Darrell Issa

• Congress eyeing legislative fix for security clearances

  President Barack Obama signed the OPM IG Act into law this week. The law provides the agency's top watchdog with an additional source of funding to conduct audits and investigations of the security-clearance process.

  Congress

  February 13, 2014
• Background check probe zeroes in on USIS contracts

  Among the issues considered Tuesday by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee were contracting practices at the Office of Personnel Management that allowed the largest background-investigation contactor -- accused by the Justice Department of taking improper shortcuts and defrauding the government -- to conduct quality reviews of its own work.

  Congress

  February 11, 2014
• 3 takeaways from HealthCare.gov cyber hearing

  HHS and CMS cyber officials tell House lawmakers the Affordable Care Act portal is meeting or exceeding industry best practices for information assurance.

  Congress

  January 17, 2014
• Agency watchdogs seek more independence, budget boost

  House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) says agency inspectors general are increasingly facing obstacles in their efforts to uncover waste and misconduct. The top watchdogs at both the Justice Department and the Peace Corps told lawmakers they've faced resistance from their agencies at times in turning over records in recent years. Lawmakers also expressed concern about the impact of across-the-board budget cuts on the operations agency IG operations.

  Congress

  January 15, 2014
• Coburn to Congress: Look in the mirror for the cause of waste

  Sen. Tom Coburn told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Thursday that Congress isn't doing its job and that's the root cause of much of the waste in government. Rep. Darrell Issa promised to work with Coburn and Sen. Tom Carper on legislation to reduce overlapping programs.

  Congress

  January 09, 2014
• Issa bill would repeal military COLA cuts, allow USPS to move to 5-day delivery

  A new bill would repeal reductions in military pensions approved by Congress late last month as part of the bipartisan budget deal and allow the U.S. Postal Service to reduce regular mail delivery to five days a week. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, introduced the legislation Dec. 19, shortly before Congress decamped for the holidays.

  Budget

  January 02, 2014
• Defense authorization bill leaves out reforms to federal IT acquisition

  The annual policy legislation also doesn't merge the DoD CIO and deputy chief management officer.

  Budget

  December 11, 2013
• Issa subpoenas OPM documents on background checks

  Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) has issued a subpoena for records from the Office of Personnel Management, seeking more details on the agency's process for conducting background investigations. OPM's Federal Investigative Services division, which conducts 90 percent of the federal government's background investigations, has come under intense scrutiny since it was revealed earlier this year that the same contractor -- United States Investigation Services (USIS) -- performed background checks of both National Security agency leaker Edward Snowden and Navy Yard gunman Aaron Alexis.

  Congress

  November 22, 2013
• Federal IT officials shirk responsibility for HealthCare.gov problems

  The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee pressed federal Chief Information Officer Steve VanRoekel, federal Chief Technology Officer Todd Park, Department of Health and Human Services CIO Frank Baitman and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services deputy CIO Henry Chao to acknowledge the oversight failings, and for someone to declare they were in charge of the program.

  Congress

  November 14, 2013
• White House considering options after Issa subpoenaes federal CTO Park

  Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is compelling federal CTO Todd Park show up Wednesday for a hearing before the Oversight and Government Reform Committee on the IT oversight problems of the HealthCare.gov website.

  Congress

  November 11, 2013
• Issa bill would open FEHBP to all Americans, but at what cost?

  Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) introduced a bill that would open up the federal health program to all Americans, but one federal employee union has come out to oppose it and benefits experts question how much it would cost.

  Congress

  October 24, 2013
• Rep. Issa adds tech companies to list of HealthCare.gov inquiries

  The chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee sent letters to Verizon Enterprise Inc., Google, Microsoft, Oracle and Expedia asking if they are part of the administration's "tech surge" to fix the Affordable Care Act portal.

  Congress

  October 23, 2013
• House Republicans press OMB for details on its oversight of HealthCare.gov

  In a letter to federal CIO Steve VanRoekel and federal CTO Todd Park, Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairmen want documents and information on whether the program went under a TechStat review and whether the White House made decisions that impacted the use of federal IT best practices.

  Congress

  October 22, 2013
• Push for more federal data transparency gaining momentum on Capitol Hill

  House leaders say the DATA Act has a good chance at becoming law this session. Support for the bill from the Senate and the White House seems to be increasing.

  Congress

  September 11, 2013