Staffers inside Congress’ most powerful watchdog are sounding the alarm as President Donald Trump weighs who should run their agency.
Trump is considering nominating Eric Ueland, the top deputy to Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought, to lead the Government Accountability Office as comptroller general, a post that carries a 15-year term, the Washington Sun reported Thursday, citing four people familiar with the discussions.
The pick would put an architect of the Trump administration’s spending and workforce moves in charge of the agency that has repeatedly ruled some of those moves illegal. As OMB’s number two, Ueland has overseen sweeping changes to the federal workforce, and he also serves as acting head of the Office of Government Ethics and largely dismantled U.S. Agency for International Development.
If confirmed, Ueland would effectively be ruling on the legality of work he helped carry out. Neither Ueland nor OMB commented for the Sun.
The timing is fraught. The watchdog is already struggling to pry loose documents and interviews from agencies, particularly on requests from Democratic lawmakers.
“Our agency access issues are worse than ever,” one GAO employee told the Sun.
Lawmakers in both parties have also grown frustrated that GAO, currently run by career staffers in acting roles, hasn’t used its authority to sue over impoundments, which the agency itself called unlawful. Just last week, it found the Trump administration’s $800 million in “pocket rescissions” broke spending law.
“There’s been more and more interest in going about the legal route,” a Senate Republican aide told the Sun. “Appropriators have protected GAO’s funding and are wondering why this isn’t happening.”
Former Comptroller General Dave Walker, who sued then-Vice President Dick Cheney’s office for records during his tenure, said interim leaders face limits. “When you’re acting, it’s not the same as being a confirmed comptroller general,” he said.
Inside the agency, analysts have little faith in GAO’s lawyers. “Without a smoking gun handed to them, they are relying on agencies to tattle on themselves,” a GAO employee said, adding that leadership avoids flexing its authority for fear of losing in court.
Installing a White House official could end any lawsuit threat outright. Vought has previously suggested GAO shouldn’t exist and last year told agencies not to be overly deferential to it.
Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, urged Republicans last week to help curb pocket rescissions, adding, “I am not holding my breath.”
The bipartisan congressional commission tasked with recommending at least three candidates still hasn’t met, nine months after former Comptroller General Gene Dodaro’s term expired. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who would lead the panel, did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment.
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