Elizabeth Warren Questions Nominee On 'Revolving Door Abuse' By Treasury Department Officials

4 months ago

During a Senate Finance Committee hearing Tuesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) spoke about the 'revolving door' between Treasury Department and major financial corporations.

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Transcript

00:00 Thank you Mr. Chairman and congratulations to all of our nominees.

00:05 Mr. Ives, you are nominated to be the Inspector General for the Treasury Department.

00:10 Now, I've long been a supporter of IGs.

00:13 I think their work as watchdogs is critical to protecting taxpayers and identifying waste,

00:20 fraud and abuse.

00:22 This role is particularly important when it comes to federal ethics laws.

00:26 It's an area where I've been calling for tougher laws and tougher enforcement for years.

00:32 And it's an area where IGs need to do more.

00:35 Two years ago, an investigation by my office found that dozens of tax lawyers at Big Four

00:42 accounting firms had taken key positions at Treasury and the IRS where they wrote tax

00:49 rules that saved their former clients tens of billions of dollars.

00:55 That's billions with a "B."

00:57 And then these tax lawyers went right back out the revolving door to their old employers

01:02 receiving big promotions and raises to boot.

01:06 Mr. Ives, do you agree that this kind of revolving door abuse is exactly the issue that merits

01:13 the detailed investigation by an IG?

01:18 I absolutely agree, Senator.

01:19 Good.

01:20 I asked the acting IG to investigate this revolving door scandal at Treasury more than

01:26 two years ago.

01:27 And he finally released his findings in March.

01:31 And let me tell you, it was not worth the wait.

01:35 The report concluded that Treasury employees rewriting our tax code for the benefit of

01:41 giant corporations they used to work for couldn't be a problem because, and I quote, "Treasury's

01:50 tax guidance review process includes numerous stages of review and approval and multiple

01:58 individuals."

02:00 That's it.

02:01 And because of that, the acting IG did not bother to conduct any audit of employer self-reporting

02:08 of potential conflicts.

02:10 He did not conduct a detailed review of any single agency policy or agency rulemaking.

02:19 Mr. Ives, does that make sense to you?

02:22 Do you think the mere existence of numerous stages of review and approval are enough to

02:29 insulate the department from the impact of revolving door influence peddling?

02:35 Without speaking to the specific report, my answer is no.

02:39 I am aware of many situations whereby there was a lengthy review process in place, yet

02:44 conflicts of interest existed, and they were matters that warranted investigation.

02:49 I am glad to hear that.

02:52 This report and its conclusions were atrocious, a whitewash of what appears to be serious

03:00 ethics problems at Treasury and IRS.

03:04 I wrote to the acting IG and told him to withdraw this report and start over, and I'd like to

03:11 move to have that letter entered into the hearing record, Mr. Chairman.

03:17 I'm sorry, Senator, my colleague.

03:18 I would like to have my letter to the acting IG entered into the record.

03:22 Without objection, so ordered.

03:24 Thank you.

03:25 Mr. Ives, if you are confirmed, will you take a fresh look at this revolving door ethics

03:30 problem at Treasury?

03:32 I will, Senator.

03:34 That's what I want to hear.

03:35 Thank you, Mr. Ives.

03:36 You know, the work that IGs do is essential to ensuring that the federal government works

03:42 for hardworking American taxpayers, not just big corporations and fancy tax lawyers in

03:49 Washington.

03:51 In addition to digging into this specific scandal with the big four accounting firms,

03:57 I hope that more broadly, you will make ethics and conflicts of interest a priority if you

04:03 are confirmed.

04:04 It is critical that IGs investigate these matters, identify whether any laws have been

04:11 broken, and this is important, report to Congress if you find that the current federal ethics

04:19 laws are inadequate and need to be strengthened.

04:22 I agree, Senator.

04:23 Thank you very much.

04:24 Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

04:25 I thank my colleague, and these are important issues, and I raised with Mr. Ives this question

04:31 as well about this position pulling punches in the past.

04:35 So we're going to be making these a priority.

Elizabeth Warren Questions Nominee On 'Revolving Door Abuse' By Treasury Department Officials

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