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Accountability Tuesday, September 29, 2026
Hazy Drug Classification Criteria Invite Dubious Bureaucratic Judgments
A GAO report notes that the Controlled Substances Act does not define "potential for abuse" or "accepted medical use."
‘A Little Ironic’: Vance Calls Out Democrats Over Medicare Fraud
Vice President JD Vance, head of the White House Fraud Task Force, called out congressional Democrats on Tuesday for consistently criticizing health care costs without ever addressing the fraud that his task force is targeting. Vance’s task force has found hundreds of billions of dollars in fraud…
US withdraws from European anti-corruption panel in latest shift away from global groups
The Trump administration has withdrawn the United States from a top European anti-corruption watchdog
OpenAI, Google, Anthropic agree to attend AI hearing in NYC after subpoena threats
The tech-giants' appearance at the council-wide hearing in October was confirmed Monday.
Congress unveils slate of bills to combat healthcare fraud
House Republicans are rolling out one of the most comprehensive anti-fraud packages of this Congress, with a slate of bills aimed at cracking down on healthcare billing schemes that steal federal funds from the Medicare and Medicaid programs. According to the GOP’s agenda, shared with the…
The Industrialization Of Fraud: How Global Scam Farms Are Evolving To Target Your Wealth
The Industrialization Of Fraud: How Global Scam Farms Are Evolving To Target Your Wealth Authored by Adam H. Douglas via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), Financial fraud has morphed into a massive, highly organized global industry powered by transnational scam farms. These industrial-scale…
Dozens of federal immigration employees stayed in sensitive positions despite security concerns, inspector general reports
Homeland Security Department officials pushed back on the report, contending that “[i]t is simply incorrect to suggest that these employees occupied national security positions for years without appropriate vetting.”
GAO reasserts pocket rescissions' illegality after Trump uses tactic to cancel nearly $1B
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) reasserted Tuesday that President Trump’s use of a “pocket rescission” to cancel $810 million in federal funding was unlawful. The letter by the government watchdog's lead attorney, Edda Emmanuelli Perez, outlined under the Impoundment Control Act…
FBI sends warning to cybercrime group that hacked it after Dutch arrest of ‘leader’
The FBI said that Dutch law enforcement arrested a leader of ShinyHunters, the group that claimed to have hacked the FBI and stolen information on agents.
Top Senate Dems press HHS about delayed COVID shots for low-income children
Top Senate Democrats are pressing the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) about an apparent delay in making COVID-19 shots available through a federal program for low-income children. In a letter to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Erica Schwartz and HHS…
Key data missing for half of US child labor deaths, official report finds
Over half of 260 workplace child fatalities between 2013 and 2023 lacked data on cause of death or the industry worked Information is missing on over half of deaths at work of people under the age of 18 in the US because of significant gaps in child labor data, according to a government…
Agencies withheld records needed to verify DOGE data safeguards, GAO says
A review of six agencies could not establish the full extent of DOGE’s system access or whether security rules were followed. Two agencies challenged the watchdog’s authority to investigate.
Child Labor: DOL Action Needed to Better Protect Working Children
What GAO Found An estimated 2.8 million children worked in the U.S. in 2023, according to GAO’s analysis. The Department of Labor (DOL) publishes statistical data that provide information on working children’s fatalities, injuries, and illnesses. These data are used to develop workplace safety…
CDC updates measles count, now includes 2 deaths
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its national measles tally late Monday to include an additional death in 2026, raising the total to two. The agency's numbers are still shy of Pennsylvania’s official report of four measles-associated deaths in an outbreak that surpassed…
CDC reports second measles death in US while excluding Pennsylvania deaths
Pennsylvania has reported over 900 measles cases and four deaths as governor and health chief RFK Jr spar over data A second measles death in the US has been announced on Tuesday by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as the country grapples with an outbreak affecting 47…
Complaint Demands Broadcasters Stop Airing Trump's Illegal Taxpayer-Funded Ads
The watchdog group Public Citizen this week filed a pair of complaints urging regulators and broadcasters to pull President Donald Trump's unlawful taxpayer-funded campaign advertisements off the air and demanding a federal investigation into them. In recent weeks, amid mounting speculation that…
Fraud prevention capabilities were slashed under Biden’s Medicare and Medicaid agency: Congressional report
Under the Biden administration, the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services slashed its capacity to prevent fraud at the same time that program utilization and spending increased, according to the findings of a congressional report shared with the Washington Examiner. The 87-page report…
'Taxpayers Deserve Answers': US Senate Urged to Support Bill to Spotlight Israeli Abuses in West Bank
The US Senate is expected to vote as soon as Tuesday evening on a resolution that would require the Trump administration to produce an official report on Israel's human rights practices in the illegally occupied West Bank, where the US-backed Israeli government is engaging in large-scale land…
The Way the FDA and DEA Ban Drugs Is Unaccountable and Arbitrary
A new report from the Government Accountability Office reveals that federal drug regulators do not have any clear policies or procedures for making scheduling decisions.
House panel accuses NY of flouting law by ignoring fraud risk to Medicaid providers
"It is deeply concerning that the nation's second largest Medicaid program ... is not complying with federal regulations."
CDC reports two measles deaths in US as cases hit 35-year high
Pennsylvania reports over 900 measles cases, leading a nationwide outbreak with the highest numbers in 35 years.
BREAKING: Jack Smith Spied On And Targeted The Federalist During Biden’s Anti-Trump Witch Hunt
'The Federalist has fearlessly exposed Deep State corruption and DOJ lies and lawfare. Spying on us was apparently part of Jack Smith’s plot to get revenge against us.'
Pentagon launches team to find waste, shift spending
Officials hope ingraining the team into the bureaucracy it looks to reform will make it an "enduring institutional mechanism."
Dutch National Police arrest member of group that claimed to have hacked FBI
About a week ago, the cybercriminal group ShinyHunters claimed it had defaced the FBI's jobs website and bragged that it had stolen data about FBI personnel and job applicants.
DOJ OIG Releases Report on Audit of the Department of Justice’s Compliance with the Geospatial Data Act of 2018 for Fiscal Years 2025 and 2026
DOJ OIG Releases Report on Audit of the Department of Justice’s Compliance with the Geospatial Data Act of 2018 for Fiscal Years 2025 and 2026 mbarnes Tue, 09/29/2026 - 10:05 The Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) announced today the release of a report examining…
ICE wasted millions in rapid push to expand detention capacity, watchdog finds
With an unprecedented budget, ICE spent billions in a rush to expand its detention network, wasting millions in the process, the Government Accountability Office found.
Audit of the Department of Justice’s Compliance with the Geospatial Data Act of 2018 for Fiscal Years 2025 and 2026
Audit of the Department of Justice’s Compliance with the Geospatial Data Act of 2018 for Fiscal Years 2025 and 2026 */ mbarnes Tue, 09/29/2026 - 10:00 Posted Date September 29, 2026 Report Number 26-104 Component Other Component Report Type Audit Number of Recommendations 0 Number of…
Pentagon data breach took months to discover, reports show
A Pentagon data breach took months to discover and exposed sensitive information on nearly 3 million people, a defense official said. Charlie D'Agata reports.
VA Health Care: Action Needed to Improve Fertility Care Communications and Eligibility Determination Process
What GAO Found Within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is responsible for providing enrolled veterans access to reproductive health care, including fertility care. From fiscal years 2022 through 2025, VHA data show that approximately 8 million…
Senators press administration for answers on broadband funds
A bipartisan group of senators is pushing the Commerce Department to release long-delayed guidance for states seeking to use remaining funds from a $42 billion broadband grant program. In a letter first shared with CQ Roll Call, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., with Senate Appropriations Chair Susan…
Small Business Research Programs: Better Data Could Improve Insight into Companies’ Success
What GAO Found In fiscal year (FY) 2024, the most recent data available at the time of review, 11 federal agencies issued $4.4 billion in Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) awards, split almost equally between open and conventional topics. For…
DOGE: Congress and the Public Lack Assurance That Systems and Data Were Protected at Multiple Agencies
What GAO Found Four agencies in GAO’s review—the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Department of Education, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)—established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) teams and collectively…
Coast Guard: Additional Action Needed to Address Marine Firefighting Challenges
What GAO Found Fires on vessels are among the most dangerous and challenging incidents to which firefighters can respond. Vessels may also carry hazardous cargo, like lithium-ion batteries, further complicating marine firefighting responses. According to U.S. Coast Guard data, there were 886…
EXCLUSIVE: Shocking Senate Report Details Billions in Health Care Fraud Lost to Russian Fraudsters, Medicare Scammers, Other Schemers
FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—A new Senate report highlights startling amounts of health care fraud, including a payment of almost $1 billion in taxpayer dollars to Russian fraudsters and hundreds of millions to others. The report, which points to some of the most egregious cases out of a total of…
After Failed Execution, Health Workers Say State’s Rules Flout Medical Ethics
The death penalty is legal in 27 states, and lethal injection is the primary method. That means involving medical professionals to store, test, and inject the drugs. After a botched execution in Tennessee, doctors and nurses there say medical professionals need to be removed from the process…