For supposed proponents of limited government, the current Republican crowd seems to hate independent scrutiny of federal contracts for cases of waste, fraud and abuse. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the recent firing of 60 contracted investigators from the Surveys & Investigations Staff (S&IS) of the House Appropriations Committee. The S&IS has been an active component of the House Appropriations Committee for 63 years, made up of former employees of the FBI, CIA and other federal investigative bodies. The bulk of its work is done covertly, its findings largely classified and rarely published.
On October 16th, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-CA) unilaterally fired the 60 contractors, leaving the unit gutted with only 16 permanent investigators remaining in the unit. (Lewis himself has spent over $50k on lawyers over the course of this past month, as federal investigators continue to look into his history with the Copeland, Lowery, Jacquez, Denton and White lobbying firm and more specifically former disgraced congressman-turned-lobbyist Bill Lowery.)
More of the back story in extended.
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