WASHINGTON DC (December 5, 2019) — Senators Charles "Chuck" Grassley (R-IA), Roger Wicker (R-MS), and Ron Johnson (R-WI), respectively chairmen of the Senate Finance, Commerce, and Government Affairs Committees, are together seeking more fulsome answers in response to an August letter from Sen Grassley that raised concerns about staff-departures, low morale, and low productivity at the Commerce Department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG). The joint letter was prompted by a response from the Inspector General on September 27, which failed to answer some of Chairman Grassley’s questions.
“The US Department of Commerce oversees the expenditure of billions of tax-payer dollars every year and performs a variety of critical functions related to our nation's economic growth and development...,” the senators wrote. “We believe that a strong and effective Commerce OIG is necessary to ensuring proper oversight of the Department and its functions.”
In August of this year, Sen Grassley requested information about OIG’s organizational structure, employment statistics, budget requests, documents regarding human-resources challenges, and information about recent corrective action and steps taken to improve the problems. These requests were based on concerns raised by almost two dozen whistleblowers and a recent government-conducted survey which showed that the OIG had some of the lowest levels of employee satisfaction in the federal government and indicated a consistent, year-over-year decline the past several years. Additionally, the OIG’s most-recent semiannual reports to Congress have shown declining levels of productivity.
In their letter this week, the chairmen push for more fulsome responses to questions and document-requests. They also seek a staff briefing directly from the inspector general’s office by December 13.
Full text of the letter from Chairmen Grassley, Wicker, and Johnson follows or can be found HERE.
