Letter to President Obama, McCaskill Urges President to Fill Watchdog Positions at Six Federal Agencies

Letter

Senator seeks quick appointment for Inspector General positions investigating government misconduct, several of which have been unfilled for years

U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill joined a bipartisan coalition of Senators urging President Obama to quickly nominate candidates to fill vacant Inspector General positions at six major federal agencies, including the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security.

"These positions are the eyes and ears of taxpayers, investigating waste and misconduct within the federal government and several of them haven't been filled in years-that's not healthy for the agencies in question, and it's certainly not healthy for American taxpayers," said McCaskill, Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight. "We're lucky that good people within these agencies have filled these spots on an interim basis-but it's not a long-term solution. We need to get nominees from the President, get them confirmed, and get them into their jobs."

The letter urges the President to fill six Inspector General positions, five of which are at Cabinet-level agencies-the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Interior, Labor, and State. The sixth vacancy is at the Agency for International Development.

"The investigations and reports of these Inspectors General help the government save money, promote transparency and combat wrongdoing...we urge you to quickly appoint qualified, experienced individuals to fill these vacancies," the letter to President Obama reads.

In 2011 McCaskill joined a bipartisan group that included Republican Senators Rob Portman and Susan Collins urging President Obama to fill nine vacant Inspector General positions.

Last year, McCaskill used a Senate hearing to call for filling those positions, saying "We do not have SIGAR, we do not have DOD, we do not have State, we do not have AID, in terms of an appointed and confirmed Inspector General... And there is a long list of qualified people to hold these jobs... And I do not understand why this is taking so long. If you look at the world of Inspectors General, and the money that's being spent-how these positions can go vacant for this period of time is beyond me. And I'm hoping that the White House gets busy."

The link to the letter is below.
http://mccaskill.senate.gov/LetterPOTUSIGVacancies.pdf