House Oversight and Government Reform ranking member Darrell Issa said early Wednesday that he “absolutely” plans to beef up the panel’s use of subpoenas when he becomes chairman as expected in January.
During a conference call shortly after Republicans won control of the House in Tuesday night’s midterm elections, the California Republican said one of his top priorities as leader of the committee will be to make sure all 74 inspector generals in the executive branch have subpoena power to investigate any federal program. Currently, only one has such authority.
“We shouldn’t expect IGs to operate without authority,” Issa said. Having that power means each inspector general will gain “all access” and have “reasonable freedom from being fired” as they conduct their investigations into government fraud, waste and abuse.
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