Inspectors general are the only officers of their kind in the executive branch that report both to the agency head and to Congress. While each measure is critical to the overall independence of inspectors general, 6 the last one deserves additional attention due to its novelty.

1 It is important to ensure that the federal government is responsibly and faithfully executing the programs created by Congress and funded by the public, and the 95th Congress believed that the agencies had “clearly failed to make sufficient and effective efforts to prevent and detect fraud, abuse, waste and mismanagement in Federal programs and expenditures.” This failure was, in part, because of a “natural tendency for an agency administrator to be protective of the programs that he administers.” 2 Before the law’s enactment, these efforts fell to the agencies themselves, and were often under-resourced and low priority. The resulting offices are charged with detecting and preventing waste, fraud, and abuse, and with promoting economy, efficiency, and effectiveness in their respective agencies’ operations. We champion reforms to achieve a more effective, ethical, and accountable federal government that safeguards constitutional principles.Ĭongress enacted the Inspector General Act of 1978 to create a system of overseers who work within-but independent of-federal agencies. POGO is a nonpartisan independent watchdog that investigates and exposes waste, corruption, abuse of power, and when the government fails to serve the public or silences those who report wrongdoing.

I am Liz Hempowicz, director of public policy at the Project On Government Oversight (POGO). Chairman Connolly, Ranking Member Hice, and members of the subcommittee, thank you for inviting me to testify today about inspectors general.

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