Trump administration moves to defund inspector general watchdog group
The Trump administration plans to end funding starting Wednesday for an oversight group that helps inspectors general root out waste, fraud and abuse, marking the latest example of President Donald Trump’s drive to limit federal watchdog activities.
The group — called the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency — is the umbrella organization for 72 inspectors general across government. It informed four House and Senate committees on Saturday that it would “cease our statutorily mandated functions and furlough 25 permanent employees” without funding, according to a letter obtained by The Washington Post.
The letter said the decision came from the Office of Management and Budget, which has overseen broad staffing cutbacks under Director Russell Vought.
CIGIE acts essentially as a watchdog of the watchdogs — providing training, peer reviews and cross-agency oversight work for inspectors general. It also runs oversight.gov, where whistleblowers can disclose wrongdoing and inspector general reports are shared publicly.
“We have significant concerns about these impacts, as the shuttering of CIGIE will result in the loss of shared services and cost-efficiencies that have been built up over the last 17 years,” Tammy L. Hull, CIGIE’s acting chair and the inspector general for the U.S. Postal Service, wrote in the letter to Congress.
OMB’s decision to cut off funds from the council comes after the Trump administration purged government watchdogs at 19 agencies and then installed partisans to what have traditionally been nonpartisan positions. The dismantling of the group supporting oversight work has sent shock waves through the watchdog community.
“I think this is just another star in the constellation of dismantling the federal inspector general community,” said Mark Lee Greenblatt, former Interior Department inspector general and former CIGIE chair. “CIGIE is like the scaffolding holding up the inspector general community.”
It remains unclear how the administration will continue some statutorily required programs without CIGIE.
OMB spokesman Armen Tooloee criticized inspectors general in a statement to The Post.
“Inspectors general are meant to be impartial watchdogs identifying waste and corruption on behalf of the American people,” Tooloee said. “Unfortunately, they have become corrupt, partisan, and in some cases, have lied to the public. The American people will no longer be funding this corruption.”
On Monday, Republican Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Chuck Grassley (Iowa), chairs of the Appropriations and Judiciary committees, respectively, raised concerns about the impact that defunding the inspectors general group would have on oversight. In a letter to Vought, the senators asked for an explanation and called for him “to promptly reverse course.”
Congress recently provided funding in its budget bill to extend CIGIE’s Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, which oversaw emergency pandemic spending in several agencies, through 2034. Hull said in the congressional letter that OMB’s decision could stymie that work.
Some conservatives have been critical of CIGIE, especially after its Integrity Committee alleged that Department of Homeland Security Inspector General Joseph Cuffari — who was nominated by Trump in his first term and remains in his post — had committed misconduct and obstruction. Republican lawmakers challenged the committee’s role in overseeing Cuffari and efforts to investigate potential misconduct.
John Vecchione, a New Civil Liberties Alliance attorney who represented Cuffari and challenged CIGIE, has said that the independent entity within the executive branch has no chain of command to the president.
Vecchione said OMB has legal authority to cut off funding because a portion of the funding that CIGIE receives comes from interagency transfers from inspectors general offices, and the law establishing CIGIE gives OMB’s deputy director for management authority over that spending.
Former Department of Defense inspector general Robert Storch said the administration and Congress could propose appropriate reforms for the Integrity Committee without cutting off important functions of CIGIE.
“I would hope Congress pushes back because Congress and the American public really do have skin in this game,” Storch said. “Congress’s constitutional legislative and oversight functions are heavily informed by the work of inspectors general, and CIGIE plays an important role in making that possible and promoting transparency for the American people.”