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The Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery (SIGPR) is an Inspector General position created by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act of 2020 to oversee spending of government funds in response to the
On 3 April 2020, President Trump indicated that he would nominate Brian D. Miller to be the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery. At the time, Miller was a special assistant to Trump and senior associate counsel in the
COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
The COVID-19 pandemic in the United States is a part of the COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide pandemic of COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In the Uni ...
. The position was included at the insistence of Congressional Democrats. The SIGPR is nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate.
The position, as specified in Section 4018 of the CARES Act, is authorized to
History
PresidentDonald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
signed the CARES Act into law on 27 March 2020, but immediately noted that several stipulations related oversight would be ignored. The White House highlighted the language authorizing "the SIGPR to request information from other government agencies and requires the SIGPR to report to the Congress 'without delay' any refusal of such a request that 'in the judgment of the Special Inspector General' is unreasonable" and stated that the SIGPR would not be allowed to submit reports to Congress without White House supervision. Critics of the President's stance included Sens. Mitt Romney
Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American politician, businessman, and lawyer serving as the junior United States senator from Utah since January 2019, succeeding Orrin Hatch. He served as the 70th governor of Massachusetts f ...
(R-Utah) and Jon Tester
Raymond Jon Tester (born August 21, 1956) is an American farmer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Montana, a seat he has held since 2007. A member of the Democratic Party, Tester is the dean of Montana's congressio ...
(D-Mont), who wrote a letter to Trump on 3 April urging compliance with oversight requirements.
Brian Miller
On 3 April 2020, President Trump indicated that he would nominate Brian D. Miller to be the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery. At the time, Miller was a special assistant to Trump and senior associate counsel in the Office of White House Counsel
The White House counsel is a senior staff appointee of the president of the United States whose role is to advise the president on all legal issues concerning the president and their administration. The White House counsel also oversees the Of ...
. This raised concerns about his ability to be apolitical; a former assistant U.S. attorney opined, "It’s antithetical to oversight to have someone with a tight connection to the White House. It seems weird to have a White House lawyer play this role." The selection was praised by the Project on Government Oversight
The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) is a Nonpartisanism, nonpartisan non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., Washington, DC, that investigates and works to expose waste, fraud, abuse, and conflicts of interest in the Federal gove ...
, among others, but criticized by Democrats, who noted that Miller, as part of the White House Counsel, defended President Trump during his first impeachment. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer
Charles Ellis Schumer ( ; born November 23, 1950) is an American politician serving as Senate Majority Leader since January 20, 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Schumer is in his fourth Senate term, having held his seat since 1999, and ...
released a statement on April 4 saying that "a member of the president’s own staff is exactly the wrong type of person to choose for this position."
Miller was formally nominated by the Trump administration on 6 April 2020. The U.S. Senate Banking Committee held his confirmation hearing on May 5 and voted on May 12 to advance his nomination to the full Senate. The Senate confirmed him on June 2.
See also
*COVID-19 Congressional Oversight Commission The COVID-19 Congressional Oversight Commission (COC) is an oversight body in the United States created by the CARES Act. They will report to Congress every 30 days on how the Department of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve Board manage the fund ...
* Pandemic Response Accountability Committee
The Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC) is an independent oversight committee within the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, created by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act of 2 ...
* United States House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis
The United States House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis is a bipartisan United States House of Representatives select subcommittee that Speaker Nancy Pelosi has announced will be created to provide congressional oversight of the Tr ...
References
External links
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery U.S. federal government response to the COVID-19 pandemic Law associated with the COVID-19 pandemic in the United StatesPandemic
A pandemic () is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. A widespread endemic (epidemiology), endemic disease wi ...
Executive branch of the government of the United States