logo
Demoting the Education Department's watchdog is a spark in a five-alarm fire

Demoting the Education Department's watchdog is a spark in a five-alarm fire

The Hill3 days ago
Another day, another chilling development in the fight against waste, fraud and abuse.
President Trump, who removed 17 inspectors general (including me) at the beginning of his term, continued his attack earlier this month by demoting the acting inspector general of the Department of Education — simply because she was doing her job.
That job is especially important right now, in light of the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the Trump administration can proceed with dismantling the Education Department.
When agencies engage in major muscle movements like the expected shuttering of the Department of Education, inspectors general can add real value through fair, objective and independent oversight. Therefore, changing the acting inspector general under the circumstances is a major issue.
Here's the backstory. In March, the secretary of Education announced that the Department of Education would be reducing its workforce by 50 percent, and the president issued an executive order weeks later directing the secretary to begin the process of shuttering the agency entirely.
In April, the Department of Education's acting inspector general announced that her office was initiating a series of reviews to examine the effect of the Trump administration's overhaul of the department on its programs.
She described the goal of the reviews as 'identify[ing] the cumulative effect of staffing reductions in relation to the department's statutory responsibilities, along with any actions it should consider, to help ensure productive and efficient operations following its workforce changes.'
The Office of Inspector General is the internal watchdog in federal agencies, empowered to examine the effectiveness of their agency's programs. So, this review is squarely within the office's jurisdiction; it is exactly the entity that should conduct such an assessment.
Over the ensuing few weeks, however, the department apparently pushed back on the Office of the Inspector General, using standard agency tactics to sabotage oversight — namely, dragging its feet and improperly denying access to information and witnesses.
After weeks of this pushback, the acting inspector general notified Congress of the Education Department's delay tactics and unfounded refusals to provide critical information.
On June 5, President Trump told Congress of his plans to demote the acting inspector general and install a new one. Earlier this month, he did just that.
This should worry every American.
When a president changes or removes inspectors general for asking difficult questions and conducting oversight that might lead to uncomfortable findings, they no longer are taxpayers' watchdogs. They transform into presidential lapdogs.
Inspectors general must be independent to provide fair and objective analysis of their agency's operations. They are the taxpayers' representatives inside federal agencies, providing crucial transparency and information to the administration, Congress and ultimately, the American people about how the agency is doing.
That necessarily includes reviewing controversial issues, like in this case, the shuttering of the Department of Education. It also includes occasionally ruffling feathers with agency leadership, many of whom bristle at independent oversight assessing their office's performance.
Inspectors general are a unique and very positive feature of the American federal system.
As the chair of the Council of Inspectors General, I hosted delegations from numerous foreign countries to discuss the system and how it adds value for the American people. These delegations marveled at America's inspector general system and passionately inquired how they could implement such a robust accountability mechanism in their countries.
A perfect example of inspector general effectiveness is 'Operation Gold Rush,' the largest health care fraud bust in U.S. history led by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. After a two-year investigation, 19 people were charged with multiple crimes related to an alleged $10.6 billion Medicare fraud scheme.
The demotion of an acting Department of Education inspector general under these circumstances eviscerates the entire inspector general construct. It is wholly inappropriate for her position to be changed for doing her job as required under the Inspector General Act and as Americans have come to expect.
This has nothing to do with how someone views the specific issues of the Department of Education and whether it should be closed.
As an inspector general appointed by President Trump who dedicated my career to fighting waste, fraud and abuse and protecting taxpayers' dollars, I can certainly appreciate the impulse to cut government bloat and inefficiency. The Department of Education is not immune to such problems.
To the contrary, the problem with this removal is that it is clearly retaliation for conducting legitimate oversight. It will not only impact the oversight at the Department of Education; it will likely undermine the entire inspector general community.
Could you blame an inspector general for thinking twice about initiating a sensitive evaluation or investigation when they know the president could fire them simply for doing their jobs? Could you blame them for hesitating to investigate a senior Trump appointee when they have the proverbial sword of Damocles hanging over their heads?
This chilling effect should be a cause for concern nationwide. Regardless of whether someone agrees or disagrees with President Trump, all of us should want oversight that is without fear or favor — namely, fair, objective and independent oversight that helps the federal government perform better.
Inspectors general must be allowed to do their jobs, including asking hard questions, examining sensitive initiatives and pushing back on agencies' obfuscations. Anything less should raise major alarm bells for the American people.
Mark Lee Greenblatt is a former inspector general of the U.S. Department of the Interior and chair of the Council of Inspectors General, as well as the author of ' Valor: Unsung Heroes from Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Home Front.'
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Supreme Court hands Trump a win on Consumer Product Safety Commission firings
Supreme Court hands Trump a win on Consumer Product Safety Commission firings

USA Today

timea minute ago

  • USA Today

Supreme Court hands Trump a win on Consumer Product Safety Commission firings

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump can fire three Democratic members of the Consumer Product Safety Commission for now the Supreme Court said on July 23 in the latest decision boosting the ability of the president to control independent agencies. The ruling was made over the objections of the court's three liberal justices. 'Once again, this Court uses its emergency docket to de­stroy the independence of an independent agency, as estab­lished by Congress,' Justice Elena Kagan wrote. "By means of such actions, this Court may facilitate the permanent transfer of authority, piece by piece by piece, from one branch of Government to another." The five-member regulatory commission, created by Congress in 1972, aims to keep people from being injured or killed by defective or harmful products. Commissioners are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate in staggered seven-year terms to protect them from political or industry pressure and to protect the agency from abrupt changes in composition. By law, commissioners can be removed only for 'neglect of duty or malfeasance in office.' But, in May, Trump fired without cause the three members appointed by President Joe Biden: Mary Boyle, Alexander Hoehn-Saric and Richard Trumka Jr. A federal judge in Maryland ordered the commissioners reinstated, saying the threat to public safety from removing them outweighed any hardship the administration might suffer from keeping them on while the firings are being challenged. In his June ruling, U.S. District Judge Matthew Maddox also said the product safety commission is similar in structure and function to another independent agency that was the center of a landmark 1935 ruling − Humphrey's Executor v. U.S. − limiting the ability of the president to remove independent agency officials. 'Humphrey's Executor remains good law and is binding on this Court,' Maddox wrote. But the Trump administration said Maddox instead should've taken his cue from the Supreme Court's May decision allowing the president to fire Democratic members of two federal labor boards while the former members challenge their dismissals. The product safety commission is now effectively controlled by Biden's appointees even though Trump is president, lawyers for the government said in a filing. Decisions made by the commissioners who are 'hostile' to Trump's agenda have 'thrown the agency into chaos and have put agency staff in the untenable position of deciding which Commissioners' directives to follow,' the Justice Department said. Attorneys for the three commissioners appointed by Biden reminded the Supreme Court that the justices twice in the past year declined to review appeals court decisions that upheld restrictions on the president's ability to remove Consumer Product Safety Commission members without cause. And Maddox, the district judge, noted that the term of one of the three Biden appointees expires in October, giving Trump the chance to appoint her successor and to 'exert significant influence over the agency.'

Taxpayer-funded vaccines meant to aid Africa are at risk of expiring
Taxpayer-funded vaccines meant to aid Africa are at risk of expiring

Fast Company

timea minute ago

  • Fast Company

Taxpayer-funded vaccines meant to aid Africa are at risk of expiring

Hundreds of thousands of doses of mpox vaccine that the United States had promised to send to African nations are in danger of going to waste, dozens of congressional Democrats said in a letter to the U.S. State Department on Wednesday. Forty-eight Democratic members of the House of Representatives, led by Representatives Mark Pocan of Wisconsin and Sara Jacobs of California, signed the letter, saying that the vaccines may expire as they sit in warehouses, wasting the U.S. taxpayer dollars that paid for them. The letter said 800,000 doses of the vaccines are at risk, and that some 220,000 doses could be viable if the State Department begins shipping them immediately. 'This is a moral, strategic, and public health failure in the making,' the letter said. Republican U.S. President Donald Trump has made sharp cuts to foreign aid programs since beginning his second term six months ago, firing thousands of aid agency employees and contractors and throwing global humanitarian operations into chaos. The Republican-controlled Senate and House of Representatives passed legislation this month approving Trump's request for about $8 billion in foreign aid cuts. Trump has said the U.S. pays disproportionately for foreign aid, and he wants other countries to shoulder more of the burden. The World Health Organization first declared the outbreak of mpox in August 2024, when an outbreak of a new form of the disease spread from the badly-hit Democratic Republic of Congo to neighboring countries. Uganda and Burundi also have been significantly affected.

Trump Media Is Now a $2 Billion Bitcoin Bet
Trump Media Is Now a $2 Billion Bitcoin Bet

Gizmodo

timea minute ago

  • Gizmodo

Trump Media Is Now a $2 Billion Bitcoin Bet

Trump Media isn't just fighting Big Tech. It's taking on Wall Street with a Bitcoin war chest big enough to rival corporate heavyweights. The company behind Truth Social and streaming platform Truth+ announced, on July 21, it had purchased $2 billion worth of Bitcoin and Bitcoin-related securities, converting two-thirds of its $3 billion in liquid assets into cryptocurrency. It's one of the boldest corporate Bitcoin strategies ever seen, rivaling billionaire Michael Saylor's MicroStrategy (now known as Strategy), the enterprise software company that famously pivoted to become a dominant corporate holder of Bitcoin. Trump Media thus becomes the sixth-largest company holding Bitcoin on its balance sheet, according to (Disclosure: Trump Media sued Gizmodo along with 19 other media outlets in 2023, claiming that they inaccurately reported financial data about the company. That litigation is pending.) Trump Media CEO Devin Nunes framed the move as a bid for 'financial freedom' and protection from 'discrimination by financial institutions,' echoing long-standing grievances in Trump's orbit about Big Tech and Wall Street bias. The company also revealed plans to keep acquiring Bitcoin and Bitcoin-linked options that could be converted to spot Bitcoin holdings. He also hinted at the company's next big step: a 'utility token' set to power Trump Media's planned fintech arm. Donald Trump, who founded Trump Media and remains its namesake, is now president and has positioned the U.S. as the world's most crypto-friendly nation. His administration has pushed policies to roll back SEC crypto enforcement, has championed crypto-friendly policies, and framed Bitcoin as a strategic U.S. asset. At the same time, a company directly linked to his personal brand and political base is heavily invested in Bitcoin. Pro-crypto policies from a Trump administration, such as rolling back regulatory scrutiny or signing the Genius Act, could directly benefit Trump Media's Bitcoin-heavy treasury. To an outside observer, it would be easy to get the impression of policy being shaped to benefit a president's own corporate holdings. President Donald Trump currently owns 114,750,000 shares of Trump Media through the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust. This represents 41.4% of the outstanding shares of the company. Trump Media's $2 billion bet effectively links its financial health to both Bitcoin prices and Trump-era crypto policy. If Bitcoin rises under a regulatory-friendly environment, Trump Media could see exponential gains. A regulatory crackdown or a crypto crash could devastate it. The risk cuts both ways: Bitcoin's volatility could drain the company's liquidity, threatening the viability of Truth Social and its broader media ecosystem. It also hints at a possible long-term goal: a Trump-linked crypto ecosystem combining Bitcoin reserves with a proprietary utility token, potentially transforming Trump Media into a hybrid of media platform and financial institution. Trump Media started as a megaphone for 'free speech.' Now it's building a Bitcoin bank during a pro-crypto presidency led by its founder. How that shakes out will depend on Bitcoin's trajectory and the scrutiny on Trump's dual roles as president and 'crypto bro.'

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store