Interior puts science grants through political review
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interior-puts-grants-to-nonprofits-universities-through-political-appointee-review/2018/01/08/ec7140b2-f4bc-11e7-beb6-c8d48830c54d_story.html?undefined=&utm_term=.016da27f047a&wpisrc=nl_politics&wpmm=1
The Interior Department has adopted a new screening process for the discretionary grants it makes to outside groups, instructing staff to ensure those awards “promote the priorities” of the Trump administration.
The Dec. 28 directive, obtained by The Washington Post, represents the latest attempt by Trump political appointees to put their mark on government spending. Last summer, the Environmental Protection Agency instituted a system requiring that a political appointee in the public affairs office sign off on each grant before it is awarded.
Scott J. Cameron, Interior’s principal deputy assistant secretary for policy, management and budget, instructed other assistant secretaries and bureau and office heads to submit most grants and cooperative agreements for approval by one of his aides. Those include any award of at least $50,000 “to a non-profit organization that can legally engage in advocacy” or “to an institution of higher education.”
The EPA directive also targeted federal grants to universities and nonprofit groups. Although Cameron did not identify the total amount of funding affected by the new policy, and the department declined to comment on the matter, former Interior officials said hundreds of millions of dollars in expenditures probably would be affected.
An attachment to the directive listed Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s “Top Ten Priorities” by which each award would be scrutinized. The list begins with “Creating a conservation stewardship legacy second only to Teddy Roosevelt” and includes “Utilizing our natural resources.”
Although Interior secretaries under Democratic and Republican presidents have directed federal dollars to support their priorities, the new approval process appears to be without precedent within the department.
David J. Hayes, who served as Interior’s deputy secretary under Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, said in an email Monday that laws passed by Congress govern these programs.
“Subjugating Congress’ priorities to 10 of the Secretary’s own priorities is arrogant, impractical and, in some cases, likely illegal,” said Hayes, executive director of the New York University School of Law’s State Energy and Environmental Impact Center.
“Our senior leadership team never set up a process like this — that is, a process that identifies broad categories of contracts, at modest financial levels, that must be kicked upstairs to headquarters for political sign-off,” Hayes added. “To the contrary, we recognized that government contract processes are complex, and that political interference would sully the integrity of contracting processes that applicants have a right to expect are governed with fairness, impartiality, and integrity as their guide.”