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A new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report claims the 2019 relocation of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) headquarters out West undermined the agency. “BLM lacks reasonable assurance the agency will have the workforce necessary to achieve its goals in managing millions of acres of public lands,” their report concluded. Predictably, media outlets like the Washington Post suggested the Trump-era policy was rooted in racism. In September, Biden’s Interior Department announced it would transfer most operations back to the nation’s capital—despite opposition from Western governors and local stakeholders. Why was BLM HQ originally moved out West, and was the decision rooted...

Government legislative titles often sound fantastic; certainly, there is a branding guru in charge of naming potential legislation something that appeals to the masses. But the titles don't always fairly describe the legislation they are attached to. To translate these grand sounding legislative titles into normal English, you must employ a healthy dose of skepticism and be able to translate Orwellian doublespeak into everyday language. To do that, all of us should bring some skepticism to the table. Skeptics begin by questioning those who put forth any given argument or idea and think about what may be in it for...

As one of his first acts as president, Joe Biden stopped border wall construction and froze the billions Congress allocated for that purpose. Now, according to Politico, Biden is “under investigation” by the Government Accountability Office to “determine whether the new president broke the law by freezing the money in violation of budget rules designed to keep Congress in control of the cash flow.”Biden under investigation for border wall cash freeze https://t.co/PRDDxXqTIS— POLITICO Pro (@POLITICOPro) March 23, 2021In a letter to the GAO last week, dozens of Republican senators said that “operational control of our southern border was compromised and...

Democrat President Joe Biden is reportedly “under investigation” for halting billions of dollars in payments that were set to go out to companies that were tasked with finishing President Donald Trump’s southern border wall. “Now the Government Accountability Office is launching a review to determine whether the new president broke the law by freezing the money in violation of budget rules designed to keep Congress in control of the cash flow,” Politico reported. “The probe highlights the challenge presidents have historically faced in fulfilling campaign promises that require money to be spent — or suspended — at odds with Congress’...

GAO has no option other than to find that President Biden’s pause of the border wall funds is unlawful and should issue an opinion stating the Biden administration has broken the law.Last Congress, many Democrats, including Rep. John Yarmuth, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, claimed the Trump administration’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) broke the law when it paused the obligation of funds to Ukraine for 50 days to determine the best use for them. On the very first day of his administration, however, President Biden directed that funding specifically appropriated to build the wall along the...

Conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch obtained 323 pages of emails between former FBI lovebirds Peter Strzok and Lisa Page showing Comey’s FBI was investigating President Trump over his critical tweets of Barack Obama and the FBI. The FBI is purposely slow-rolling its production of emails to Judicial Watch and only processing 500 pages per month in response to a 2017 FOIA lawsuit. Judicial Watch obtained a March 2017 email Peter Strzok sent his boss Bill Priestap and others about probing President Trump’s tweets about being wiretapped by the FBI. Judicial Watch reported:

On Monday the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office of General Counsel (OGC) responded to the baseless legal opinion issued by the Government Accountability Office on Friday. In a detailed, eight-page letter, OGC shows not only that the GAO’s legal reasoning and treatment of the evidence are deeply flawed, but also how the timing and authorship of the opinion both reveal it to be a brazenly partisan product issued by supposed nonpartisan agency. Key Points of the Letter: From its origins to its problematic conclusions, indications of the report’s partisan ends are impossible for any reasonable observer to ignore. Not...

The overwhelming number of coronavirus patients flooding hospitals across the U.S. has resulted in a shortage of ventilators for those experiencing difficulty breathing. But while President Trump has faced criticism from states, like New York, for the short supply, federal agencies have been predicting the need for more ventilators for nearly two decades. Reports from various government offices have been sounding the alarm over the course of at least three successive presidencies dating back to the George W. Bush administration. “GAO found that most hospitals lack the capacity to respond to large-scale infectious disease outbreaks,” concluded the U.S. Government Accountability...

Our country spends over a trillion dollars a year on anti-poverty programs. We address the symptoms, providing food, shelter, health care. But it's time to face the fact that many of these programs are not working. Our poverty rate hasn't changed in half a century. Money does not appear to be the solution. Sure, it helps, and no, we should not just cut the programs to zero. But it's time for us to face the fact that, while we've made living in poverty easier, we have not made it easier for individuals and families to move out of poverty; the...

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said Jan. 16 that President Donald Trump broke the law when he withheld aid from Ukraine. The union for that “independent, nonpartisan” agency naturally supports Democrats. Just don’t expect the media to tell you about it.

Various Democrats are all over the media today saying that the fact that the GAO found that Trump acted illegally re spending appropriated funds means he should be tossed out of office. Does this mean that Obama, whom the GAO found illegally defied Congress in ordering the Defense Department to send five Guantanomo prisoners to Qatar in defiance of duly-enacted legislation prohibited Obama from expending any funds on such action, should have been removed from office as well? If you can find me a Democratic House member or Senator who denounced Obama for that move, I’ll concede that he is...

The Constitution allocates to the president sole authority over foreign policy (short of declaring war or signing a treaty). It does not permit Congress to substitute its foreign policy preferences for those of the president. To the extent that the statute at issue constrains the power of the president to conduct foreign policy, it is unconstitutional. Even if the GAO were correct in its legal conclusion — which it is not — the alleged violation would be neither a crime nor an impeachable offense. It would be a civil violation subject to a civil remedy, as were the numerous violations...

Because the Ukraine appropriation was rescinded by Congress -- legally what happened earlier is largely moot. This undermines the accusations n the impeachment hoax, Democrats are illegally using taxpayer funds to manipulate the 2020 election. We are watching a Democrat Party campaign event set in the U.S. Capitol. This is the best version of a Trump rally Democrats can manage. Yet it requires a scramble to handle the latest surprises. I hate last-minute “bombshells” because the timing deprives the accused of the time and ability to properly respond. Springing last-minute surprises is fundamentally unfair. On January 16, 2020, just as...

Democrats and journalists were excited Thursday when the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a legal opinion that the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) had violated the Impoundment Control Act by withholding congressionally appropriated aid to Ukraine last summer. The non-binding opinion was disputed by the OMB, which released a memo last month arguing that the “programmatic” delay sought to fulfill, not oppose, congressional intent. The GAO decision, which had been requested by Democrat Senator Chris van Hollen of Maryland, disagreed, concluding that the delay had been for “policy reasons,” not “programmatic delay.” Speaker of the House Nancy...

The House impeachment hearings ended a month ago, but congressional Democrats aren’t done inviting bureaucrats to share their negative opinions of President Donald Trump. Now it’s the turn of the Government Accountability Office. Traditionally GAO does its best to serve its congressional bosses. This is not a swipe at these particular swamp dwellers. Yes, the current head of GAO was nominated by President Barack Obama after a congressional commission presented a list of candidates. But the Supreme Court has explicitly found that GAO is subservient to the legislative branch. The 1986 decision is called Bowsher v. Synar. GAO staff try...

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a legal opinion on Thursday saying that President Trump's administration broke the law by withholding defense aid to Ukraine — the issue at the heart of the president's impeachment trial. That money, $214 million which had been allocated to the Department of Defense for security assistance, was appropriated by Congress and therefore the administration did not have the right to hold it back just because it disagreed with its allocation, the opinion from the nonpartisan government watchdog said. "Faithful execution of the law does not permit the President to substitute his own policy priorities...

The Trump administration violated the law by withholding appropriated security assistance to Ukraine, the Government Accountability Office said Thursday in a report. The independent watchdog said the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) withheld the appropriated funds last summer. The report said U.S. law “does not permit the president to substitute his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law.” “Therefore, we conclude that OMB violated the [Impound Control Act],” GAO said. The withholding of the aid is central to the ongoing impeachment proceedings against President Trump. --This breaking news report will be updated.

The Trump administration’s decision to freeze the release of security assistance to Ukraine last year violated federal law, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report Thursday. The independent watchdog said the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) withheld the appropriated funds last summer, not as a programmatic delay but in order to advance the president’s own agenda. Doing so, the watchdog concluded, violates the Impoundment Control Act, a law that governs Congress's role in the federal budget process. “Faithful execution of the law does not permit the President to substitute his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted...

Multiple government agencies are relying on a security measure that can be easily bypassed thanks to massive breaches like the Equifax hack, the US Government Accountability Office has found. In a report released Friday, the government watchdog group found that the US Postal Service, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Social Security Administration and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have still been using "Knowledge-Based Verification" to make sure people who apply for benefits online are authentic. This verification method asked applicants questions like their date of birth, Social Security numbers and addresses, assuming that only the applicant would...

A government watchdog says the FBI is ignoring its concerns about the accuracy of facial recognition technology, as well as issues regarding citizens’ Fourth Amendment privacy rights. NextGov reports that the bureau still hasn’t assessed whether its facial recognition technology has met accuracy and privacy standards fully three years after the Government Accountability Office raised a number of concerns regarding its use. The site noted: Since 2015, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies have used the Next Generation Identification-Interstate Photo System, which uses facial recognition software to link potential suspects to crimes, pulling from a database of more than...