Administration takes transparency hits with GOP on cusp of oversight power

The Obama administration’s transparency and accounting
methods have been publicly lambasted on a range of issues over the last couple
of months.

The criticism comes as Republicans are expected to win
control of at least one chamber of Congress on Tuesday and, with it, gain new
oversight and subpoena powers.

In a report issued last month, Neil Barofsky, the special
inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), suggested the
administration was playing accounting games to make it look like the government
was regaining more money from TARP than it actually was.

{mosads}Barofsky accused the Treasury Department of concealing $40
billion in likely taxpayer losses on the AIG bailout. Barofsky, who was
confirmed by the Senate in 2008 after the Wall Street bailout passed, granted
several interviews on his report.

He told The New York Times, “In our view, this is a significant failure in their transparency.”

Treasury officials strongly disputed Barofsky’s findings,
pointing to a difference in methodology.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the Finance Committee ranking
member who has conducted aggressive oversight of Democratic and Republican
administrations, swiftly rebuked the Treasury Department. Rep. Darrell Issa
(R-Calif.), who would take over the House Oversight and Government Reform
Committee if Republicans win the House, also criticized the administration.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
quietly approved 30 waivers to companies that were considering dropping their
healthcare coverage. The waivers enabled them to dodge a key mandate in the
healthcare law President Obama signed earlier this year.

The decision, which was buried on HHS’s website and not
announced in a press release, was excoriated by both liberals and
conservatives.

In September, White House Health Reform Director
Nancy-Ann DeParle stated on the White House blog that the new healthcare law
“will make healthcare more affordable for Americans.”

But Richard Foster, Medicare’s nonpartisan chief actuary,
disputed that assertion. At the time, he said, “The amounts quoted in the White
House blog are not meaningful…”

The Obama administration is also taking criticism on a
high-profile voter intimidation case.

A draft report by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights that was leaked recently alleged the Department of Justice (DoJ) tried to hide the involvement of
high-level political officials in its decision to dismiss a high-profile voter
intimidation lawsuit against the New Black Panther Party.

On Election Day 2008, two members of the New Black Panther
Party were standing outside a polling station in Philadelphia, with one clenching
a nightstick, according to video of the incident, which has been posted on the
Internet.

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights stated DoJ’s actions
failed to protect white voters and is “at war with its core mission of
guaranteeing equal protection” for all Americans. 

Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) has pursued the DoJ’s handling of
the New Black Panther Party case and pointed out that he hasn’t received
responses from DoJ to his multiple requests for documents and information on
the matter. 


If the GOP wins control of the House Tuesday, Wolf is
expected to become the chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on
Commerce, Justice, and Science, which has jurisdiction over the DoJ’s budget.

The White House did not comment for this article. However,
administration officials have repeatedly touted the president’s transparency
and open-government record, most notably on the release of White House visitor
logs. Watchdog groups have praised Obama for publicly releasing much more
information than the previous administration.

Republicans on Capitol Hill contend the administration’s
actions on transparency do not match its rhetoric.

Darrell West, a political scientist and director of
governance studies at the Brookings Institute, said Republicans will conduct
rigorous oversight of the Obama administration should they gain subpoena
powers.

“It’s going to get a lot testier,” said West of the possible
Republican majority. “It’s going to be tough because you may end up with
government by subpoena. It slows everything down. It makes it difficult for
people to do their day jobs and it means that everyone is looking over their
shoulder all of the time.”


Republicans, however, counter that there needs to be a check
and balance on the Obama White House.

Grassley has been focused on strengthening the power of
Congress’s investigative arm, the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The
GAO has had its requests repeatedly rebuffed by officials from the DoJ, the
State Department, and the Department of Defense, among others, according to
letters from the GAO to congressional leaders obtained by The Hill. 



Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have been especially
concerned that the GAO has been unable to obtain personnel vacancy rates within
the FBI’s counterterrorism division.

The vacancies have prevented the agency from developing a
staff of experienced counterterrorism experts, according to a letter signed by
Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Grassley and Reps. John Conyers (D-Mich.),
Lamar Smith (R-Texas) and Bobby Scott (D-Va.). Leahy heads the Senate Judiciary
Committee while Conyers chairs the House Judiciary panel. 



The DoJ cites a 1988 legal opinion issued by DoJ’s Office of
Legal Counsel, which it says grants Congress — not the GAO — access to
intelligence-related information, including personnel and human capital data.



Smith, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee,
has been a critic of the DoJ over the last couple of years. Smith’s office has
emphasized the need for congressional oversight in three major areas: the
closure of the Guantánamo Bay military prison; allegations of criminal
misconduct by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN)
and the DOJ’s actions in the New Black Panther Party case.

A spokesman for the White House did not return a request for
comment. Issa’s office also did not return a request for comment.

This article was updated and clarified on Nov. 5.