Inspector General for the Department of Interior, Mr. Greenblatt serves as the current Chair of the Councilof the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency.

CIGIE’s mission is to:

• Address integrity, economy, and effectiveness issues that transcend individual Government agencies; and

• Increase the professionalism and effectiveness of personnel by developing policies, standards, and approaches to aid in the establishment of a well-trained and highly skilled workforce in the offices of the Inspectors General.

Today’s hearing will provide Members with an opportunity to examine CIGIE’s legislative priorities, receive an update on day-to-day operations, and to better understand its internal processes.

I will not beat around the bush, however.

The elephant in the room is the expectation of an upcoming Integrity Committee report on the investigation of the current Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security, Joseph Cuffari.

Mr. Greenblatt and I spoke yesterday, and we discussed how he is not able to address questions regarding the substance of this report until it has been released to the public.

Nevertheless, it is a good opportunity for Mr. Greenblatt to explain to Members why they should have confidence in the Integrity Committee’s work.

After all, aside from the pending investigation into Mr. Cuffari, just this year there have been several instances in which IC reports preceded the removal of Inspectors General.

These include the Inspectors General for the Railroad Retirement Board, and the Department of Commerce.

And in June, the Inspector General for the Social Security Administration resigned after the Integrity Committee issued its report on its investigation into her.

Three Inspectors General are gone in a six-month period.

That alone is troubling.

Add to it that the most recent semi-annual report from the IC states is received “1,755 incoming communications, resulting in 75 cases for the IC’s formal substantive disposition…” and that it has “six investigations pending completion.”

So…what is going on in the IG community?

And how can we have confidence the IC’s investigatory process has not been hijacked by office politics and personal grievances?

“Whistleblower complaints” play a frequent role in investigations into Inspectors General, but how can we be sure these do not amount to nothing more than a difference of opinion.

And more importantly, how can we have confidence that the work of Inspectors General will not be significantly affected if they must assume that their own staff will use “whistleblower complaints” as a form of retribution?

What recourse does an Inspector General have if they believe they being railroaded?

There are other topics to discuss today.

For example, this committee has devoted significant resources to investigate the massive amounts of fraud in Covid-relief programs.

While CIGIE mentions the work of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee in identifying and recovering taxpayer funds lost to fraud, what has CIGIE done – and what has the broader IG community done – regarding fraud prevention and investigation?

It is a well-known fact that once the money goes out the door, chasing it down is very difficult to do.

More of a focus must be on making sure money does not go out the door in the first place.

And as a member of the oversight community, I am sure Mr. Greenblatt, that you would agree no entity should be free from being held to account.

This includes CIGIE.

Of the guidances and training you have produced, what tangible results can you describe for the Subcommittee?

Of the coordination you provide, what tangible improvements can you illustrate when IGs work across agencies?

And ultimately, what additional steps can we as Congress take to ensure the same measure of transparency and accountability you apply to federal agencies is applied equally to yourselves?

With that, I yield to the distinguished ranking member, Mr. Mfume.