Lawmakers offer warning to OMB

Key House Democrats are looking into whether White House officials attempted to thwart the law on government inspectors general.

Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) said late on Tuesday that they are concerned about potential actions by the Office of Management and Budget, led by Peter Orszag.

The members are looking at a situation detailed in a letter from the Office of Personnel Management's inspector general. Patrick McFarland, the inspector general, said his office received a "not so veiled threat from OMB" concerning his office's ability to comment to Congress about its proposed budget.

"I am alerting you about a very serious matter that represents an attempt to thwart an authority provided to us by the Inspector General Reform Act of 2008 and that creates a risk of compromising our operational independence," McFarland told lawmakers.

McFarland described a situation in which his office felt like OMB "will make life miserable" for it on issues pending before Congress.

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