Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa today met with Rep. Mick Mulvaney, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to serve as director of the Office of Management and Budget. Grassley is a senior member of the Budget Committee, which will consider the nomination. Grassley made the following comment on the meeting.
Office of Management and Budget has a tremendous amount of power over cost savings and other oversight practices throughout the executive branch. Whether OMB carries out the will of Congress and the rule of law on these practices depends on having a director who carries out those duties. Since Rep. Mulvaney comes from the people’s branch of government, it seems to me that he has a sense of what the public expects. People want the most bang for every buck they send to Washington.
“I described specific management and oversight issues I’ve worked on that would help OMB eliminate waste, fraud and abuse. My legislation to cut down on the misuse of government charge cards became law and is having some positive effects, but it’s up to OMB to make sure every agency fulfills the spirit and letter of the law. I described my work to limit abuses in the EB-5 investor visa program and the need for the executive branch to better manage the program. I discussed the continued inability of the Defense Department to get its books in order to earn a clean financial audit, despite pressure to do so. Without accurate and complete financial information, the leadership doesn’t know how the money is being spent and what things cost. How can DoD leaders possibly make good decisions? Bad information leads to bad decisions. I’d like the OMB director to help get the Defense Department’s books back on track. I raised the importance of OMB’s role in reducing the ability of federal grantees to waste money on management fees, which have been used for unallowable costs such as parties, alcohol, and lobbying. I also noted my work to make sure farm payments through the Department of Agriculture return to their original intent of helping small- and medium-sized farmers rather than go to non-farming family members. If this Congress passes common sense payment limit reforms in the next farm bill, the OMB director will play a role in carrying out congressional intent. Rep. Mulvaney listened carefully to everything I described. He generally agreed about the important role OMB plays in reducing the waste of taxpayer dollars and expressed a commitment to use his position, if confirmed, to that effect. I look forward to the rest of the confirmation process.”
