The Senate is scheduled to hold a hearing next week on President Donald Trump still-secret nominee to run the Government Accountability Office as Democrats accuse Republicans of colluding to install a Trump ally.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is slated to hear testimony from a slew of Trump nominees Thursday morning, including “a nominee to be comptroller general.” The president has yet to nominate anyone to that post, however, and a bipartisan panel of 10 lawmakers is supposed to first recommend a list of candidates to the White House for consideration.
Top Democrats divulged Wednesday night that they were given less than 24 hours to submit suggestions, accusing Republicans of running a “sham” process to help Trump put “a fox in the henhouse” at the agency charged with aiding and protecting Congress’ authority to push back against overstep by the executive branch.
The role of comptroller general has taken on new significance during Trump’s second term, as the president continues to shirk Congress’ funding directive after the Supreme Court suggested last year that the watchdog may be the only entity with standing to sue the Trump administration under decades-old impoundment law.
