Government Oversight

Sen. Ron Johnson says a decision would prevent people in the District from keeping their current doctors and health plans.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) requested more information from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (VA) Wednesday on the conferences held in Orlando in 2011, which the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) said included more than $700,000 in excessive or wasteful spending.

Collins’ second letter to VA Secretary Eric Shinseki came after the VA OIG released a report finding that VA oversight was weak and ineffective and failed to keep spending in check for the Orlando conferences. The report also showed that several VA employees accepted improper gifts, such as limousine and helicopter rides, and tickets to a Rockettes show.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) demanded stronger federal regulations for compounding pharmacies that manufacture drugs without a patient prescription on Monday.

Blumenthal sent a letter to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Margaret Hamburg after a fungal meningitis outbreak was linked to a contaminated steroid injection made by a Northeastern compounding center, which altered ingredients to create a new medication that doesn’t have to be approved by the FDA under current rules. 

President Obama signed several bills into law late Friday, including Sen. Chuck Grassley’s (R-Iowa) bill to prevent abuse of government charge cards.

The Government Charge Card Abuse Prevention Act, which passed in the Senate by unanimous consent before senators left for the election recess, requires federal agencies to put new controls on government charge cards and enforce more stringent penalties for violations by federal employees.

Sens. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) released an investigative report on Brand USA, the government-sponsored travel promotion agency, on Thursday and found inappropriate activity.

“It’s sad, but not surprising, to find the government’s newest tourism venture is just as wasteful and mismanaged as we feared,” DeMint said in a news release Thursday. “It’s clear that American tourism industry places little faith in another unnecessary Washington agency, which is why Brand USA has relied on dubious in-kind donations and resorted to breaking its lobbying ban.”

House Ways and Means Committee Dave Camp (R-Mich.) on Wednesday accused the Obama administration of slow-walking his request for documents related to the controversial Delphi pension decision, and gave officials until the end of next week to fulfill what he said is a "straightforward request."

Camp and other Republicans have been after Treasury for emails that reveal Treasury's involvement in the decision to terminate the pensions of 20,000 non-union workers at auto parts giant Delphi, but fully fund union pensions. That decision was made as part of the Obama administration's auto industry bailout.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) criticized Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney for comments his campaign staff made to the Boston Globe saying he would “not honor deportation exemptions” for young illegal immigrants if he takes office.

“Gov. Romney has set an unfortunate deadline for hundreds of thousands of DREAMers: get approval under President Obama’s deferred action before inauguration, or risk being deported if Romney is sworn in,” Reid said in a statement Wednesday. 

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) called on Bank of America Tuesday to communicate better with homeowners receiving relief under the National Mortgage Settlement.

In a letter to Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan released on Tuesday, Shaheen said New Hampshire homeowners have voiced frustrations that Bank of America hasn't communicated critical information.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) demanded that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder answer questions about “gun-walking” programs in Texas on Tuesday.

Cornyn said the family of fallen Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agent Jaime Zapata deserves answers from Holder about the source of the weapons found at his murder scene, one of which has been linked to a Texas-based straw purchaser.

Senate Budget Committee ranking member Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) said on Tuesday said that the repeated failure of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to provide Congress with information about whether U.S. immigration laws are being adequately enforced is leading him to conclude that DHS is purposefully hiding details about its relaxed enforcement of these laws.

Republicans have been asking since August whether immigration officials are following the law that says immigrants must be denied entry into the United States if a determination is made that they are likely to need federal assistance.