{"id":386,"date":"2026-06-11T21:39:57","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T21:39:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=386"},"modified":"2026-06-11T21:39:57","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T21:39:57","slug":"the-trump-administration-keeps-ghosting-its-congressional-watchdog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=386","title":{"rendered":"The Trump Administration Keeps Ghosting Its Congressional Watchdog"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A growing number of federal agencies are either refusing to provide the Government Accountability Office access to information or ignoring the congressional watchdog altogether.<\/p>\n

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Agencies have been stonewalling the GAO ever since President Donald Trump returned to office, to the point that GAO leadership told employees at a staff meeting in May that they\u2019ve encountered \u201csignificant access issues\u201d during the last year and a half, according to two sources familiar with the event and confirmed by GAO. Officials at that meetingcited the Office of Management and Budget, Housing and Urban Development, the Commerce Department, the Education Department and the Small Business Administration as particularly noncooperative.<\/p>\n

None of those executive agencies responded to detailed questions this week about whether they are purposefully hindering oversight or the nature of their interactions with the legislative agency whose mission is to monitor government operations and identify waste, fraud and abuse.<\/p>\n

During the May meeting, GAO general counsel Edda Emmanuelli Perez told employees \u201cthere have been some outright denials,\u201d sometimes from federal agencies who claim GAO lacks authority because the request came from a ranking member \u2014 which at the moment, means Democrats. In some cases, the office has been denied records and data it had received without any issues in the past.<\/p>\n

In an interview last week, she told NOTUS that while the agency was encountering \u201caccess issues,\u201d it was \u201cworking them through.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no surprise that the OMB is on the short list of federal agencies refusing to cooperate with the GAO. Russell Vought, OMB\u2019s director, has made it his mission to expand presidential power over government agencies. OMB sent a particularly harsh letter to the GAO \u2014 and \u2014 when the watchdog agency started to investigate whether the Trump administration was abiding by the 1974 Impoundment Control Act in its rush to dismantle USAID. Mark Paoletta, the government-gutting<\/u><\/span> lawyer Trump once deemed a \u201cconservative warrior<\/u><\/span>\u201d who was then serving as OMB\u2019s general counsel, chided the GAO\u2019s requests as \u201cvoluminous, burdensome, and inappropriately invasive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paoletta went on to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, where he sent another bellicose letter to the GAO when auditors explored whether CFPB could legitimately fulfill its legally mandated function as the Trump administration fired scores of its workforce. Paoletta railed against what he called GAO\u2019s \u201carbitrary deadlines\u201d and derided the group\u2019s work as nothing more than an \u201cincomplete\u201d exercise \u201cinitiated at the behest of hyper-partisan Democrat members.\u201d<\/p>\n

The GAO into CFPB had been requested by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the ranking member on the Senate banking committee, House Financial Services Committee Chair Maxine Waters and three other Democrats. In that study, GAO analysts described how the agency\u2019s refusal to cooperate during much of 2025 forced them to look for answers by scouring public court filings in a CFPB lawsuit, Federal Register notices and even press releases \u2014 meaning it had about as much access to information as the average person with a computer.<\/p>\n

\u201cStonewalling a nonpartisan congressional watchdog is another way that President Trump is trying to keep Congress and the American public in the dark about how his policies are hurting American families,\u201d Warren said in a statement to NOTUS. \u201cCongress should start sending subpoenas if the Trump administration won\u2019t cooperate with legitimate oversight.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other instances, agencies have not responded to GAO\u2019s emailed questions or even acknowledged that an audit is taking place. At the staff meeting last month, GAO leadership told analysts and directors who conduct those probes to consider accommodating reluctant federal agencies \u2014 for example, by narrowing requests \u2014 but to keep track of deadlines so that if agencies fail to respond, they can loop in supervisors or even members of Congress to apply pressure to those agencies. One GAO source pointed to an executive branch agency closely controlled by the Trump White House that has not participated at all in an ongoing audit that began last year \u2014 denying analysts even basic interviews to explain certain government operations under review.<\/p>\n

And analysts are frustrated that longer delays make every \u201cengagement,\u201d as they\u2019re referred to by the GAO, more expensive.<\/p>\n

Liz Hempowicz, the deputy executive director of the government accountability nonprofit American Oversight, said she hadn\u2019t heard that federal agencies were pushing back on GAO audits on partisan grounds, but she called the pushback \u201calarming.\u201d She ascribed it to Republicans uniformly falling in line behind Trump on most issues, leading to tepid congressional oversight.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth GAO and these agencies are entities of the government meant to serve the American people. A ranking member represents a constituency of the American people the same way that a chair does. Treating that distinction as the be-all, end-all is just so insulting,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Janice Luong, a policy analyst at the nonprofit Project On Government Oversight said Congress needs to step in, particularly as the Trump administration consolidates power in the executive branch and chips away at Congress\u2019 power of the purse.<\/p>\n

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\u201cCongress should most definitely speak up and defend GAO and the legislative agency that provides them with resources on how dollars are spent \u2014 and holding the executive branch accountable,\u201d she told NOTUS.<\/p>\n

Some signs of the rising tensions have occasionally slipped into public view, but they\u2019ve mostly been buried deep in monotonous congressional hearings or vaguely described in official reports.<\/p>\n

In December, the previous head of the GAO, who retired when his 15-year tenure reached its statutory end, told<\/u><\/span> a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee that \u201cat this point, OMB\u2019s not cooperating as much as we had in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe used to have, you know, meetings with them,\u201d then-Comptroller General Gene Dodaro said. \u201cThat\u2019s not happening. I think it\u2019s unfortunate because they can benefit from continued dialogue with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The GAO has always run into some bureaucratic resistance from executive agencies when attempting to review government programs, no matter which political party is in the White House \u2014 a point agency officials emphasized to NOTUS.<\/p>\n

The GAO\u2019s said the Biden administration\u2019s Department of Education had \u201cregularly delayed providing information to which GAO has statutory access.\u201d The agency had to get members of Congress to intervene. In the end, GAO analysts errors that resulted in 432,000 fewer people \u2014 mostly prospective college students from poorer families \u2014 submitting a FAFSA, or Free Application for Federal Student Aid. In one case, the government website instructed people to dial \u201c7\u201d for translation services, but that option didn\u2019t exist on a call.<\/p>\n

GAO insiders told NOTUS that executive agencies are naturally wary of outside inspectors. Spy agencies and the military are notoriously guarded. Federal agencies rarely turn over personnel data, even though government employees\u2019 salaries are generally presumed to be a matter of public record.<\/p>\n

From July 2024 to May 2025, the GAO looked into the consequences of Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville\u2019s 11-month \u201cblanket hold\u201d on all senior military promotions during the Biden administration. Analysts the blockade didn\u2019t actually affect combat readiness \u2014 but they had to rely partly on public statements from Defense Department brass. None of the 12 generals, admirals or DOD civilian leaders would talk to the congressional watchdog agency.<\/p>\n

The GAO is a legislative agency that belongs entirely to Congress and thus lies beyond Trump\u2019s reach. When DOGE came knocking<\/u><\/span> last year, NOTUS broke the news that GAO leadership rallied the troops with an email that reminded employees \u201cwe are not subject to DOGE or executive orders.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an interview last Friday, Emmanuelli Perez, the GAO general counsel, acknowledged some recent obstacles and pointed to what the agency had said in its year-end performance and accountability reports, the of which says, in government speak, that \u201cFY 2025 was different.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were seeing more delays. So we were saying, \u2018OK, it\u2019s getting really slow and that is having an impact.\u2019 We saw that there is some information we routinely obtained in the past that now was either slowed down or we were having more trouble getting,\u201d she told NOTUS.<\/p>\n

Emmanuelli Perez said that despite the delays, \u201cfor most of our work, we\u2019re getting what we need and we\u2019re publishing our work.\u201d Analysts who run into access problems can elevate the matter to higher-ups to intervene, but she said the agency doesn\u2019t track how many engagements are running into walls.<\/p>\n

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In a meeting last month, the Government Accountability Office said it was encountering \u201csignificant access issues\u201d with a number of key agencies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":385,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-donald-trump"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Trump Administration Keeps Ghosting Its Congressional Watchdog - Modern Home Journals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=386\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Trump Administration Keeps Ghosting Its Congressional Watchdog - Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In a meeting last month, the Government Accountability Office said it was encountering \u201csignificant access issues\u201d with a number of key agencies.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=386\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-11T21:39:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=386#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=386\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"headline\":\"The Trump Administration Keeps Ghosting Its Congressional Watchdog\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-11T21:39:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=386\"},\"wordCount\":1415,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=386#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/7363680725004a1b59bc0bf9a641fcb8-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Donald Trump\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=386#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=386\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=386\",\"name\":\"The Trump Administration Keeps Ghosting Its Congressional Watchdog - Modern Home Journals\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=386#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=386#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/7363680725004a1b59bc0bf9a641fcb8-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-11T21:39:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=386#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=386\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=386#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/7363680725004a1b59bc0bf9a641fcb8-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/7363680725004a1b59bc0bf9a641fcb8-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"President Donald Trump speaks at the Republican Members Issues Conference, Monday, March 9, 2026, at Trump National Doral Miami in Doral, Fla. 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