United States:
COVID-19: Weekly Oversight And Enforcement Report—Week Of May 27, 2021
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A. Congress |
- On May 26, SBA Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman began a
series of hearings on the Hill that will continue through May 28.
On May 26, she testified before the House Committee on Small
Business in a hearing titled "An Examination of the
SBA's COVID-19 Programs" and the Senate Committee on Small
Business & Entrepreneurship in a hearing titled "The Pandemic Response and
the Small Business Economy: An Update from the U.S. Small Business
Administration." On May 28, Administrator Guzman will testify
before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services
and General Government in a hearing regarding "Small Business
Administration Oversight." The hearings are focused on the
SBA's administration of pandemic-relief programs and challenges
in program implementation.
- A group of 16 Republican Senators sent a letter to Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo
and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai on May 19 urging the
Biden Administration to walk back its support of the Trade-Related
Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) waiver for COVID-19
vaccines and treatments. The Senators called the decision to
support the TRIPS waiver "disastrous," said "it will
do nothing to end this global pandemic," and characterized
other countries who support the waiver as "want[ing] to steal
our intellectual property and medical technology." The
Senators seek information about how the Biden Administration
reached its decision to support the TRIPS waiver and request
answers to the questions posed in their letter no later than June
19.
- Relatedly, Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID), Ranking Member of the Senate
Finance Committee, introduced an amendment to the U.S. Innovation
and Competitiveness Act in response to the Biden
Administration's support of the TRIPS waiver. The
amendment-which failed to garner enough votes for adoption-would
have required a congressional vote on the Administration's
TRIPS waiver proposal and excluded Russia and China from the
waiver.
|
B. Executive Agencies |
- On May 24, Republican members of the House Committee on
Education and Labor sent Labor Secretary Walsh a letter urging
him to withdraw the COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard
("ETS") currently under review. "Well over a year
since the pandemic was declared, every worker in the United States
is eligible for a vaccination, and businesses have been authorized
by federal and state governments to relax restrictions based on the
latest science from the CDC," the 23 Republicans wrote. The
ETS is in its fifth week of OMB review.
- The Senate Labor Committee has scheduled a May 27 confirmation hearing
for Doug Parker to lead OSHA. Parker now runs the California
Division of Occupational Safety and Health. Senators may question
his lead role in developing California's COVID-19 ETS and how
Parker would execute President Biden's call for more
enforcement of federal safety regulations.
- A Texas man has pleaded guilty to filing fraudulent
applications seeking more than $3 million in PPP loans. According
to court documents, his applications falsely claimed that his
wedding-planning company employed 126 individuals with an average
monthly payroll of $700,000, when in fact the company had only two
employees. Within days of receiving over $1.5 million in PPP funds,
he used the money to pay off his home mortgage and purchased two
Teslas, two Freightliner trucks, and a Mercedes Benz van.
|
C. State Attorneys General |
No updates this week. |
D. Special Inspector General for Pandemic
Recovery (SIGPR) |
No updates this week. |
E. Pandemic Recovery Accountability Committee
(PRAC) |
No updates this week. |
The content of this article is intended to provide a general
guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought
about your specific circumstances.
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