Verma has disputed the report, calling its findings “false” and arguing that the auditors selected the examples included in the response.
In a joint statement, the chairs of the House of Representatives’ oversight and energy and trade committees and top Democrats on the Senate’s aid and finance committees said the inspector general’s report showed Verma spent taxpayer funds inappropriately. They also warned that their own one-year investigation, which was based on “tens of thousands of pages of documents” provided by contractors and the health department, would contain more information on Verma’s spending and decisions.
“Administrator Verma’s evident refusal to acknowledge the IG’s findings, or take steps to address the problem, raises concerns about its ability to continue to run the agency during the current health crisis,” representatives Frank Pallone (DN.J. ) and Carolyn Maloney (DN.Y.) and Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said in a joint statement. “We are now completing our investigation and will soon publish our findings, which will be based on the Inspector General’s report and will provide additional details on Administrator Verma’s inappropriate use of private consultancies for her personal gain.”
On Thursday, eight other Democrats explicitly asked Trump to “remove Administrator Verma from office without delay,” in a letter led by Representative Joe Kennedy (D-Mass.) And accompanied by Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn. .), who chairs the House subcommittee that oversees the finances of the health department.
“Verma has severely abused CMS funds, has been reliably prioritized over the American people, and it is now clear that she lied under oath,” the Democrats wrote in a letter to Trump on Thursday. In a Kennedy interrogation, Verma testified in an October 2019 congressional hearing that the contracts were “consistent with the way the agency has used resources in the past, and are focused on promoting the job.”
“For someone who claims they want to cut CMS spending, including fighting fraud and abuse, Verma has spent an exorbitant amount of taxpayer dollars for personal use, all to the detriment of CMS recipients and the public” Democrats added.
HHS spokesman Michael Caputo on Thursday rejected the report and told POLITICO that the department did not plan to take any disciplinary action in response to the inspector general’s findings.
“What we see in that letter are bureaucratic technical recommendations … but there is no punitive recommendation in this report,” Caputo said. “Training, that’s fine … but as you know, there is absolutely nothing punitive recommended.”
