Prominent House and Senate Democrats over the weekend tore into the Trump administration’s surprise dismissal of at least 16 inspectors general (IGs) at major Federal agencies late on Friday and said those moves run contrary to the law – at least in the short term.

According to reporting from the Washington Post on Jan. 26, pink slips went out to Senate-confirmed IGs at agencies including: the Defense Department, State Department, Transportation Department, Labor Department, Health and Human Services Department, Veterans Affairs Department, Housing and Urban Development Department, Interior Department, Energy Department, Commerce Department, Treasury Department, Agriculture Department, Environmental Protection Agency, Small  Business Administration, and Social Security Administration.

Federal agency IGs, according to the Inspector General Act approved by Congress in 1978, have the mission of detecting and preventing fraud, waste, and abuse in agency programs, and to promote economy, efficiency, and effectiveness in agency programs and operations.

In practice, agency IGs publicly release reams of reports on their findings, and notably for Fed tech watchers, these regularly include results of investigations into how agencies are buying and deploying IT and other tech systems.

According to the Oversight.gov website, around half of the 74 Federal IGs are appointed by the president and are subject to Senate confirmation.

In 2022, Congress voted to approve amendments to the 1978 law to require a president to give Congress 30-day notice before removing an agency IG, and to provide “substantive rationale, including detailed and case-specific reasons” for those removals.

In remarks to the White House press pool on Jan. 25, President Donald Trump brushed off the firings and called them “a very common thing to do.” He also said he had not fired Justice Department IG Michael Horowitz, who the president credited with a “well done” IG report in 2017 regarding former FBI Director James Comey, who was fired by President Trump.

“I don’t know them, but some people thought that some were unfair or some were not doing the job,” President Trump said of the fired IGs, adding, “it’s a very standard thing to do, very much like the U.S. attorneys.” He promised that their replacements “will be very good.”

The mass firings, and the apparent lack of the required 30-day notice and explanation to Congress, sparked outrage among some Democratic lawmakers.

“Trump’s Friday night coup to overthrow legally protected independent inspectors general is an attack on transparency and accountability, essential ingredients in our democratic form of government,” said Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., ranking member of the House Oversight and Reform Committee.

“Replacing independent inspectors general with political hacks will harm every American who relies on social security, veterans benefits, and a fair hearing at IRS on refunds and audits,” Rep. Connolly said.

“Donald Trump’s decision to fire 12 of the Federal government’s independent watchdogs is a glaring sign that it’s a Golden Age for corruption and abuse in government,” said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, D.-N.Y. in a social media post on Jan. 25

“It’s a purge of independent watchdogs in the middle of the night,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., in a social media post. “President Trump is dismantling checks on his power and paving the way for widespread corruption.”

Hannibal “Mike” Ware, who is IG at the Small Business Administration and head of the government’s Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, issued a statement on Jan. 25 defending the nonpartisan work of agency IGs, and also saying that the law must be followed to replace them.

“IGs are not immune from removal,” Ware said. “However, the law must be followed to protect independent government oversight for America.”

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John Curran
John Curran
John Curran is MeriTalk's Managing Editor covering the intersection of government and technology.
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