United States:
COVID-19: Weekly Oversight And Enforcement Report—Week Of June 18, 2020
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A. Congress |
- The House Select Subcommittee on the
Coronavirus Crisis
launched an investigation into the disbursement of PPP funds by
sending letters to the Treasury Department, SBA, and eight
financial institutions. The letters were signed by the
Subcommittee's seven Democratic members, with no Republicans
joining. The Subcommittee is investigating "whether
implementation of the [PPP] has favored large, well-funded
companies over struggling small businesses in underserved
communities—contrary to Congress' clear
intent."
- The Select Subcommittee also sent
letters to CMS and the nation's five largest for-profit
nursing home companies seeking information on the Trump
Administration's enforcement of health and safety regulations
during the crisis, data collection, and provision of life-saving
supplies.
- House Ways & Means Chairman
Richard Neal (D-MA), Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine
Waters (D-CA), and Small Business Committee Chairwoman Nydia
Velazquez (D-NY) sent a
letter to Treasury Secretary Mnuchin and SBA Administrator
Jovita Carranza requesting the names of all recipients of PPP
loans, the dollar amount of all loans received, and the names of
all applicants that did not receive PPP loans.
- Following a
letter from House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Richard
Neal (D-MA) and Energy & Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone (D-NJ)
to CMS Administrator Seema Verma calling on the agency to stop
nursing facilities from seizing residents' stimulus payments,
CMS issued
guidelines clarifying that nursing homes and assisted living
facilities cannot force residents to hand over their payments. The
IRS also
issued an alert to nursing homes and assisted living facilities
clarifying that "payments are intended for the
recipients."
- Chairman Pallone (D-NJ),
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio
(D-OR), and Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior and
Environment Chairwoman Betty McCollum (D-MN) sent a
letter to EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler demanding answers
for the Agency's relaxation of its enforcement policy during
the pandemic.
- Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA),
Chris Coons (D-DE), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and
Representatives Pramiya Jayapal (D-WA) and John Sarbanes (D-MD)
introduced the
Coronavirus
Oversight and Recovery Ethics (CORE) Act, which aims to ensure
stronger oversight, accountability, and transparency in the federal
government's response to the COVID-19 crisis. Among other
things, the bill would provide the Congressional Oversight
Commission with subpoena power and include certain protections for
inspectors general.
- Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) and
Representatives Jackie Speier (D-CA) and Jamie Raskin (DMD)
introduced the
COVID-19 Whistleblower Protection Act, legislation meant to
ensure whistleblower protections for people who expose misuse of
government funds that are intended to combat the COVID-19
pandemic.
- Senate Finance Committee Chairman
Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) sent a
letter to HHS Secretary Azar asking him to create a
comprehensive public database of $210 billion in funds distributed
from the CARES Act to health care providers in the effort to fight
the COVID-19 pandemic.
- . Senate Republicans are drafting
legislation that would extend broad liability protections to
employers, allowing them to be shielded from lawsuits if their
customers or workers contract coronavirus. The proposal will
reportedly allow employers to choose which governmental safety
guidelines to follow.
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B. Executive Agencies |
- On June 11, the D.C. Circuit
rejected the AFL-CIO's request to compel OSHA to issue an
emergency temporary standard to protect workers from COVID-19. The
court stated that OSHA's decision not to issue an ETS was
entitled to considerable deference, and that it was reasonable.
Subsequently, other unions jointly
filed a petition seeking an order from the court to force the
federal Mine Safety and Health Administration to issue an
ETS.
- DOJ
charged a Vancouver man for securities fraud and conspiracy to
commit securities fraud in connection with a coronavirus-linked
stock scheme. He is charged with illegally dumping shares after
increasing demand through false and misleading stock promotional
activities, including by claiming that the company could produce
face masks of medical quality.
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C. State Attorneys General |
- A bipartisan coalition of 38 state
AGs wrote
a letter to Apple and Google expressing "strong concerns
regarding the proliferation of contact tracing apps," which
the AGs claim "do not sufficiently protect consumers'
personal information." The AGs asked the companies to verify
that all contact tracing apps on their platform are affiliated with
a public health authority, or a healthcare institution working with
such an authority, and to pledge to remove these apps "once
the COVID19 national emergency ends."
- Continuing an investigation
originally launched in April, the Office of New York AG Letitia
James has
interviewed Amazon workers concerning claims of employee
retaliation after the workers publicly complained about the
company's coronavirus-related worker safety practices.
- A federal judge
granted Washington AG Bob Ferguson's application for a
preliminary injunction against the Department of Education, which
sought to restrict the CARES Act's Higher Education Emergency
Relief Fund student grants to only those students eligible for
federal financial aid, thereby excluding students without a high
school degree and students who have Deferred Action for Childhood
Arrival (DACA) status, among others.
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D. Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery (SIGPR) |
- On June 15, Senator Sherrod Brown
(D-OH) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY)
wrote to Brian Miller, asking for his commitment to
independence, particularly in the face of President Trump's
dismissal of several inspectors general.
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E. Pandemic Recovery Accountability Committee (PRAC) |
- Acting PRAC Chair Michael Horowitz
announced the release of PRAC's first report. The report
identifies four common areas of concern: (1) financial management
of CARES Act and other funds; (2) grant and guaranteed loan
management; (3) information technology security and management; and
(4) protecting health and safety. The report also contains
individual summaries from 37 IG offices identifying the top
pandemic-related challenges for the agencies they oversee.
- PRAC's leadership wrote to
congressional leaders with concerns that legal decisions from the
Trump Administration could hinder their oversight efforts under the
CARES Act. The CARES Act split its major programs between two
"divisions" of the law: Division A included most of the
major new relief programs like the PPP and the economic
stabilization program, while Division B authorized government-wide
appropriations for federal agencies involved in coronavirus
response. Treasury Department attorneys recently concluded that the
reporting requirements in the CARES Act only apply to Division B.
"If this interpretation of the CARES Act were correct, it
would raise questions about the PRAC's authority to conduct
oversight of Division A funds," PRAC officials wrote.
"This would present potentially significant transparency and
oversight issues" of over $1 trillion in pandemic-related
funds.
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Originally published 18 June, 2020
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