Oversight and Policy Letters and Testimony

CREW submitted a statement for the record to the House Appropriations Committee on private prison and ICE contracts.

The Trump administration’s request for an unprecedented $45 billion for new private contracts to expand immigration detention over two years raises questions about how this money will be spent—and how migrants’ rights will be harmed in the process. Furthermore, the administration’s mass deportation policies will line the pockets of private contractors in the private prison industry, furthering a troubling connection between mass deportation and corruption.

Congress must ensure that federal tax dollars are not misused for legally questionable mass detention and deportation that line the pockets of political patrons by handing them multimillion dollar contracts to detain and deport people many of whom have never committed a crime.

Read the statement here. 

CREW submitted testimony to the House Appropriations Commerce, Justice and Science Subcommittee calling for transparency in opinions issued by the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC). Of CREW’s 14 requests for OLC opinions since 2016, OLC has only released records for four of these requests. OLC’s failure to deliver documents to CREW is indicative of a much greater trend that affects individuals and organizations across the country similarly seeking transparency on the legal advice the executive branch receives from OLC. It is in Congress’s interest to also be privy to OLC’s legal opinions so that it can provide effective oversight and serve as a check on potential overreach by the executive branch.

Read the testimony here.

CREW submitted a statement for the record to the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary hearing on “The Freedom of Information Act: Perspectives from Public Requesters” on the government’s attack on FOIA processes and offices.

The Trump administration has taken actions that profoundly hinder transparency under FOIA. In particular, the Trump administration’s mass firings across the government have included FOIA officials, which will likely have the effect of obstructing the public’s right to request and receive information through the FOIA process. It appears as though an essential legal mechanism that is used to ensure that the federal government is spending taxpayer resources effectively and making decisions in the best interests of all Americans may be effectively incapacitated—without any regard for the administration’s legal obligations and Congress’s longstanding support of FOIA.

Congress should reassert its longstanding bipartisan commitment to FOIA and government transparency and work together to not only improve the law, but ensure that government FOIA offices are fully staffed and permitted to carry out their legal obligations without political interference.

Read the statement for the record here.

CREW sent a letter to Marco Rubio, the Acting Archivist of the United States, and those who work under him at the National Archives and Records Administration, asking them to instruct the U.S. Agency for International Development to immediately cease destroying records, to preserve all federal records and to report any unlawful removal, alteration or destruction of records to NARA.

CREW’s letter follows reports on email obtained that was sent by the Acting Executive Secretary of USAID to agency staff, instructing them to “[s]hred as many documents first, and reserve the burn bags for when the shredder becomes unavailable or needs a break.” The Federal Records Act has legal requirements for how USAID is supposed to preserve its records, and has strict limits on the circumstances under which they can be destroyed. The email obtained from the Acting Executive Secretary of USAID appears to show that these requirements are at risk of being violated.

Read the letter here.

To date, the National Archives has not responded to CREW’s February 14 letter alerting them to the potential failure of DOGE and Elon Musk to preserve federal records, in particular DOGE communications on X and any government business conducted on private systems at Musk’s businesses. CREW sent a 2nd letter to NARA calling on them to perform their mandatory duties under the Federal Records Act, which are to investigate and pursue remedial action against DOGE and Mr. Musk’s if they failed to preserve federal records. 

Read the letter here.

CREW submitted a comment this week on the FEC’s recent rulemaking proposal that could result in even less transparency into who is funding federal elections. As CREW’s comment notes, the proposed rulemaking is at least a significant improvement over the Commission’s original proposal, which could leave voters entirely in the dark about who is funding our elections.  But the revised rulemaking is still problematic. Most significantly, the FEC’s proposal to conduct its proceedings entirely in secret violates the law and leaves voters without any ability to hold the agency accountable.    

Read the comment here.

CREW sent a letter to the National Archives requesting that the agency investigate and take appropriate remedial action in response to any failure by the Department of Government Efficiency or its staff, including Elon Musk, to preserve federal records. Those records may include public posts and direct messages on X, as well as communications conducting public business on internal systems at Mr. Musk’s private businesses. If NARA does not take action, CREW announced plans to take legal action to hold the agency to its preservation obligations under the Federal Records Act.

Read the letter here.

CREW submitted a comment to the General Services Administration (GSA) advocating for a series of reforms to increase public access to information on the executive branch’s actions.

CREW advocated for the reestablishment of a White House visitor log database, as was established during the Obama administration, in addition to the establishment of a database for legal opinions issued by the Office of Legal Counsel, guidelines for cabinet secretaries and their deputies to make meeting calendars publicly accessible, improved databases for already existing executive branch ethics documents and finally the establishment of a Chief Anti-Corruption and Accountability Officer within the White House.

CREW sees revised ethics infrastructure, as well as a more accessible public archive of executive branch meetings, as imperative for addressing a critical lack of government accountability.

Read the comment here.

CREW submitted testimony to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security And Governmental Affairs hearing “Ensuring A Trustworthy Government: Examining The National Security Risks Of Replacing Nonpartisan Civil Servants With Political Appointees” on the dangers of dismantling the merit-based civil service system. 

Schedule F, issued by former President Trump, would have increased presidential control over the federal career public service. Had President Biden not rescinded it, Schedule F would have stripped tens of thousands of federal employees of their merit-based civil service protections, including the protection against being fired based on political whims, undermining democracy. 

CREW urges Congress to pass the bipartisan Saving The Civil Service Act to ensure that civil servants cannot be hired and fired based on their loyalty or disloyalty to a particular president or political party. The bill would protect the civil service and establish measures to prevent a future president from reissuing Schedule F. 

Read the letter here.

CREW submitted a comment to the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) endorsing the proposed rulemaking to extend the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Death in Custody Report Act (DCRA) data collection form. 

The DCRA is designed to ensure transparency and accountability regarding deaths in custody by requiring states and territories receiving specified federal grants to report data on deaths in custody, which includes deaths in jail, prisons or during arrests.  The proposed rule suggests improved data collection methods which would enhance the precision, timeliness and comprehensiveness of data.  This provides an opportunity to bolster efforts to effectively shape policy, understand the negative impact of the criminal legal system and conduct the oversight needed to reduce in-custody deaths. 

CREW supports the initiative to expand data collection under the DCRA and urges the OMB to adopt the proposed rule swiftly. 

Read the comment here.

CREW submitted testimony on the FY 2025 Appropriations Bill to the Senate Appropriations Commerce, Justice, Science Subcommittee on the need to improve transparency and the public availability of opinions issued by the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC).

The OLC provides legal advice to the executive branch and its agencies, and it is in the long-term interest of all citizens to have access to OLC opinions, a measure CREW has long advocated for. Additionally, increasing transparency and public access will allow Congress to provide effective oversight and monitor potential overreach of the executive branch.

Despite efforts from both House and Senate Appropriators to increase OLC transparency in recent years, the OLC has not yet begun the process of proactive disclosure. To successfully shed light on the OLC’s secret interpretations of the law, CREW urges the subcommittee to adopt stronger language to ensure OLC compliance with new reporting requirements.

Read the letter here.

CREW submitted testimony to the House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch and a letter to the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch, on the need to improve the transparency of the U.S. Capitol Police Inspector General by establishing a process and timeline for publicly releasing its reports. Effective oversight and transparency of the Capitol Police are essential to safeguarding members of Congress and their staff, as seen during the Capitol attack on January 6, 2021. The USCP Inspector General, who is responsible for providing independent oversight of the USCP and ensuring its efficiency through investigations and reports, has made only a fraction of its reports publicly available. The USCP IG must establish a process and timeline for the release of its oversight reports—including clearing its backlog of unreleased reports and publishing all new reports within two weeks of their completion—to ensure the security of the Capitol and our democracy.

Read the testimony to the House here and the letter to the Senate here.

To ensure America’s courts operate fairly and in the interests of justice, the questionable practice of “judge shopping” must end.  CREW, along with a coalition of more than 20 other groups, sent a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin, urging him to address judge shopping.

Judge shopping is an increasingly favored tactic of the right-wing legal movement which enables plaintiffs to handpick ideologically-aligned judges by inventing reasons to file cases in single-judge divisions. These cases are then heard by judges who may be more likely to enact extreme policies contrary to the values of the American people.  The use of this practice has enabled right-wing legal groups to successfully undermine Americans’ rights and the legitimacy of the court system.  The Justice Department and American Bar Association have expressed concern about the use of judge shopping and calls for reform have been made by members of Congress and legal experts across the ideological spectrum.  

Despite announcing efforts to combat the practice of judge shopping, the Judicial Conference appears to have watered down its commitment in response to attacks from Republican senators and their allies in their right-wing legal movement.  As chair of the Judiciary Committee, Senator Durbin must use his oversight powers to ensure transparency into any steps the Judicial Conference and individual jurisdictions take on judge shopping moving forward and combat these attacks on the courts’ legitimacy and impartiality.  

Oversight and congressional legislation are needed to bolster the administration of justice across the country and finally end the abusive practice of judge shopping.

Read the letter here.

CREW sent a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan and House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chair James Comer in response to their committees’ activities over the last year, which have in some cases failed to lead to effective oversight and caused real harm to the American people. Congressional oversight should be used to uncover corruption, tackle financial waste and make the government run better—not for illegitimate, politically motivated attacks.

Over the last year, these committees’ actions have precipitated the shutdown of critical disinformation research centers, contributed to educator shortages by interfering in the education system, interfered in ongoing investigations—damaging public trust in the justice system and contributing to an environment of intimidation—and further endangered Americans’ financial safety nets in the face of natural disasters. CREW urges the committee chairs to consider the impact their committees’ initiatives have beyond the walls of Congress and to finish the 118th Congress with the public interest in mind.

Read the letter here.

Since the Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, anonymously sourced money has flooded our political system, leaving American voters in the dark about who is trying to influence their decisions at the ballot box and who may be influencing the decisions of their elected officials. Much of that secret spending has been shielded from public view through the use of section 501(c)(4) organizations that engage in political activity without disclosing who finances their expenditures—an arrangement that has been described as “the perfect vehicle for bribery.” Congress should take action to shine light on dark money by empowering the IRS to both enforce and clarify the rules governing political activity by tax-exempt organizations and by closing loopholes in campaign finance law. CREW submitted testimony for the record to the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight, urging them to take action.

Read the testimony here.

CREW submitted a comment to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in support of the proposed rulemaking to bolster the federal civil service and protect the merit system. At the end of his term, former President Trump considered a radical proposal to effectively dismantle the merit-based civil service and return to the spoils system, which flourished under President Andrew Jackson. CREW’s comment underscores the importance of OPM’s proposed rule as a bulwark against a return to a government built on patronage and corrupt kickbacks rather than on nonpartisan expertise. The proposed rule would help prevent the dangers of partisan bureaucracy by ensuring the protections afforded to career federal employees can’t be arbitrarily withdrawn to suit the political desires of any given presidential administration. CREW supports the rule and encourages OPM to adopt it as expeditiously as possible.

Read the comment here.

The federal Bureau of Prisons’ history of operational challenges has led to a culture of employee misconduct, kept hidden from the public view because of inadequate transparency measures. Reform is necessary, and increased Congressional oversight and accountability are crucial. CREW submitted a statement for the record to the House Committee on the Judiciary, urging increased oversight of BOP and that the Federal Prison Oversight Act be voted out of committee.

Read the testimony here.

CREW sent a letter to the Federal Election Commission in support of Public Citizen’s petition for a rulemaking around the use of deceptive AI in campaign communications. A deep fake depicting an opponent saying or doing something they did not do or say appears to violate federal law, yet campaigns and political committees have begun using them to deceive the public. As artificial intelligence and deepfake technology advance, it is crucial that our elections are not compromised by misleading and deceptive communications, and that federal agencies ensure that their practices, guidance and regulatory and enforcement regimes keep up. CREW strongly urged the FEC to clarify that the law applies to the misleading use of deepfakes in campaign advertisements.

Read the letter here.

One important component of addressing violent domestic extremism is ensuring that violent extremists are not within Department of Homeland Security’s ranks. CREW and Western States Center along with the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), Southern Poverty Law Center, Human Rights First, Common Cause and 18 other groups sent a letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas outlining the risks of domestic extremism within and outside of the agency, urging him to take action and update the public on what efforts have been taken.

Read more about the letter here.

BOP’s internal operations have created a culture of widespread employee misconduct, the true scale of which is hidden from public view because of inadequate transparency measures, and increased Congressional oversight and accountability is crucial. CREW submitted a statement for the record to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, urging increased oversight of BOP and that the Federal Prison Oversight Act be voted out of committee.

Read the testimony here.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Congress must enact policies that prevent the use of tax-exempt organizations for bribery and dark money in politics. Since the Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, anonymously sourced money has flooded our political system and left Americans blind to who may be influencing their elections. As requested, CREW has shared recommendations with the House Ways and Means Committee on the issue of dark money in tax-exempt organizations, including closing loopholes and more aggressive enforcement of current laws and regulations.

Read the letter here.

CREW sent a letter to Congress in support of the Federal Prison Oversight Act. This bipartisan, bicameral bill would address the corruption and sexual and physical abuse in federal prisons by bringing oversight and accountability to the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) and its facilities. The BOP has failed to protect inmates and hold employees accountable for the unlawful conditions in prisons, as demonstrated by delays in investigating sexual assault and rape complaints and a backlog of thousands of cases. This bill would implement measures like federal watchdog inspections and reporting requirements and methods to ensure the wellbeing of incarcerated individuals.

Read the letter here.

CREW sent a letter to the Federal Election Commission in support of Public Citizen’s petition for a rulemaking around the use of deceptive AI in campaign communications. A deepfake audio or video clip by a campaign that claims to show an opponent saying or doing something they did not say or do appears to violate federal law. Campaigns and political committees have already begun to use deepfakes in misleading ways, and CREW strongly urged the FEC to clarify that the law applies to the misleading use of deepfakes without sufficient disclaimers.

Read the letter here.

CREW sent a letter to Chairman Dick Durbin and Ranking Member Lindsey Graham of the Senate Judiciary Committee in support of the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal and Transparency Act (“SCERT Act”). The SCERT Act would bring much needed transparency and accountability to the Supreme Court’s ethical framework, by creating a critical recusal and disclosure system. Justices are not above the law and should be held to the highest ethical standards.

Read the letter here.

CREW submitted testimony to the House Committee on Financial Services in support of fully implementing the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA). The CTA would transform the United States into a world leader against illicit finance by increasing corporate transparency laws and empowering law enforcement with the ability to fight money laundering and terrorist financing.  It is necessary that Congress and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network recommit to ensuring the CTA’s full implementation and are not swayed by those seeking to weaken the law in service of their own financial interests.

Read the testimony here.

Update: On August 16, CREW received a response, noting that the new online database has created additional workload for the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, but that supplemental funding has been requested and received for additional staffing support, which should help facilitate more timely access to judges’ financial disclosures.

Federal judges and justices must disclose their missing financial statements for 2021, according to a letter CREW sent to the Administrative Office of the United States Courts about the 44% of judges whose financial statements were missing from the public database months after the deadline. The Courthouse Ethics and Transparency Act now requires annual disclosures in an effort to restore public trust in the courts, and it is crucial that this provision be enforced.

Read the letter here.