House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Thursday she’s formed a bipartisan committee to oversee the funds allocated for the coronavirus response.
“The panel will root out waste, fraud and abuse; it will protect against price-gauging, profiteering and political favoritism,” Mrs. Pelosi, California Democrat, told reporters on a press call. “We need transparency and accountability.”
The bipartisan oversight panel, dubbed the House Select Committee on the Coronavirus, will be chaired by Majority Whip James Clyburn.
The panel will have subpoena power to ensure that some of the new programs in the stimulus don’t lead to waste or fraud, Mrs. Pelosi said. But it won’t overlap with an after-action review panel that some members are already pushing for.
“Where there’s money, there’s frequently mischief,” she said.
The last package passed by Congress cost $2.2 trillion for loans to hard-hit businesses, funds for overwhelmed state and local officials and direct payments to the American public.
