CORE Act can help ensure the U.S.’s unprecedented spending is met with unprecedented accountability and oversight

Today, Senators Warren, Blumenthal, and Coons, along with Representatives Sarbanes and Japal introduced a discussion draft of the Coronavirus Oversight and Recovery Ethics Act (CORE Act). The bill is a comprehensive package of oversight and anti-corruption measures designed to ensure that funding appropriated by Congress to counter the health and economic impacts of the pandemic is properly and effectively spent.

The U.S. Office of Transparency International issued the following statement in support of the bill:

“In the past six weeks, the U.S. government has appropriated more money than the gross domestic products of some 150 foreign countries combined,” said Scott Greytak, Advocacy Director for the TI-US office. “Such unprecedented spending demands unprecedented safeguards against corruption, waste, fraud, and abuse—but those protections haven’t materialized. The CORE Act is a strong, groundbreaking law that would help fill this void and provide confidence that the U.S. government is working even-handedly, transparently, and ethically in response to the crisis.”

Gary Kalman, Director of the TI-US office, said: “We know from experience that there are increased corruption and fraud risks related to emergency spending. Some estimates have put these losses at greater than twenty percent. And losses to corruption have real-life consequences, including protective gear that never makes it to a hospital or a small business bankruptcy because money was directed elsewhere. The CORE Act builds on the anti-corruption provisions in the CARES Act to better ensure money goes to aiding the recovery. With so much at stake, these anticorruption provisions are essential.”

Resources:

• Read the details of the CORE Act here.

Scott Greytak, Advocacy Director, Transparency International—U.S. Office
T: +1 614-668-0258
E: [email protected]
@transparencyUSA