CARES Act Puts Inspectors General Back in the Spotlight
New York Law Journal, May 11, 2020
CARES Act Puts Inspectors General Back in the Spotlight
Federal Inspectors General—the nation’s watchdogs over government agencies and government programs—are back in the news. First, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, received close attention not only for its $2 trillion infusion of taxpayer dollars into the U.S. economy, but also for its oversight mechanisms. The CARES Act established both a Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery (SIGPR) and a Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC), comprised exclusively of existing IGs. Soon after the Act passed, President Donald Trump put IGs in the headlines again, first by firing Michael Atkinson, the IG for the Intelligence Community, and then by removing Glenn Fine, acting IG of the Defense Department, from his post. Fine had just been appointed to chair the PRAC.
