Chairman Clyburn’s Opening Statement at Select Subcommittee Hearing on GAO’s Recommendations to Improve Federal Coronavirus Response
Washington, D.C. (June 26, 2020)—Below is Chairman James E. Clyburn's opening statement, as prepared for delivery, for today's Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis hearing on "Accountability in Crisis: GAO's Recommendations to Improve the Federal Coronavirus Response."
Opening Statement
Chairman James E. Clyburn
Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis
Hearing on "Accountability in Crisis: GAO's Recommendations to Improve the Federal Coronavirus Response"
June 26, 2020
Good morning.
Today, the Select Subcommittee is pleased to welcome Gene Dodaro, the Comptroller General of the United States and head of the Government Accountability Office. GAO is an independent, non-partisan watchdog, and it is essential to Congress's oversight of the Executive Branch.
This oversight may be more important than ever before. More than 120,000 Americans have died from the coronavirus pandemic—the most of any country on Earth. New infections have been rising for weeks, and two days ago we reached the highest number of new cases on record—more than 37,000 in a single day. It is clear that the Administration's attempts to contain this virus have failed thus far.
At the same time, huge numbers of Americans are out of work, including 1.5 million who filed new unemployment claims in just the past week.
In the CARES Act, which passed with broad bipartisan support, Congress directed GAO to monitor and oversee the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic and the spending of relief funds—and to report its findings back to Congress.
Yesterday, GAO issued its first mandated report. The results are alarming.
The report identifies significant problems with "transparency and accountability" in the federal response.
In particular, the Trump Administration is refusing to cooperate with GAO's oversight—even though this cooperation is required by law.
For example, the Small Business Administration has obligated more than $512 billion in taxpayer dollars to the Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP. Yet GAO reports that SBA has, and I quote, "failed to provide information critical to our review." As a result, GAO cannot determine whether taxpayer funds are being effectively targeted at struggling small businesses, or are instead being diverted by waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement.
Last night, SBA notified the Select Subcommittee that it is now offering to provide GAO with loan data it had previously withheld—with certain conditions. I am pleased that the SBA is finally showing some willingness to obey the law and cooperate with GAO, but it is troubling that the Administration withheld this information until the eve of a congressional hearing exposing their obstruction.
GAO's report also raises serious concerns that the Administration is failing to effectively manage key programs and hold recipients of federal funds accountable.
For example, GAO found SBA failed to implement oversight mechanisms that were "essential" to weed out fraud and abuse in PPP loans. As a result, "there is a significant risk that some fraudulent or inflated applications were approved."
GAO also found that "accuracy and reliability issues" with tests approved by the Trump Administration, "resulted in significant delays in testing nationwide during the critical early weeks of the outbreak."
GAO also identified serious problems with efforts to procure and distribute critical protective equipment and medical supplies. GAO reports that the Administration learned about potential shortages even before the pandemic, but failed to act.
GAO's report also highlights problems with the delivery of economic impact payments authorized by the CARES Act. These payments were designed to help Americans get back on their feet quickly. But according to a recent estimate, the IRS still has not sent out between 10 and 12 million payments, nearly three months after Congress passed the CARES Act. As a result, many vulnerable Americans have yet to receive these critical funds.
The American people deserve to know how their tax dollars are being spent, and whether their government is doing all it can to protect them from the coronavirus pandemic. I am deeply troubled by GAO's findings that the Administration is seeking to evade accountability by undermining GAO's oversight efforts.
And make no mistake, the Administration's refusal to cooperate with GAO is part of a broader effort to undermine, evade, and ignore effective oversight during this pandemic. The Administration has removed inspectors general, withheld basic information from Congress, and issued inaccurate legal opinions to try to keep billions of dollars in spending a secret.
The American people deserve better.
I want to make something clear: the purpose of our oversight is not to cast blame for past failures but to make improvements to ensure future success. The goals of this Select Committee are the same as the goals of the Administration: to save American lives and livelihoods. Our message to the Administration is this: we want to help you achieve these goals.
In this time of national crisis, I sincerely hope that my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, as well as members of the Trump Administration, will recognize the value of being transparent with each other and with the American people. That starts with cooperating with GAO, as required by law.
I am grateful to Mr. Dodaro for appearing here today, and to all the dedicated professionals at GAO who have contributed to this report. These are unprecedented times, and GAO has risen to the challenge to help us ensure the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic is efficient, effective, equitable, and transparent.
Thank you. I now yield to the Ranking Member for his opening statement.
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