Government Oversight

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) told the Department of Interior (DOI) on Tuesday that it should consider “canceling the sheep counting” studies instead of closing national parks to reduce spending.

“Department officials warned national parks around the country would suffer from reduced hours of operation, shorter seasons and the possible closures of campgrounds, hiking trails and other recreational areas,” Coburn wrote in a letter to the newly confirmed Interior Secretary Sally Jewell. “The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is also threatening to shut down hundreds of flood warning gauges across the country.”

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) renewed his call on Monday for Congress to require disclosure and accountability of the “political intelligence industry.”

“Turns out, some people on Wall Street have figured out a way to read Washington’s mind. Instead of paying a fortune teller, they are hiring so-called political intelligence brokers,” Grassley said. “This new crop of information specialists has figured out how to turn government information into a profit-making venture.”

"The very least an individual on the federal payroll can do is pay their taxes," sponsor Rep. Jason Chaffetz said.

Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) introduced a bill Thursday that aims to combat drug trafficking and organized crime.

The Transnational Drug Trafficking Act increases the ability of the Department of Justice to prosecute those involved in international drug trafficking.

“I know that we cannot sit idly by as drug traffickers find new ways to circumvent our laws,” Feinstein said. “We must provide the Department of Justice with all of the tools it needs to prosecute drug kingpins both here at home and abroad.”

Republicans have criticized Beyonce and Jay-Z for the trip to Cuba.

Treasury declined to comment on whether the celebrities had a license to travel to Cuba.

Republicans next week will push legislation through the House that would freeze the work of the National Labor Relations Board.

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) on Tuesday became the latest member of Congress to try to force a pay cut on members of Congress in order to make them share in the pain of the sequester.

"It is the very definition of unfairness for well-paid members of Congress to subject federal employees, who earn less, to effective pay cuts that the members who mandate salary reductions are not willing to take themselves," Norton said.

Massachusetts Republicans on Tuesday filed a complaint with the House Ethics Committee charging that Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) has violated campaign rules in his bid to become the next Bay State senator.

"It is our hope that the Committee quickly gets to the bottom of Ed Markey's apparent reliance on taxpayer funded resources to benefit his campaign," MassGOP Executive Director Nate Little said. "Markey has been in office for so long, he either forgot the rules or thinks they don't apply to him. He should be held accountable for neglecting the rules set up to protect taxpayer dollars."

Rep. Ron Barber (D-Ariz.) on Wednesday called on Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to restore cuts to funding for U.S. border patrol agents made under the sequester and said failure to take this step would further jeopardize border security.

"Congress passed and the president has signed into law a continuing resolution that provides the department with additional funding for Border Patrol salaries," he wrote in a letter to Napolitano.