'What Discussions Were You Involved In?': Patty Murray Grills Nom On Role In Canceling 'DEI Efforts'

7 months ago

During a Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee hearing last week, Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) asked Cheryl Mason about her role in canceling DEI programs.

Transcript

00:00Thank you. Thank you. I yield my time.

00:02Senator Murray. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

00:06Ms. Mason, you did say on your questionnaire that you continued to be a senior advisor to Secretary Collins

00:12after you were nominated to become the Inspector General monitoring his agency.

00:17While you were senior advisor to Secretary Collins, what discussions were you involved in

00:23related to abruptly canceling contracts or ending DEI efforts or eliminating outreach to LGBTQ?

00:32Thank you for the question, Senator Murray.

00:34And to be clear, yes, at the time I answered the questionnaire, I was senior advisor to the Secretary.

00:39That role ended very quickly.

00:40After I submitted that questionnaire, I'm now senior advisor to VEO and do not sit in the Secretary's suite.

00:46So as for your question as to those roles, the only roles I had with contracts

00:52were ensuring that the organizations that were in my portfolio knew that they needed to justify the contracts

00:59and ensure that they responded timely.

01:02I did not review contracts. I was not involved in those.

01:05As far as in the DEI situation, that was an executive order.

01:08And shortly after the senior advisors came in, they were followed by more senior advisors.

01:13And that was not something that was on my plate.

01:15That belonged to general counsel and the senior advisor who was charged with EEOs.

01:19I mean, I had to ask Senator Blumenthal's question again.

01:24What substantive work were you doing if you weren't involved in any of that?

01:28Well, again, my role as senior advisor was to look into actions that were going on in the administration.

01:35But a lot of the actions that were going on in the administration that we know about were about ending DEI,

01:42about firing employees, about canceling contracts.

01:45So that was most of the activity that was going on there.

01:49That was not in my portfolio.

01:51There were separate senior advisors assigned to that.

01:53My portfolio was looking at the way those organizations operated and how they served veterans,

01:59particularly VBA, because it's such a large organization.

02:02There were challenges with the digital GI Bill,

02:06challenge with disability compensation backlogs and inventory with both the board and VBA,

02:11challenges with loan guarantees.

02:15There were a variety of challenges within VBA that I was looking at.

02:17Okay, well, let me ask you differently.

02:19What was your engagement with DOGE in the White House outside of the Presidential Personnel Office?

02:25I have no engagement with DOGE in the White House.

02:27None? Zero?

02:28None.

02:28No contact?

02:29No, the only contact I had was a swearing-in.

02:34I attended a swearing-in for a person who has since, I guess, been, has left the department in DOGE.

02:42That person I attended the VA swearing-in.

02:44That was it.

02:45Well, as you know, Congress has a responsibility to conduct oversight over the Office of Inspector General

02:52to make sure that they are properly conducting their role.

02:56So it's really crucial, as you well know, that the OIG is transparent.

03:00If you are confirmed, will you provide us with a list of every ongoing OIG investigation within 30 days?

03:07Yes, Senator.

03:08I will do so.

03:09Okay.

03:10The budget for VA proposed the elimination of, quote, unnecessary outreach activities.

03:15From a congressional perspective, it is really critical to make sure that any canceled outreach

03:22doesn't impact veterans' ability to receive care that's necessary to provide.

03:26If confirmed, will you hold the department responsible for conducting all outreach that is in statute or policy,

03:34even if the political leadership, meaning your former boss, Secretary Collins,

03:38doesn't want to reach out to those groups?

03:40So, Senator Murray, I will look into all those situations, and I will see where they are statutory required,

03:47and they will be held accountable under my watch as OIG if confirmed.

03:51Okay.

03:51Well, let me just ask this.

03:54Congress was very clear in 1978 when it passed the law governing inspectors general.

04:00The law states, and I want to quote it,

04:02each inspector general shall be appointed without regard to political affiliation and solely on the basis of integrity.

04:09Do you believe that an inspector general should be entirely independent from the administration in which they serve?

04:16Thank you for that question, Senator Murray.

04:17I do.

04:19Well, you were a political appointee for President Trump in his first term,

04:22and as we said on your questionnaire, you said you continued to be an advisor to Secretary Collins after you were nominated for this.

04:31Do you believe that this demonstrates the kind of nonpartisanship it takes to successfully execute this job?

04:38Well, Senator Murray, I would refer to my years of experience in the department.

04:43I served 12 secretaries, six, now seven administrations.

04:47I am unique in that I was a careerist who became a political appointee during the Trump administration,

04:54but I served into the Biden administration, and President Biden appointed me to a position

04:59to ensure that the department was implementing the executive orders from President Obama,

05:05President Trump, and President Biden on hiring veterans and military spouses.

05:10So, yes, I do believe I have that as a lawyer and as a judge and as chairman,

05:14which was an independent, impartial position.

05:17Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

05:21Senator Hassan.

05:22Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

'What Discussions Were You Involved In?': Patty Murray Grills Nom On Role In Canceling 'DEI Efforts'

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended