Lawmakers will grill top federal government investigators on Tuesday about the failures of President Joe Biden’s Department of Homeland Security, from its handling of illegal immigration to disaster responses, The Daily Wire has learned.
Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-OK) will hold a hearing to examine waste and fraud at DHS during the Biden administration. The hearing will specifically look at FEMA’s struggles responding to natural disasters, the role that DHS potentially played in facilitating illegal immigration, and censoring Americans under Biden.
The hearing, “Eliminating Waste, Fraud, and Abuse at the Department of Homeland Security: Addressing the Biden-Harris Administration’s Failures,” will be held by the Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Accountability at 2:0o p.m. on March 11.
“Under the Biden administration, waste and abuse of taxpayer dollars was rampant throughout the executive branch, including within DHS,” Brecheen told The Daily Wire. “I look forward to working with our witnesses to identify where DHS has fallen most behind in this effort, including FEMA’s struggle with providing disaster relief, DHS’ bloated contracts with non-governmental organizations that helped facilitate record illegal immigration into the country, and the department’s involvement in censoring Americans, which undermined civil liberties.”
Witnesses at the hearing include Chris Currie, the director of the Homeland Security and Justice Team at the Government Accountability Office; Kristen Bernard, deputy inspector general at the DHS Office of Audits; and Erika Lang, assistant inspector general at the DHS Office of Inspections and Evaluations.
One of the focuses of the hearing is FEMA, an agency that has come under increased scrutiny in recent months after one of its employees reportedly told hurricane relief workers to skip the homes of Trump supporters and for its role in providing housing for illegal immigrants. Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green (R-TN) launched an investigation into FEMA after the actions targeting Trump supporters were first reported by The Daily Wire.
Other topics include how DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) worked to censor Americans’ speech on COVID and the 2020 election. The hearing will also examine how DHS collaborated with non-governmental organizations to provide logistical support to illegal immigrants under the previous DHS Secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas.
The subcommittee will also investigate DHS’s failure to implement “important recommendations to address waste, fraud, and abuse that the department failed to implement,” according to a committee aide.
Brecheen said that Congress should follow the lead of the Trump administration in eliminating government waste and fraud.
“The Trump administration has created a golden age for government accountability in the interest of the American people — and Congress must play our part,” he said.
