Senate Approves Watchdog To Oversee Bailout Funds Despite Dems’ Concerns About White House Ties
Brian Miller, the White House lawyer tapped to oversee the Treasury Department’s $500 billion fund, said he will not be influenced by political pressure.
The New York Times:
Senate Confirms Inspector General To Oversee Virus Bailout Funds
A divided Senate voted on Tuesday to confirm Brian D. Miller, a White House lawyer, to be the inspector general in charge of overseeing the Treasury Department’s $500 billion pandemic recovery fund. The confirmation, approved 51 to 40, almost entirely along party lines, puts Mr. Miller at the center of the politically charged effort to distribute government money to businesses that have been crippled by the coronavirus pandemic and comes at a time when President Trump’s management of the bailout is under intense scrutiny. (Rappeport, 6/2)
Politico:
Divided Senate Confirms Former Trump Counsel As Relief Watchdog
Miller worked for nearly a decade as the inspector general of the General Services Administration, overseeing major waste, fraud and abuse cases. But he more recently served in Trump's White House counsel office. Democrats were skeptical of whether he would act independently of Trump and his administration, after the president had removed other inspectors general and indicated he could limit information that federal watchdogs share with Congress. In his confirmation hearing last month, Miller pledged that he would not seek Trump's approval before reporting to lawmakers. (Warmbrodt, 6/2)
CBS News:
Brian Miller Confirmed As Pandemic Special Inspector General In Partisan Vote
Miller's independence has been questioned by Democrats, given his most recent job in the White House counsel's office. "As an IG nominee with personal ties to the White House Counsel's Office and an administration outwardly hostile to anyone who tries to hold the president accountable, Mr. Miller failed in committee to explain, or in the letters afterwards, how he will establish his independence from his current boss," Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown said of Miller during his confirmation consideration. (Watson, 6/2)
Roll Call:
Senate Confirms Miller To Be Pandemic Inspector General
During the hearing, Miller pledged to report any political pressure to drop audits or investigations to Congress. When Trump signed a March relief package into law, he issued a signing statement calling a provision requiring the special inspector general to inform Congress if the administration withheld any information unconstitutional. The special inspector general for pandemic recovery is just one of a handful of new accountability bodies established by Congress to oversee the roughly $3.5 trillion in money it has thrown at stopping COVID-19 and the economic carnage it is inflicting. (Saksa, 6/2)
Meanwhile —
ProPublica:
This Treasury Official Is Running The Bailout. It’s Been Great For His Family.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have become the public faces of the $3 trillion federal coronavirus bailout. Behind the scenes, however, the Treasury’s responsibilities have fallen largely to the 42-year-old deputy secretary, Justin Muzinich. A major beneficiary of that bailout so far: Muzinich & Co., the asset manager founded by his father where Justin served as president before joining the administration. He reported owning a stake worth at least $60 million when he entered government in 2017. (Elliott, DePillis and Faturechi, 6/2)
