During a House Homeland Security Committee hearing on Tuesday, Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-MI) spoke about DOGE's 'sledgehammer' approach to reducing the number of public servants.
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NewsTranscript
00:00I recognize Mr. Thanedar. You are recognized. Thank you, Chair, and thank you to our guests
00:09here. The Inspector Generals play a crucial role in combating waste, fraud, and abuse
00:18and promoting efficiency and effectiveness in government programs and operations. However,
00:26they must adhere to integrity, objectivity, and independent standards. Previously, GAO found
00:35that a lack of transparency in DHS OIG's selection of work topics called into question
00:43the independence of the organization. What changes, this is a question for Ms. Bernard and
00:51Ms. Lange, what changes has the OIG made to ensure transparency when selecting work proposals
00:59and how does the agency ensure it is targeting the highest risk areas at DHS?
01:10Thank you so much for the question and thank you for recognizing the importance of Inspectors
01:14General. At DHS OIG, that is very important for us. We always want to make sure we're allocating
01:23our resources very wisely, especially recognizing we are overseeing a department with 22 components,
01:31over 260,000 employees worldwide. It's very important that we allocate our resources to
01:38address the highest risk. I am really proud of our risk-based approach to make sure we are
01:45helping DHS accomplish its most critical mission areas and its most critical challenges.
01:53So we do have a recurring and repeatable framework for that. It encourages staff to consider
02:02project ideas from multiple sources, internally and externally.
02:07Okay. My question here also is, will you commit that the OIG's audits,
02:13evaluations, and investigations of the Trump administration will meet integrity,
02:20objectivity, and independence standards and help ensure DHS operates within the law?
02:28Yes, I can assure you we will continue conducting our oversight work in accordance with our
02:34statutory authority. We will remain independent and objective and will continue to follow our
02:41auditing standards. Our work continues unabated as we currently are still working under our
02:48Inspector General, Dr. Khafari. Thank you. My question to Mr. Curry is,
02:54for over 100 years, GAO has played a crucial role in enhancing the effectiveness of government
03:02programs and ensuring taxpayer money is well spent. Over the past 20 years, GAO work has
03:08resulted in about $1.45 trillion in financial benefits and over 30,000 programs and operational
03:17benefits. Through its high-risk list, GAO focused attention on the most significant challenges
03:26facing the government. One such challenge is human capital, including skills shortage,
03:32a challenge DOJ does not seem to appreciate as it purges civil servants. What are the consequences
03:42of reducing the federal workforce using a sledgehammer rather than a scalpel?
03:49Well, you're correct. Many of the high-risk areas, and there's over 30 of them across all
03:55of the federal government that we've identified, are on the list because of some sort of staffing
04:00or capacity challenge. That means that either they don't have the right number of people to
04:05perform the mission or they don't have the right skills. So, typically, what you do is you figure
04:11out what you want the government or the agencies to do and how you want them to do it, and then
04:15you figure out what sort of staff you need to do it. So, obviously, it's going to have some
04:20implications, but, you know, we don't know yet what exactly those will be.
04:24Thank you, and Ms. Lange, I didn't give you any time to respond, so if you want to take
04:2830 seconds, if you like. No, thank you. I think my colleague covered everything.
04:34All right. Thank you, Chair, and I yield back.