Judiciary Democrats launch watchdog website amid withheld funding from inspector general group

Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee have launched a centralized online repository of resources for whistleblowers as the websites of many government watchdogs remain dark because of the White House budget office withholding funding from a central inspector general group. 

Although the withholding of funding coincides with an ongoing shutdown, it is unrelated — the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, or CIGIE, is supported by a no-year revolving fund, rather than annual appropriations. 

The Office of Management and Budget chose not to apportion the funding to the council after calling inspectors general “corrupt” and “partisan” two weeks ago. Lawmakers, former watchdog officials and others have criticized the decision.

It’s the latest move against the OIG community by the Trump administration, which also fired nearly 20 inspectors general in a move that a federal judge has since said was an “obvious” violation of the law.

CIGIE is an independent entity charged by Congress with oversight issues that involve more than one government agency. It offers training for investigators and auditors and acts as a watchdog for the government OIG community. 

When CIGIE lost its funding, its oversight.gov website — with a central repository of over 34,000 oversight reports — went dark. 

That platform also hosts the websites of another 28 offices of inspectors general. At least 15 of those sites went dark as well, taking access to audits, oversight reports and resources for whistleblowers wanting to report waste, fraud and abuse down, too. The law establishing government watchdogs requires them to have websites hosting audits, reports and a link for people to report waste, fraud and abuse.

At least four watchdog offices remain completely offline, according to the new House Judiciary website, which offers hotline contact information for over 20 OIGs.

Many watchdog offices have set up temporary websites. Some of those have links to watchdog reports. Others, like the temporary website of the National Science Foundation’s OIG, offer a hotline email and point anyone wanting reports to email public affairs to ask for one. The full website is “temporarily unavailable due to hosting changes,” it says. 

Other temporary websites, like that of the Federal Trade Commission, offer only a way to file a complaint, not access to any audits or reports. Those aren’t available on the new House Judiciary website, either, although the nonprofit Program Integrity Alliance has archived OIG reports and recommendations that were hosted on Oversight.gov here.

Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee say that they’ll keep their website updated until all the OIG websites are restored.

“The money for these websites has already been appropriated and is available right now. We’re demanding that Russ Vought release these funds immediately,” House Judiciary Ranking Member Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said in a statement, adding that the Trump administration is using the shutdown “as a cover to shut down the websites of Inspectors General.”

Some Republicans have also panned OMB’s decision to withhold funding.

Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, asked the White House to release the funding. The White House subsequently apportioned $5 million for the pandemic-focused committee within CIGIE, called the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, on Oct. 1. Congress recently reauthorized that committee as part of Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill.’

“While this is a positive step, OMB should promptly apportion funds for CIGIE as well, consistent with congressional intent,” Grassley and Collins said in a statement at the time. The duo is still waiting for a response from OMB, a spokesperson for Grassley told Nextgov/FCW. 

OMB did not respond to a request for comment.