Rep. Issa Questions Recovery.gov
House Oversight and Government Reform ranking member Darrell Issa thumped the Obama administration's transparency efforts Thursday in a letter to Earl Devaney, chair of the Recovery Act Transparency and Accountability Board. In the letter, he questions OMB guidelines that he believes contradict the president's promise of an "unprecedented oversight effort" of the nearly $800 billion included in the economic stimulus package. On Wednesday, Issa questioned Interim Assistant Secretary for Financial Stability Neel Kashkari about the feasibility of adopting a common reporting format for Troubled Asset Relief Program filings.
"Full transparency requires attention to not just what is posted online, but also how the information is posted. Information about how the taxpayers' money is distributed must be disclosed in a structured, open, and searchable format," Issa wrote in his letter to Devaney. He asked several questions about how Recovery.gov will work. He wondered how data will be disclosed and whether agencies will publish reports there or on their own Web sites. He also asked whether reports from recipients will be sent in a standard format and asked whether there will be disclosure of every transaction between every recipient, contractor, and subcontractor. Read the letter here.
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