During a House Financial Services Committee hearing prior to the congressional recess, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) questioned Stephen Begg, the Acting Inspector General of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, about the Department of Government Efficiency’s role at HUD.
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00:00I now call on the ranking member of the full committee, Ms. Waters, for five minutes of questions.
00:09Thank you very much. I'm going to quickly try and get a couple of questions in.
00:14Could you tell me how did DOGE come into HUD?
00:21Did they come in with employees? Did they have a previous meeting?
00:25Did they have analysis of what was going on with HUD?
00:28Who did they talk to? And how did they get the records quickly?
00:34Thank you for the question, ma'am.
00:35It's my understanding that the HUD DOGE lead and DOGE team members have met with many program offices, possibly all of them, in terms of how they've obtained access.
00:50I don't know how those determinations have been made, but I understand that they are working closely with program staff across the department
00:58How many program offices are you talking about?
01:01I can't say definitively, but it's my understanding that they're working with all program offices.
01:07And when did that start? Before or after the inauguration?
01:12I can't say for certain.
01:14You don't know?
01:14I do not know the specific date.
01:16What and how did they access to records?
01:20It's my understanding that the HUD DOGE team personnel have been assigned to be employees of HUD.
01:26And so they can be granted access to HUD systems like any other HUD.
01:31Who granted access?
01:33I don't know specifically who granted access.
01:35Was there some authorization by HUD personnel for them to do what they were doing?
01:40There would have to be an authorization from the system owners at HUD to grant access.
01:45Did this authorization take place?
01:49I believe so.
01:50But do you know so?
01:51I don't know specifically when it occurred or who authorized it.
01:55Okay, all right. So we don't know how they operate because it says we understand they've been delegated
02:04authorities by HUD personnel to illegally withhold and claw back housing funds appropriated by Congress.
02:11Do you know about that?
02:15I'm sorry. Could you repeat that question?
02:19According to court documents, the Trump administration claims that DOGE had been delegated
02:24authorities by HUD personnel to illegally withhold and claw back housing funds appropriated by Congress.
02:33Do you know about that?
02:34With respect to the delegations, that sounds consistent with my answer before.
02:38That would make sense that HUD personnel would authorize DOGE personnel.
02:42It would make sense. Was it done?
02:45I'm sorry?
02:45Was there authorization by something, somebody, some people?
02:49That would be the process by which.
02:51I beg your pardon?
02:52The process by which DOGE personnel would get access to a system would come from a delegation.
02:56What is the process, for example?
02:58Would they talk with the existing CEO of HUD, the second in charge, the third in charge?
03:10How does that work?
03:10I can't say specifically who gave the authorizations.
03:14The delegations would flow down from the secretary to senior officials at HUD.
03:18Since you have been named, have you investigated what authorizations each DOGE staffer has been granted?
03:26And who granted the authorizations?
03:28We have not reviewed that.
03:30And whether those grants of authority adhered to federal law?
03:34Have you examined that?
03:35We have not.
03:41The lack of oversight of those actions and process is deeply concerning and inherently inefficient.
03:49So based on what you have learned since you've been there in a short period of time,
03:54are you concerned at all about the funding process and whether or not those who are eligible
04:01for funding the programs all over the country are being undermined in some way?
04:06We're absolutely monitoring the situation.
04:08It's currently in litigation.
04:10We're tracking the situation.
04:11We communicate with HUD leadership about it regularly.
04:14We're monitoring the situation for sure.
04:16What do you plan on doing now in your job?
04:21Well, what we focus on right now as decisions are being made is communicating regularly with HUD
04:26leadership, career and political staff about the need to maintain capacity across the department.
04:32I mentioned in my opening statement, capacity has been a struggle for a long time and
04:36any adjustments to the programs and the staff should-
04:39You've served as deputy for a long time or something?
04:44Since 2020.
04:46Did Elon Musk come and talk to you?
04:50I have not spoken to Mr. Musk.
04:52Did he come to HUD?
04:55I have, I can't say for sure.
04:56I have not seen him in the building.
04:58Who did he delegate to talk to you?
05:00There's a HUD-DOGE team lead.
05:03I yield back.