Government Oversight

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) introduced a bill Wednesday that would grant portions of the District of Columbia statehood.

The New Columbia Admissions Act, S. 3696, would make the areas outside the White House, Capitol and Supreme Court that are currently part of D.C., a new state called New Columbia.

The House will take up a bill later this week that would revise the administrative authorities of the D.C. courts.

The Senate passed the D.C. Courts and Public Defender Service Act this summer, meaning if the House passes it as well, S. 1379 will head to President Obama’s desk for his signature.

Sens. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) questioned why the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) spent $70.8 million for a faulty Army garrison in Afghanistan.

"It looks like we paid $70 million for a contract that delivered next to nothing — any reasonable person is going to ask why," said McCaskill, who chairs the Senate Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight, in a statement Tuesday. "Every taxpayer dollar spent in Afghanistan is a dollar that wasn't spent to build a school or repair a road right here at home, and I think it's critical that we really scrutinize what we're getting for the money we're spending on projects halfway around the world."

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) told the federal judiciary Thursday to release a budget plan ahead of the pending sequestration cuts. 

Grassley, the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he thought most of the cuts should come from conference expenses and travel for judges, rather than employee layoffs.

“The federal court system should have a detailed plan to ensure as little disruption as possible in case sequestration occurs,” Grassley said in a statement Thursday. “I’ve outlined a great deal of questionable spending by the federal judiciary that could easily be curbed to give the cost saving a jump start.”

A  group of House and Senate Republican lawmakers demanded an investigation Monday into the Obama administration’s management of the Direct Loan education program.

House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline (R-Minn.) along with Reps. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) and Judy Biggert (R-Ill.) and members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee — Sens. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) — sent a letter Monday to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) requesting an investigation into the Obama administration’s management of the Direct Loan program.

“The sheer volume of complaints about the Direct Loan program is extremely disconcerting, and raises serious questions about the Obama administration’s ability to serve student loan borrowers effectively,” Kline said in a statement Monday. “With the federal government now responsible for all student lending, we have a responsibility to conduct strong oversight of the Direct Loan program to ensure it is working for borrowers and taxpayers.”

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Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) told U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday to delegate a review of FBI whistleblower protections mandated by the president to the department’s inspector general.

In a letter sent to Holder Thursday, Grassley said that the Justice Department has a “horrendous” record when it comes to rectifying FBI whistleblower cases.

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.