Chairman and Ranking Member Introduce Bipartisan Resolution

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), the Committee’s Ranking Member, introduced H.Res. 273, a bipartisan resolution urging President Obama to nominate a qualified and independent Inspector General (IG) for the State Department and Broadcasting Board of Governors.

The resolution follows Royce and Engel’s efforts earlier this year when they wrote letters to President Obama and Secretary Kerry addressing the immediate need to nominate a qualified IG, an issue Royce and Engel described as “essential to the proper functioning” of the State Department.  The position has been vacant since January 2008, a span of nearly 2,000 days.  Full text of the resolution can be found HERE.

Chairman Royce said: “We are witnessing the longest vacancy in the history of the Office of the Inspector General, which is tasked with preventing and detecting waste, fraud and abuse within both the State Department and the Broadcasting Board of Governors.  The time to nominate a qualified IG is long overdue.  Today’s resolution is a common sense effort to ensure that billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars are being used efficiently and effectively.”

Ranking Member Engel said: “The position of State Department Inspector General has been vacant longer than any other IG position in the entire federal government.   Having a permanent IG in place will help ensure that we have robust and independent oversight at the State Department and the Broadcasting Board of Governors.  That’s simply good government.”

###