House chairman calls for probe into Trump official’s spending on GOP consultants

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) is calling for an inspector general investigation following a report that a top Trump administration health care official has directed taxpayer dollars to GOP communications consultants.

The request from Pallone to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) inspector general comes after Politico reported on Friday that Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Seema Verma pushed to use millions of federal dollars on Republican media consultants to boost news coverage of the agency’s work.

Among the duties of those consultants was bolstering Verma’s image, Politico reported.

{mosads}“These contracts are a highly questionable use of taxpayer dollars,” Pallone said in a statement Friday. “Given that this agency should be spending tax dollars to ensure Americans can access quality health care, it is particularly egregious that it is using millions to ensure its Administrator has access to outside public relations and image building services.”

Pallone’s committee oversees CMS, the agency that is responsible for running Medicare, Medicaid and the ObamaCare marketplaces.

“I intend to ask the HHS OIG to immediately begin an investigation into how these contracts were approved, whether all regulations and ethical guidelines were followed, and why taxpayers are stuck paying for these unnecessary services,” Pallone added, referring to the Office of Inspector General. “This is not the way to drain the swamp.”

CMS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Verma has drawn strong opposition from Democrats for her policy moves, including cutting funding for outreach to sign people up for ObamaCare and for approving work requirements in Medicaid in several states.

CMS officials in the Politico story questioned why she needed outside GOP communications consultants.

“The head of ObamaCare doesn’t need outside consultants to get reporters to talk to her,” one CMS official told Politico. “The job pitches itself.”