With no leader, commission overseeing virus relief struggles
Source: Associated Press
With no leader, commission overseeing virus relief struggles
By MATTHEW DALY
May 17, 2020
WASHINGTON (AP) Seven weeks after Congress unleashed more than $2 trillion to deal with the coronavirus crisis, an oversight commission intended to keep track of how the money is spent remains without a leader.
Four of the five members of the Congressional Oversight Commission have been appointed, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., have not agreed on a chair, leaving the commission rudderless as the federal government pumps unprecedented sums into the economy.
Without a leader, the panels remaining members can still do some oversight work, but cannot hire staff or set up office space. The four members have not met as a group since the economic rescue law was passed by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump in late March.
If the commission is not functioning which it is not then there is no oversight on a huge part of the economic rescue law, said John Coates, a professor of law and economics at Harvard Law School.
So far, its a non-oversight, oversight commission,? added Kimberly Wehle, a visiting professor at American University Law School. Lawmakers trying to oversee the spending law are surging down the rapids without a raft,? she said.
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Read more: https://apnews.com/cf71cabc251a81117f6fef5d5dfd846b