Review acting on these recommendations would improve epas ability to carry out its core mission, protecting human health and environment. This mission is never more important than during times of Natural Disaster like the one in the gulf coast experiencing right now in Hurricane Harvey about to hit with another hurricane on the florida coast. First of all, on behalf of the committee, i want to express my sincere sorrow to everyone impacted by the storm. Hurricane harvey is one of the worst Natural Disasters the United States has ever face. And its still too early to tell the extent of the devastation that has displaced thousands of people. Members of this committee and both sides ofale represent constituents and our thoughts and prayers are with these families as they begin to rebuild their lives from this national tragedy. While epa is still in the midst of initial response efforts, its work has only just begun. We look forward to monitoring the extent of the disaster and working on the impact ahead. May improve epas ability to improve let me go back to what were about to face in florida and puerto rico and the disasters looming there. Now, the constitution provides congress to roprovide oversight. We Work Together to root out waste fraud and abuse at federal agencies. After these recommendations are issued, they work to ensure that the epa acts on their findings. Today the committee will learn even when epa agrees with recommendations it may take years to implement them, and some are never fully adopted by the agency. As a result, many of the open recomme recommendations span multiple administrations, some dating back to the bush administration. While the epa adopts a rate ashd the federal government average, there are still unimplemented measures in many of the agency. Epa has the potential to save 13. 3 million by implementing the epa recommendations. The semiannual report has 56 with due dates set in the future. The gao will testify epa has implemented 391 of the 2,000 recommendations for example, epaoig recently conducted an audit during fiscal years 2015 ask 2016. The Agency Reported it lacks an understandi understanding. The epa is not expected to implement this recommendation until december 31st of 2018. This is particularly troubling because grants commize almost half of the epas budget, about 4 billion annually. In 2016 the epa found the grant pract may impact the ability. Additionally in 2016 goa reported it may not have the money needed to implement resources effectively. They range from standardized to development of process of analyzed work loads. These are just some of the many reports and audits. We will discuss more of them today. But theyve done excellent work to highlight problems with the epa and find ways to resolve these issues. With things looming in florida and with the tragedy in texas, i proudly speak for the committee, we better not find out the epa has found any pollution or done any harm. Weve found an increase in zika mosquitos in texas. We dont know if that has anything to do with Water Management and anything within the jurisdiction of epa. We will keep a close watch. I thank our witnesses today. I want to especially recognize our witness from gao. Hes a houston native who has two nephews serving in the Fire Department there. Are they doing okay . Okay. We appreciate your service. The hearing subject while important, pales in comparison of the true oversight needed of the trump Environmental Protection agency. Epa is and always husband has been critical partner to our states and communities back home. Most of what epa does is to support our communities back home in cleaning up polluted sites, helping protect the air we breathe and the water we drink. And i thank the professionals and scientists at the Environmental Protection agency for their work. But President Trump and administrator scott pruitt have a very different vision, unfortunately. And they have been acting to weaken support for our communities back home that comes through the epa. And it is particularly troubling that epa administrator pruitt has not appeared before the energy and Commerce Committee to date. This committee has direct oversight of the epa, and its simply unprecedented and unacceptable that the administrator has not appeared before the committee. Now, the importance of the epa is particularly clear as texas learns more about the scope and extent of the destruction caused by Hurricane Harvey. Theres nothing like a Disaster Response that demonstrates how critical toxic chemical, super fund and other epa initiatives are important to the safety of our neighbors. And the recovery from such a storm is long, expensive and challenging. And our thoughts are with the residents of puerto rico, the Virgin Islands and floridians as theyre in the path of another extremely dangerous storm in hurricane irma. Hurricane harvey slammed into the gulf coast as a category 4. So far its left at least 60 people dead and death toll and cost is likely to continue to rise in the coming weeks. Ranking member of the subcommittee on health, representative jim green, i just saw him at the other subcommittee. He represents the city of houston. And our thoughts are with him and his constituents at this time. And mr. Gomez, i want to recognize you for being here today at what is surely a difficult time for you and your family. The epa has been a key agency responding to harvey. And for this reason this hearing should be a time line and important step in how to strengthen the agency as it supports local responders and begins to assess the possible impact of the flooding, toxin releases. But this is devoted to a people are evacuating through dirty and contaminated flood waters that may contain bacteria and toxic substances. Theres also been reports of fires anddential reports express possible damage to leaking gas tanks at fuel facilities. Which if true will be problems the epa needs to address. For example, accord to epa 13 of the 41 former and toxic waste sites in harvey impacted areas have flooded and may have experienced some damage. Ditionally the city of houston contains chemical petrol plants. Our local communities need the expertise of the epa to prevent and mitigate such releases. But the Trump Administration has been working over time to weaken epas ability to help back home. And now its really showing at a time of disaster. The storm also raises concerns of Drinking Water safety. According to epa 4,500 drinking systems are potentially threatened by flood waters, disrupted sewage systems. After Hurricane Katrina staff was on the ground to help. And this committee should consider oversight hearings in texas in the near term. But todays hearing rather than focusing on the big picture examines unprecedented implementations for the epa. At the time the real issue of the decimation of the epa work force. And yet we respond to Hurricane Harvey and other catastrophes at this time, but the over all epa has never been more important. Mr. Chairman, im deeply troubled the help of the agency under the Trump Administration. And the true oversight the trump epa is waging an aggressive roll back of environmental and Human Health Protections through politization of the agency, repealing or delaying rule making and attacking fundamental science. The Trump Administration proposed extreme budget cuts that cut to the heart of our local communities and threatened the health and environment of americans in every state. The trump budget would slash epas budget by nearly 2. 6 billion, reduce the professional work force there by over 3,000 employees. And the damage would be done to our air quality, diesel reduction emissions, lead safety, and it goes on and on. Already theres evidence of conflicts, favoritism towards certain businesses and grants changed to exact political revenge. This is not acceptable, and this is what needs oversight. Mr. Chairman, we want to work with you to make sure the epa imlmts the work force and contractor recommendations. But if were serious about ensuring that the agency is able to protect human health and the environment, then we must Work Together to conduct true overtime. The fundamental damage being done to this agency and our neighbors back home. Thank you, and i yield back. Thank you. I thank the gentleman. I would just in response to my friend from florida, our committee staff, the Oversight Committee has worked together before the hurricane. This staff was put together before harvey had a name. So we will do our oversight and continue to. At the appropriate time i anticipate there will be a delegation and well go and hold hearings or do an appropriate review. Im one when theres an emergency going on, tries to stay utof the way of the First Responders and let them do their job. And so at the right time well do that, and well have administrator pruitt for our committee sooner rather than later. I share a frustration theres been a long delay in getting some of these positions filled partly by our friends in the senate, but the time has come for these agency heads and for our committee. And they will. Now, as to this hearing, i appreciate subcommittee chairman murphy having this in his opening comments. We care deeply about whats happened in texas. We care deeply at whats about to happen in florida. My own district is on fire, and much destruction going on there. All these things matter. We want to talk about air quality. We could use your support on some our forestry ledgislation o reduce the fuel loads so we dont poison people. Recovery from any disaster twhergt its Hurricane Harvey or irma or destructive wild fires burning out of control throughout the west requires coordination at every level of the government. And the epa is a critical part of the that. The challenges facing the epa pertaining to harvey are significant. And i hope the Agency Seizes upon the lessons it learned in response previous disasters such as katrina and sandy. Any out standing recommendations if implemented could enable the agency to better achieve or do its job better. Well also exam some of the areas of concern commented upon by the oig and gao. Many of their recommendations span multiple administrations and therefore represent longstanding challenges for the agency. For example, weve learned the epa has failed to complete an agency wide analysis in more than 20 years. Similarly theyve identified issues whether they have knowledge of or monitors the activities of its contractors. Addressing these issues will increase transparency and accountability of the epa in addition to enabling the agency to make better informed budgetary decision. I believe all americans want a healthy environment for themselves, their environment and communities. And i would like to thank Alfredo Gomez and provide testimony and expand upon their organizations findings and recommendation. Id also like to recognize and thank mr. Gomezs nephews who i understand are serving the houston Fire Department. Thank you for their brave work who so bravely assisted many ouf our responders during Hurricane Harvey. With that mr. Chairman i yield back the balance of my time. I recognize Ranking Member mr. Pollone for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Its been a week and a half since Hurricane Harvey hit texas. And as the scope of the environmental disaster only begins to become known, thousands remain displaced, their homes and businesses flooded. And know firsthand the devastation caused by such Natural Disasters. In 2012 my district was hit hard by hurricane sandy. For many this storm was a worst case snareo. Lives lost, homes flooded, businesses lost. Our nation is now experiencing historic levels of destruction on the gulf coast in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. Our current members of congress including five members on this committee are working with local, state, and federal officials and First Responders to help those affected by the storm. And as the cleanup continues many grave environmental and Human Health Risks exists. Weve seen chemical plants on fire, fuel tanks leaking, massive releases of toxic pollutants into the air, and flooded Super Fund Sites. This committee must work to understand the impact some of these facilities may have on Public Health. The Trump Administration recently delayed amendments to the Risk Management program, which included safety requirements. More over the Environmental Issues resulting from the hurricane also under score the need for robust implementation of the emergency planning. Communities have the right to know about important details about the type and amount of harmful chemicals released in their neighborhoods. All of these risks under score the need for a strong and capable e, pa. Today were reviewing recommendations regarding the epa. And i want to thank our witnesses for their testimony and work on these recommendations. However, i would argue thal recommendations from proving epas are part of a much wider need to ensure the agency is performing wide and efficiently in protecting human health and the environment. Over the last six months epa has been doing Everything Possible to try to operate in secrecy. Administrator pruitt repeatedly disregards Oversight Committees. These actions taken into totality serve to directly under mine theagys ability to effectively protect the human health and environment. Its key to responding to Natural Disasters like Hurricane Harvey. It has established a unified command with state and local partners. But that number is going to increase dramatically in the coming weeks. About 600 epa staff and contractors assisting with cleanup and response activities in addition to thousands of epa employees responding to response efforts from headquarters and Regional Offices around the country. But budget cuts and buy outs the administration has proposed, well need to make sure epa actually has employees in place to conduct this critical work. The committee must conduct an active oversight of the agency, clean air protections and the impacts of climate change. We must also conduct ongoing oversight of epa. And the Trump Administrations ongoing effort to attack fundamental science and also propose extreme budget and staff reductions do nothing in my opinion other than to under mine the effort to protect the iermt and human health. I am concerned, and hope we can Work Together. And again, thanks to everyone and yield back looking forward to your comments to the panel. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, gentleman, for his comments. I ask the written Opening Statements be written into the record. Now id like to introduce our panel. First we have mr. Allen larson, the council to the Inspector General. We also have mr. Alfredo gomez who serves the Natural Resources and environment accountability office. We thank you for being here today and providing testimony. We look forward to the opportunities of discussing open and unlimited recommendations made to the epa. Do you have any objections taking testimony under oath . Seeing none then, the chair advise you under the rules of the house, rules of the committee youre entitled to be advised by council. Are either of you advised be council in testimony today . With that dwriel swear you in. Do you swear the testimony youre about to give is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth . Answer to the affirmative. And now youre entitled under the oath. Now a five minute summery of your written statement. Well begin with you, mr. Larson. Could you turn your microphone on, please . Thank you, and pull it close to you. Am i on now . Yes, you are. Thank you. Good morning again chairman murphy, representative caster and members of the subcommittee, i am counsel ilto the Inspector General. I thank this committee for highlighting the importance of acting on unimplemented oig recommendations as you know an officer of Inspector General cannot direct recommendations. But only if an agency chooses to implement them. O our plan, however, is always subject to change as we inevitably receive hot line requests and congress requests. We conduct those reviews and issue final reports, which generally will include one or more recommendations to address our findings. As required by the Inspector General act, the epaoig publishes a list to congress. Our most recent report cited 43 open recommendations with past due completion dates and 56 with future dates. Notably potential cost savings for the unlimited recommendations listed amount to 100 million. Now i will briefly discuss some of the oigs recommendations to the epa that remain unimplemented. In july 2017 we completed a review of the processes the epa uses to verify that Agency Contractors have the training needed to protect the agency from cyberattacks. We found that the epa is unaware of the number of contractors who require specialized training. The oig recommended that the epa implement a process to maintain a listing of contractors who require the specialized training and that the Agency Report this information to its chief Information Security officer. While the agency has committed to implement a process for verifying that Agency Contractors are appropriately trained, our recommendation remains unlimited, posing a continuing risk to the agencys information, data, and network. To another audit completed in august of 2014, we looked at the agencys oversight of cloud commuting initiatives. We found the lack of over sight over vendors resulted in messed opportunities for significant savings. The epa paid over 2 million for services that were not fully rendered or did not comply with federal requirements. Weve recommended several corrective actions to the agency such as improving policies and documenting cost benefit analyses. To date, the agency has not fully implemented all of our recommendations. In april 20117 we completed a ree view of puerto ricos state revolving funds based on a hot line complaint from the epa. The epa reported that the puerto rico government developing bank did not have funds to honor a combine balance of approximately 188 million. The oig determined that over 774 million is at risk due to puerto ricos financial crisis. And that the restoration of funds in the near future is highly unlikely. The oig recommended the epa establish actions or implement new strategies better suited to the needs of puerto rico. While the agency has considered new future approaches to Grant Funding, the agencys recommendation is as of yet unimplemented. These are just a few examples of oigs recommendation to the agency. We will continue to work actively with the epa and Keep Congress fully advised. Accomplishing our work requires sufficient appropriate funds from congress. Our funding clearly remts a fruitful investment for the taxpayer as oig returns 22 for every dollar given to us in fiscal year 2016. I respectfully ask for any help you can provide us in this regard. Im happy to answer any questions. Thank you, mr. Larson. Mr. Gomez, youre recognized for five minutes. Thank you. Good morning, and im pleased to be here today to talk to you about the status of recommendations gao has made to the Environmental Protection agency. As you know the mission of the epa is to protect human health and environment. Weve conducted reviews based on various aspects of the epas recommendations. And through these reviews weve made numerous recommendations to improve epas performance and efficiency and operations. First, the status of epas implementation since fiscal year 2007 and how these recommendations relate to epas recommendations and programs. And two, examples of benefits realized by epa and others based on our work. As part of our process we follow up on recommendations we have made and report on their status to congress. Agencies also have a responsibility to monitor and maintain accurate records on the status of our recommendations. We now follow up with epa twice a year to determine the extent which our recommendations have been implemented and the benefits that have been realized. We consider a recommendation implemented when the agency has taken action to address the issue or deficiency that we have identified. With regard to the first area on the status of gaos recommendations we found that of the 318 recommendations we made to epa, they had implemented 191. The remaining 127 recommendations remained open or not implemented. And just to give you some more information, for recommendations that we made over four years ago, that is recommendations from fiscal year 2007 to 2012, epa has implemented 77 . For recommendations we made within the last four years, that is since fiscal year 2013, erpa has implemented 34 . It takes time for recommendations to be imp allmented. For this reason we track open recommendations for three years. The 318 recommendations weve made fall into six broad categories such as water related issues and environmental contamination and cleanup. For example, in january 2017 we reported an epa grants to states, local governments and others which make up almost 50 of the agencys budget. We found the epa does not have sufficient information about the workload associated with these grants. Consequently the agency is not able to effectively and eficiently allocate staff across the regions to manage these grants. Because the agency did not know its grants workload, it sometimes has to shift staff from other Mission Areas to address the work. We recommended that epa collect and analyze data about grants management work loads and use these data to inform staff allocations. Epa agreed with this recommendation and initiated steps to address it. And we will continue to monitor epas actions to figure out what the status of the ranks are. We have also identified many benefits based on epa taken actions on our recommendations. For example, we recommended several wastewater and infrastructure issues. We reported on Drinking Water and wastewater needs of rural and small communities. We found some communities faced potentially deplecative analyses. We recommended that epa and the department of agriculture Work Together with state and other officials to develop guidelines to assist in developing uniform environmental analyses, and they have done so. In summery, our recommendations provide a Good Opportunity to improve the governments fiscal position, better serve the public and make Government Programs more effective and efficient. Epas implementation of our recommendations will help the agency continue to improve its performance and efficiency and effectiveness of its operations. And we will continue to work with congress to monitor and draw attention to these important issues. Chairman murphy, congresswoman caster, members of the subcommittee, this concludes my statement. Thank you for your support to my family in texas and my nephews and also the other families in texas. Thank you. Mr. Gomez, ill start with you. Could you explain how epas failure to assess its work loads hinders its responsibility to respond to Natural Disasters like Hurricane Harvey and irma . So what weve talked about in our work looking at Work Force Planning and grants management and its really important for the agency as you said to have good information on workload. Data workload is important because the agency doesnt really ensure it has the right people in the right places with the right skills and competencies to accomplish the mission of the agency. Whether that is to focus on areas that are shortterm or longterm. We want to make sure that the agency has that information. It is something that the agency has struggled with for decades, so continue to make those recommendations. I know the aig has made recommendations in the past. So thats really important. Mr. Larson, could you comment on that, how it affects our ability to respond to these hurricanes . The oigs work is directly connected to the aigs work in this area. We implemented recommendations. As of july of this year, the agency has responded to and acted on the last of the open recommendations. However, for the last several years including the current, management challenges report we gave for the agency we continue to highlight workforce planning as a challenge that the agency needs to address. I guess the simple answer to your question, mr. Chairman, is that the agency doesnt know what its work requirements are, it cannot assign and align people to those requirements. And we are urging them to as mr. Gomez says identify the data that allows them to make those comparisons and align their work with their work force. And we often find weaknesses during a time of challenge. Gao considers these recommendations be critical. So mr. Gomez, as epa responds to Hurricane Harvey and begins to prepare to respond to hurricane irma, are there any high priority recommendations if iml. Ed could have impacted the response to the hurricanes . This high priority letter that weve sent to the epa, weve done that since 2015. Either areas gao has identified as high risk. We have a number of recommendations focusing on Water Infrastructure. The area of Water Infrastructure, so, for example, weve done work looking at how small and rural utilities use Asset Management, which is really important tool to understand what infrastructure these utilities have, perhaps where these areas are with that infrastructure that is vulnerable or high risk. So that when a disaster does take place, theyre better prepared both to respond to it but also if they have to rebuild, they can rebuild with resilience in mind. So weve made a number of remations to epa, getting epa to work with the department of agriculture to come up with better guidelines and information, and to encourage the states and the utilities to use Asset Management. Small utilities are challenged because they dont have the Technical Expertise necessary. But we should do whatever we can for families and other communities to prepare for these Natural Disasters. Finally in june of 2007 the gao released a report of recommendations. One of these recommendations is still open after ten years. What was it, and how is it going to effect things in texas, florida, and puerto rico . Sure, we were looking at epas response to katrina and also to the subsequent cleanup. One of the recommendations weve kept open over the years and we had recommended that epa work with other federal Land Management agencies, dhs and fema to better coordinate responses to cleanup. And the reason we did that is because we found in the work that National Wildlife refuges, had been contaminated and the contamination lasted over a year. Some of the refuges were closed for over a year. So whats happened since then since grs passed the postkatrina act of which epa has a key role now in responding Hazardous Waste and oil spills. So in theory we expect that epa is putting in place, for example, in florida any response thats needed as the hurricane may come to that region. So were going to look at that recommendation based on whats happened now and potentially close it. Because we think it might address what we had been talking about. Thank you. My times expired. Ms. Cassidy, youre recognized for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman, gentleman. It is would seem that the Trump Administrations effects there its still failed to provide nominees for all senate positions at epa. The Trump Administration, a lot of this we blame a lot on the senate. But you cant put too much blame on the senate here because the Trump Administration has not nominated people for deputy administrator, assistant administrator for the office of air and radiation, assistant administrator to the office of air and chemical safety and pollution, environmental and International Tribal affairs, Research Management and twaurt. Do you all agree when you dont have folks in charge, it complicates the agency to follow through with recommendations . The short answer is yes. The longer answer is we have career people who remain in place who do carry out the work of the agency. But as you indicate, the statutory mandates remain in place. And its up to the agency to figure out a way to carry those mandates. And it is more difficult if you dont have the leadership. Yes, i would agree that its important to have the staff that you need at all levels of the agency to carry out its mission. And mr. Gomez, you said that gao meet with folks at epa every six months. Have you met with administrator pruitt . Is it typical that you would meet with the administrator or leadership to go over recommendations from gao . So what our general likes to do is meet with all the new cabinet secretaries and leaders of other offices. So gao is montana process of scheduling a meeting with administrator pruitt. And i would go to that meeting as well but that has not been done here in the first we have not scheduled it yet, yes. Youre just like the energy and Commerce Committee that has yet to see the epa administrator. Gentleman, theres a report that came out that the epa has taken a political step in vetting hundreds of millions of dollars in grants the epa distributes annually, assigning the funding decisions to a former Trump Campaign aide with little environmental policy experience. Its already canceled close to 2 million in compesatively awarded grants to universities and nonprofit organizations. It really does appear like this is being politicized. This is from the Washington Post on september 4th. Earlier on saturday on the same day Lisa Murkowski of alaska epa staffers were instructed without any explanation to halt all grants to the Regional Office that covers washington, oregon, and ohio. That area was quickly narrowed to just alaska and remained in place for nearly two weeks. The former bush epa administrator Christine Todd whitman said this is out of the ordinary. Political appointees dont have that kind of background. Have you all opened any kind of investigation into whats happening here yet . Weve read those reports. Weve not received complaints from congress so far or from members of the public or from organizations about this. If you could if you would, id offer a general and specific answer to your question. Quickly because i have one more question. Okay, the general answer is epa has always been a lightening rod. We get complaints on the one hand that epa is ignoring its statutory obligations and allowing let me ask thank you for that. You have, i believe, opened an investigation last week into administrator pruitts travel because it is so out of the ordinary that he has it says officials of the epa office of Inspector General notified leadership last week that pruitt was in oklahoma or en route there for nearly half of his last 34 months in office. But the problem is that it looks like hes been using taxpayer funds for this excessive travel. How long will it take for the oig to get to the bottom of this investigation . Maam, in our world we distinguish between investigations and audits, and its probably a distinction most people dont care about. But we are doing an audit. They tend to take longer. Were going to look not only at the specifics of mr. Pruitts travel but the robustness of the controls that govern travel generally and whether theyre sufficient. Thank you very much. I yield back. Thank you. Chair recognizes mr. For five minutes. Correct me if im wrong, but an investigation means youre looking into something that might have wrongdoing or an audit is youre looking to see if theres this is just an audit to see what we can do better . Well, its also going to look at whether there were violations of agency requirements. Okay. All right, i appreciate that, thank you. Let me get to down to where i was going to go initially and that would be i am concerned about the workforce and the workload questions. Reported epa has not conducted workload analysis in over 20 years making it difficult for eping a to allocate its budget effectively. And i guess what im looking at there is weve heard talk for a few months where certain positions arent filled. But here were looking at 20 years both democratic and republican administrations that have not gone in and looked at their workload analysis at the epa. And then we see with Hurricane Harvey that we had 13 Super Fund Sites that were affected. Am i not correct if we had performed a workload analysis over tile, not saying all 13 of them would have been cleaned up, but we might have more Super Fund Sites cleaned . I testified in a different hearing at a subcommittee where they were talking about a site in a sainlt lewis facility that had not bine acted on in decades as well that was a super fund fight. Can you help me on those things. If we had a workload analysis, these were the worst ones. Ill give my short answer and then mr. Gomez can respond. My short answer is its difficult to draw a direct line between lack of a work force plan and a specific failure to be able to cover something. I think we can all say if you knew more precisely where your requirements are and how many people and what kinds of people you need to address those, you would probably have a better result. But i cant draw a direct onetoone correlation. Mr. Gomez. And i would just pivot from that last comment. And i think our point on Work Force Planning has been exactly that point, is to understand, again, where from data where your people are, what skill sets you need, the locations you need them in so you have a better sense how to meet that mission. And that mission could be you cleaning up Hazardous Waste sites. But doing work force analysis would help do that better. We hear all the time that folks need more money. Well, if i know you need more money because youre going to help Rural Communities and i appreciate you mentioning Rural Communities with water and wastewater, help those communities heres what youve got to do without helping folks figure out how to do it with the money they have. We could figure out how to appropriate the money more advantageously before it happens before we have issue like in my rural mountain district where theres problems we dont go how to solve and afraid to ask in fear if they come in and epius, theyll just punish people who are trying to do the best circumstances as they can in a rural area. So thank you. I have one more response to your question. That is our oig office of program evaluations, similar to audits, has a current project under way looking at super fund workforce planning. And well keep you and your staff informed on that effort. Well, i greatly appreciate that very much. Were vjust beginning the Hurricane Harvey efforts. And that will continue for years and the environmental impacts already occurring and yet to be seen, and we talked about the Super Fund Sites there. Is there anything that you see that is not being done by the epa currently . I know its really early in the Hurricane Harvey area that we need to be concerned about . Its always a dilemma for us. As the chairman said, you dont want to wade into the middle of the cleanup effort. On the other hand, you dont want to wait so long that your efforts are valueless. I guess what i fall back on is the National Response framework that mr. Gomez alluded to. And it does give certain responsibilities to the epa. We cannot mandate that epa take any specific steps after the fact i think we would evaluate whether they took the appropriate steps under the framework. But i dont know see a role for the oig jumping in right now in the middle of a cleanup effort. Thank you, and unfortunately my time is up and i yield back. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I just want to remind my colleagues i heard my colleague from virginia talk about super fund or Super Fund Cleanup inaction. In reality there is no super fund. Ive had a bill for years to try and get the trust fund, if you will. Theres a Super Fund Program, but essentially theres nono Super Fund Program to pay for anything. And that back when the Newt Gingrich as the speaker, it expired. And i always begged him and democrats begged him at the time to do it and he refused. We still have the bill out there and i would ask at any time if our chairman or the speaker would allow us to reauthorize a super fund trust fund. Because then we would have the money to do these cleanups. On an annual basis i go before the appropriators because thats the only way to get the money and ask for more funding and we always get significantly less than what we ask for. Its nice to talk about Super Fund Cleanup but the reality is its been you know, it was essentially stopped by the republican congress. And not to say that, you know, theyre totally to blame, but they certainly were the ones you bring it up any time and ill support you passing it in committee or on the floor. I just wanted to say i wanted to thank the epa oig for recently accepting the committees request to review the propriety of the use of taxpayer funds for travel to and from his home state of oklahoma. I know that weve already mentioned that. Unfortunately trump has launched proposed significant cuts to epa budget and staff that threaten to undermine the agencys ongoing efforts to protect human health and the environment. Mr. Gomez in your testimony you said that the gao has made 318 recommendations to epa since fiscal year 2007 including 49 recommendations focused on environmental contamination and cleanup. These include taking actions from cleanup management at Hazardous Waste sites. Enhancing responses to hurricanes such as katrina. My question is is that correct and how might gaos recommendation regarding enhancing epas response to disasters inform the agencys ongoing response to Hurricane Harvey . That is correct. Again, as i mentioned earlier, one of the areas where we see epas recommendations contributing to the response in harvey and other future disasters is in the area of Water Infrastructure. Where weve recommended that epa work with states and others to really assist the small communities. Weve all heard that in texas there were many Water Systems that were under boiled water notices and then over 50 systems i believe were actually shut down. So we think that its really important in the area of Asset Management which is a really important tool for these utilities to use to understand, again, what they have, what are the areas that are vulnerable so they can address them and they can use funds to then build them or restore them and again building in resilience so theyre better prepared. I think thats the one area where i would sort of call attention based on our recommendations where theres some immediate benefit. Thank you. I dont want to keep repeating all the budget cuts the Trump Administration has proposed to the epa. Buyouts, all kinds of things that would result in fewer employees. And that could include hundreds of positions in epas region six headquarters in dallas where ploys are currently responding to Hurricane Harvey. So let me ask you about these proposed cuts to your office, to mr. Larsen. How are current and expected budget limitations impacting Staffing Levels and the ability of epas office of Inspector General specifically, how are they impacting our ability to conduct audits and investigations if you will. Thank you for that question. Its a serious challenge to us. We have had to cut our work force year by year by year and we are down from 360 or so down to 270. And we anticipate having to go fewer than that based on the most likely budget scenarios. If the original president s Budget Proposal were to be adopted by congress, wed have to cut very substantially the amount of work we did. As you know, we gave you a fairly detailed explanation of where those cuts would occur, which offices, what kind of projects. What we do is on an annual basis plan for the work that we would hope to do based on how much value the project would bring in terms of cost savings or changes in how epa does business. We will have to do many fewer such projects in any given year based on the likely budget outcomes. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Collins, you are recognized for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Maybe im going to go down a little bit different road. Really talking about mr. Gomez, if i look back over ten years and im looking right now just in the environmental area and looking at the suggestions you made for spill preventage, none of which have been implemented, so i guess the question is this. Youre doing these audits, making these recommendations. Do you prioritize them in some way with any kind of ranking system, like one star to five stars . And when you see Something Like this and now ten years have gone by, could i assume these would have been considered perhaps lower priority . And then at some point do you go revisit that with someone and who is that someone to say, you know, hey its been ten years, you havent done any of these things. Or are these just thrown into the hopper and then kind of catch as catch can they work on these, they dont work on those. Im trying to wrap my mind around the day by day, year by year interaction between your agency and those folks that are supposed to implement it to make sure high priority things are done and, you know, squeaky wheel that youre kind of jabbing at them, why didnt you get this done and so forth. Could you maybe just help us all maybe a little better understand how that all works, the interaction. Sure. So first of all, i just want to say that we take recommendations to epa very seriously. And so what we do is we have a process in place where were actively following recommendations that weve made in the last four years. What can happen to some of the older recommendations is if we learn from the agency that either theyre not going to implement it or that we make an assessment that, you know, things have changed or its no longer a priority, well go ahead and close it as not implemented. There are recommendations that are old, older than four years that were still keeping track of. We have an indication that epa is still working and we hope that they actually do take action. We can go back at any time and open up any old recommendation that was not implemented. If we think its important or others have brought it to our attention. Our recommendations and the status of the recommendations are public so you can go to any of our reports. You can click on the recommendation status. You see what the reg was and what the status was. We do have this separate letter that we mentioned earlier that is a rec letter that we send to the agencies and other offices calling attention to recommendations that we see as a high priority. And for epa weve identified those recommendations that deal with the high risk area of managing toxic chemicals and then some of the recommendations that deal with Water Infrastructure and also pollution of our waters. So that letter can also change year from year if we go through the history and identify other recs that we think are important. I also mentioned that we work with epa sort of in an ongoing basis as were doing audits, but formally we go to them twice a year with a long list of all our recommendations to say here they are, theyre still open, let us whats happening, let us know which we can close. We do that twice a year formally. But were in contact with them throughout the year. Thats very helpful, because i think sometimes we may not understand how that all works and think you just throw it in and go on about your business and i think its actually reassuring to me certainly for one that youve got it sounds like pretty good interaction. Would you say that . Yes. That youre making them aware, theyre listening. Its back and forth. Right. There are some recommendations where the agency would disagree with those. So we may be at a point where they disagree, we disagree. We still think its a good recommendation. And so theres some like that. Those might be closed as not implemented. Epa has taken our recommendations seriously and they want to they want to close them out. They want to do what were saying. Its just in some cases some of our recommendations might take a little longer to do f. Were recommending an i. T. System be revised or a new i. T. System be put in place that may take longer than if we just recommend the agency use existing web tools to provide better information to the public. We dont see that as taking a long time or it shouldnt take a long time. I appreciate that overview. That was very helpful for me. Mr. Chairman, i yield back the balance of my time. I recognize ms. Clark for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I thank our Ranking Member ms. Castor and i thank our witnesses for joining us today. Like mr. Pallone, my district in new york sustained very substantial damage as a result of super storm sandy, so im very sensitive to the conditions on the ground in houston as well as concerned about the rest of hurricane season, quite frankly. And so standing up a robust operation with the epa i know is critical at this time. There have been a number of reports about unfolding Environmental Concerns stemming from harvey right now and so mr. Larsen, i recognize that your role at epa may not directly involve you in Emergency Response efforts. However, to the extent that youre able, could you please inform us of the epas role in responding to unfolding environmental threats. Sure. As mr. Gomez alluded to earlier, i think the primary set of responsibilities the epa has here stem from the National Response framework which came after some of the earlier Natural Disasters. That means that epa has a responsibility as a support agency for certain functions and its got a primary responsibility for certain functions and the areas where we would expect to see epa involved are assessing and addressing fuel shortages, monitoring public Water Systems, securing Super Fund Sites, and assessing conditions at Major Industrial facilities. Very well. Mr. Gomez, how will gao evaluate the epas efforts to respond to the environmental threats posed by hurricane season, Hurricane Harvey being the most recent example . We looked at the katrina Recovery Efforts and thats what we did. We will look at anything you would like us to do as a result of Hurricane Harvey. Mr. Larson, addressing the issues related to harveys cleanup will be costly to the federal government. What roles do you envision your office will be playing to ensure that federal money that federal money the epa uses to contract for harvey cleanup will be safeguarded from fraud and abuse . Yes, thank you. Were tried to do two things. One is epa oig specific work. The other thing i want to mention is that the organization of igs across the federal government, the sigi has lear d ed from the past and in the past has had a Disaster Assistance working group which is basically the igs from the various agencies that are going to have to play a role here. So epa will be participating in that effort, this agency wide ig, or government wide oig effort to make sure that everybodys doing what they need to do and not duplicating each other. For ourselves, well probably be looking at fraud issues, that could take the form of investigations that we distinguished earlier, that is was there criminal activity going on or was there sloppy practice with regard to contracting. So those are the areas that we would see fairly early on getting involved in. Very well. Mr. Gomez, given that postharvey cleanup will be lengthy and costly and im assuming if were hit with irma and any other hurricanes coming down the pike, what areas do you anticipate your gao team will be interested in examining . Again, you know, were here to assist congress. So whatever Congress Asks us to do as weve seen from at least whats becoming clear in texas with the superfund sites and all the Water Infrastructure systems that are down, that maybe those are areas where potentially we could look at, but again, we could have discussions with anyone in congress whos interested in having gao look at the response efforts. Very well. I cannot emphasize enough that we need to address any environmental threats posed to the residents of the harveyaffected region and perhaps even florida coming down the pike. My thoughts are with the people of houston, the responders assisting on the scene, and lets be sure to get these folks what they need to help them get back on their feet. With that, mr. Chairman, i yield back. Now recognize gentleman from pennsylvania mr. Costello for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you for your testimony here today. Mr. Gomez, id like to start with you. Your written testimony here mentions that in 2015 the epa ordered approximately 3. 9 billion or nearly half of its budget to grants to state and local governments for important projects such as repairing aging wood or infrastructure, preventing pollution, improving air qualitying with and cleaning up Hazardous Waste sites. However, gao found weaknesses in the ability to manage these grants officially and effectively. My question is would you please elaborate on the weaknesses gao identified in epas Grant Management procedures. Second, how have these Grant Management inefficiencies and weaknesses impacted grant recipients . I think thats an important question. And then finally, have these inefficiencies contributed to the wasting of grant money or made it more difficult for recipients to use Grant Funding for its intended purposes . Sure. Thank you for those questions. So weve done a body of work on grants management and that particular report, what we looked at also, were looking to see for recipients, for example, where they were doing duplicitve reporting. They also have to provide more information and data when epa asks for it. We identified a number of place where is there was due publictive reporting by the recipients so we have recommended the the epa identify all those places and try to do away with the duplication so our recipients arent having to spend additional time and resources. So thats one area where we called attention to it and really for epa also to streamline. They have a streamline in place for management. But were calling attention to those places where they can do away with duplication so that the recipients can carry on with the grants and not have to do a lot of reporting. Mr. Larsen, the oig made similar findings with respect to areas of improvement. Do you have anything to add to the line of questioning i posed to mr. G. O. E. S. Mess relative to the management of grants . I wish i did. As representative clark noted, im an expert in some areas, no . I wish i did. As representative clark noted, im an expert in some areas, not so much in others. But what i would be happy to do is organize and get back to you and your primary findings that we have had in those areas. Thank you mr. Chairman, thank you to our witnesses for taking time to join us this morning, we have heard about the epas roles in the emergency responsibility programs in National Disasters like Hurricane Harvey and your coordinate efforts with fema, state, local. Im interested in your efforts to coordinate with tribes and what have you done to reach out and engage tribes with your efforts in Hurricane Harvey . So far weve not reached out to anybody, as i said, you know, at this point we dont want to wander onto the battlefield while the battle is under way. The sigi, that is the ig communitywide effort i alluded to earlier, is among other things going to coordinate among the various igs and also with the tribes and the states. I think thats important to take back to this group to not to neglect sovereignty of tribes and the role that tribes have in order to maintain their environment during Natural Disasters as well. And so reaching out to them and coordinating. Some tribes actually have equipment and technology that can help the Disaster Response like weve seen in my district. With the band of indians utilizing helicopters and other Surveillance Technology in coordination with the Fire Departments to put out some wildfires. So i would highly recommend you take it back and start coordinating also with tribes as a sovereign entity themselves. They can be very, very helpful for the region. What are you know, given the oigs review of the epas response to environmental threats, what are some of the Lessons Learned from some of the that we might see for future storm threats in an area where the ig might consider additional audit work . Sure. Weve unfortunately had katrina, weve had superstorm sandy, weve learned from both. Among the things that we learned were that the coordination between epa and the corps of engineers wasnt necessarily what it could have been or should have been. Coordination with state and local officials probably could have been done better. Weve addressed those to the agency presumably this time around. Youll see better coordination, most likely well be coming in and seeing whether or not that occurred. Are you prepared to assess that . And the difference on whether or not those recommendations were followed . I cant commit that were going to. I expect we will. To mr. Pallones question earlier, where resources constrained but that would be a high priority for us. This is a question for both of you. If you were to pick a number one barrier for you to do your jobs is epa involved in coordination or protecting superfund sites or Water Infrastructure, et cetera, so not contaminated, what would that barrier be . If you were to pick the biggest barrier, what would it be, mr. Larsen . Im sorry, i dont mean to sound dense, but are you talking about epas response or the oigs valuation of the epas response . Well, the epas response. You evaluate the epa. So what would you say would be the epas barrier in doing its job in these boy, youre putting me in the position of speaking for them, but i would think its resources, people and money. People and money. Mr. Gomez . So i would say, you know, in the areas that were seeing unfolding, right . Which is in Water Infrastructure and in the superfund sites at least in texas that are flooded is making sure they have enough people there on the ground to respond to those two immediate areas where potentially there are risks involved. So i would say that that would be if that is a barrier, that they should have enough folks there to address it right now. And so what can congress do to address that barrier . Mr. Larsen . Well, in my view, youve already got the substantive requirements in place. Youve got the clean air act. Youve got the clean water act. And its up to epa to execute on that. They need the people and they need the policy determination to carry forward. I think its what youre doing now. Its the oversight, right . Of looking to see how thats being done and even after the fact how was it done and could something be done better. So the oversight is the diagnostic workup. Right . And youre telling us that the diagnosis is lack of funding, lack of people. So the treatment is the next step. So you cant just diagnose a problem and walk away. You have to act on it and give the treatment to the patient. And so the treatment is the funding and policies that will help bring more people on site to manage the situation not only in the short acute disaster, but in the longterm Public Health recuperation. I have disaster training in my background. I did a fellowship at harvard in the humanitarian Disaster Response, so thats where im speaking from. Thank you very much. I yield back. Now recognize ms. Brooks for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I want to thank the panelists for being here today and for your work to improve the epa. Weve been very focused on people. And agencies arent just agencies. They are people. And as my colleagues have noted, it is about the people. But im concerned that this agency for a long period of time has not accepted your recommendations when it comes to people. And when it comes to their workforce. In 2010, gao issued a report recommending the epa established mechanisms to evaluate workforce planning. Which are people. Placement of people. But the recommendations currently closed and unimplemented. So why was this recommendation closed before epa was able to implement it . If you know. So, again, we track recommendations for four years. If we have an indication that the agencys not going to do it, we close it as not implemented. Obviously weve done some recent work thats focused on grants management but also looking at workforce issues in particular which is a large part of epa. So epa has told us that currently they are giving workforce planning a priority. So we are going to look to see how much of a priority that is and in fact, what theyre going to do. You know, weve been talking about that its basically about data. They dont have good workforce data. They dont have good information on the types of work that each of their staff is doing across offices and across regions. So if you dont have that data, then you again dont ensure that you have the right people in the right places with the right skill sets to accomplish the mission thats needed. Which is those are the management challenges that you are dealing with them and have dealt with them for years. It sounds like this is not new. Is that correct . That is correct. And do you have any sense what percentage of epas funding goes to private sector contract work versus the Public Sector work . So in our 2010 report, we did look at contractors. And at the time there were 6,000 contractors at epa. And so im not sure exactly what that translates to in terms of budget, but i think its a considerable chunk of their budget. And so what we also found in that report was contractors were not part of epas planning either. Were not incorporated. And so we learned from epa recently theyre still not incorporated in their planning. And we think that that should be something that they should do. When they employ 6,000 krtzerkrt contractors, theyre not taking into consideration their Strategic Plans . Correct. And have they agreed recently to take all of those thousands of contractors into account in their plans . So far what weve learned is they havent done it yet still. So im not sure if theyre agreeing or disagrees. The explanation they gave us was that omb didnt require them in their planning to include contractors. Thats why they didnt do it. Is it fair to say and im going to ask you, mr. Larsen, relative identify always been concerned about Information Security issues and for the ig thats what you focus on as well. And there are a number of contractors as i understand and if some bad actors or wrong, you know, wrong doers want to wreak a bit of havoc in systems, they could certainly do it through information technology. Can you talk with us about the lack of understanding at epa relative to Sensitive Data . The access to Sensitive Data . And what you have found about the information or lack of information about the knowledge of epa and those access to Sensitive Data . Sure. I think what we talk about is risk as opposed to actual problems that have manifested. That is, you know, weve not investigated an Insider Threat where an individual breached his obligations and created a vulnerability. What were talking about is if we dont address the vulnerabilities, then the potential is out there. So thats what weve been looking at and we find that the agency doesnt know how serious a problem that is and they dont havent taken the steps to mitigate the potential risk that weve identified. And that was just in your july of 17 report that the agency just issued. Thats correct. Thank you. I yield back. Recognizing mr. Tonko for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chair. First i wanted to express my deepest condolences to our fellow american who is are suffering from the devastation of Hurricane Harvey. Everyone has witnessed this daybyday reporting with just deep concern and sadness for the folks who are enduring. Epa has, therefore, an Important Role to play in Disaster Response and recovery. Ensuring the Environmental Monitoring and remediation needed to protect Public Health. And these storms, these Natural Disasters dont know for republican or democrat. So it ought to be a universally agreed to approach that we take here in washington. But that can only be done if epa has the resources and personnel to do so. This weekend the epa released statements highlighting just some of the work they will need to do in the days, weeks, months ahead. That includes assessing 13 superfund sites that were flooded and could be damaged. Addressing the many drinking and waste Water Systems that remain shut down or damaged or are dealing with health advisories. Assisting with testing for private wells and supporting local First Responders with monitoring cleanup following chemical fires at the arkema facility in texas. The need for a strong robust epa is outstandingly clear and massive budget and workforce cuts and proposals to weaken understaffed or Regional Offices are not the answer. Beyond that i have to believe it is demoralizing to the professional staff of the agency, many of whom offer their lifetime career to the agency and to the betterment of americans across the country. So i want to thank you, mr. Gomez and mr. Larsen, for being here this morning. The recommendations proposed by gao and the igs office continue to make epa a more sufficient and successful agency. Sadly this administration, the Trump Administration is aggressively working to dismantle the epa through regulatory rollbacks, extreme budget cuts, and staff eliminations. An ongoing assault on science. These are foolish cuts proven to be foolish when we see disasters displayed before our very eyes. Mr. Gomez, gao released a report on epa interior and workforce planning in march of 2010 which concluded the agencys efforts have particularly fallen short in workforce plans with their Strategic Plans. The report concludes that age y agencies are at risk of not having the appropriately Skilled Workforce they need to effectively achieve their missions. So are you generally familiar with that report . Of 2010 . Yes. Mr. Gomez, did epa take action to address that . They have not yet. What about further actions in regard will they be doing anything that you know of in respect to workforce planning to correct those the numbers that they require . No. Thats still an outstanding recommendation, again, to properly align its workforce plan with its Strategic Plan and its budget. And the Trump Administration proposed cutting funding to the agency by nearly 2. 6 billion. Thats about a 31 reduction. And proposed reducing the workforce by some 3800 employees. Nearly 50 programs to protect our air and water, address climate change, and strengthing chemical safety were highlighted for elimination. Just unbelievable cuts. This included the chemical safety board, the federal agency tasked with investigating chemical accidents such as the arkema plant in crosby, texas. In your testimony today you note that the report found, i quote, the ability of federal agencies to achieve their mission and carry out their responsibilities depends in large part on whether they can sustain a workforce that possesses the necessary education, knowledge, skills, and other competencies. Is that correct . Yes, thats correct. Thank you, mr. Chair. We should all be concerned about how extreme the budget cuts proposed are and that the staffing reductions proposed would undermine epas ability to accomplish its mission especially in the face of disasters. These are troubling cuts and proven day by day now with these disasters to be the most foolish approach to an agency that was envisioned by president nixon to address safe water that we drink, clean air that we breathe, and all the environmental benefits that should be associated with our rights as americans to enjoy that environment as fully as possible. So i do appreciate the work youre doing to draw the attention of the American Public to these cuts and to the essential elements that these agencies require in order to respond fully and effectively to their mission. And with that, i yield back. Gentleman yields back. Seeing we have no more members here, we will conclude this hearing. Id like to thank all the witnesses and members that participated in todays hearing. I realize a lot of this was along the line of what else are we going to be doing. We felt it important to get on the record for epa to hear. We expect them to take care of these issues, to fill those positions that are needed to take some accounting of whats going on. Because we will be asking more and tougher questions about whats happened in terms of preparedness and response here. None of us want to see any loss of life or property caused by some problems with an agency fulfilled their duties as you have outlined them for us. So we thank you for your observations and your comments today. I remind members they have ten Business Days to submit questions for the record. I ask the witnesses respond quickly to the questions. With that, this committee is adjourned. Senator Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell said this week he intends to bring the Cassidy GrahamHealth Care Proposal to the floor for a vote. Tonight cspan takes a look at the measure sponsored by bill cassidy and lindsey graham. Their idea would change insurance funding into block grants for states. We also look at other proposals to change the current individual market. Our Program Begins at 8 00 p. M. Eastern over on cspan. Online, cspan. Org, or on the free cspan radio app. Health care just one of the Things Congress has to deal with next week. There are a number of items facing a an end of the month deadline. To change the health care law, also both the house and senate are expected to take up legislation reauthorizing funding for Childrens Health program known as c. H. I. P. And work on funding faa programs. Watch live coverage of the house on cspan and the senate on cspan2. Cspans washington journal live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. Coming up this friday morning, well look at President Trumps Voter Fraud Commission and work to improve the integrity of federal elections. Joining us will be bob bower, former cochair of the president ial commission on election administration. And then Rice University history professor Douglas Brinkley will share his thoughts about the trump presidency. Be sure to watch cspans washington journal. Join the discussion. That was early on when i believe trump was had Just Announced and they were worried that they was going to be bad for them in terms of women voters. I was like, really . Youre worried now . Considering how far back theyve had an antiwoman platform. You know, with reproductive rights, equal pay. Sunday night on q a, Washington Post editorial cartoonist. This is Vice President pence and there wasnt i dont remember who did the interview, but he was interviewed and he said Something Like he never goes to any washington dinners without his wife. Then i thought, okay. This is this was a gift. I just thought, really . So you dont have any problem, you know, voting about a womans personal reproductive choices which is probably the most personal and intimate thing a woman can deal with, but you wont go to dinner where a woman fully clothed is having is at the same table. Sunday night at 8 00 eastern on cspans q a. Canadian Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau spoke today at the 72nd session of the United Nations general assembly. He discussed canadas efforts to address and protect the rights of Indigenous People in that country. This is 30 minutes. The assembly will hear a statement by his excellency Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of canada. May i request protocol for his excellency. I have great pleasure in welcoming the Prime Minister of canada, his excellency Justin Trudeau and i invite him