Trump Objects to Pandemic Spending Oversight, But Congress and IGs Still Have Authority

When President Trump signed the CARES Act, he signaled in a signing statement that he would not enforce some of the oversight provisions in the $2.2 trillion relief and economic stimulus package, included in the bill at the insistence of Democratic leadership. Lawmakers had called for the creation of an independent Pandemic Response Accountability Committee to ensure taxpayer dollars are not misspent, as well as a new position of Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery to oversee loans and investments made by the Treasury Secretary, and the White House objected to both provisions in the signing statement. However, it is not clear the statement will have any practical effect on oversight. “Signing statements by themselves do not really do anything …They do not invalidate the law and they do not violate the law,” said one expert.