The COVID-19 Congressional Oversight Commission (COC) is an oversight body in the United States created by the CARES Act. They will report to Congress every 30 days on how the Department of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve Board manage the funds until September 30, 2025. [1] [2] These reports will assess: [2]
The COC has a similar composition and remit as the TARP Congressional Oversight Panel. It will have five members, one member each appointed by the House Speaker (Nancy Pelosi), House Minority Leader (Kevin McCarthy), Senate Majority Leader (Mitch McConnell), Senate Minority Leader (Chuck Schumer), and the chair chosen jointly by the House Speaker and Senate Majority Leader. They need not be members of Congress. [2] As of 18 May 2020, the chair remained vacant, as the House Speaker and Senate Majority Leader had not yet agreed. [3] The current membership is:
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The committee released its first report on 18 May 2020. It describes how the $500 billion Treasury Department fund will function. [3]
Nancy Patricia Pelosi is an American politician who served as the 52nd speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011 and again from 2019 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the first woman elected Speaker and the first woman to lead a major political party in either chamber of Congress, leading the House Democrats from 2003 to 2023. Until Kamala Harris became vice president in 2021, Pelosi was also the highest-ranking woman in the presidential line of succession in U.S. history, as the speaker of the House is second in the line of succession. She has represented California's 11th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives since 1987. The district, numbered as the 5th district from 1987 to 1993, the 8th from 1993 to 2013, and the 12th from 2013 to 2023, includes most of the city of San Francisco.
Bennie Gordon Thompson is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Mississippi's 2nd congressional district since 1993. A member of the Democratic Party, Thompson served as the chair of the Committee on Homeland Security from 2019 to 2023 and from 2007 to 2011. He was both the first Democrat and the first African American to chair the committee. He is the dean of Mississippi's congressional delegation.
The 112th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, from January 3, 2011, until January 3, 2013. It convened in Washington, D.C., on January 3, 2011, and ended on January 3, 2013, 17 days before the end of the presidential term to which Barack Obama was elected in 2008. Senators elected to regular terms in 2006 completed those terms in this Congress. This Congress included the last House of Representatives elected from congressional districts that were apportioned based on the 2000 census.
Kevin Owen McCarthy is an American politician who is the 55th and current speaker of the United States House of Representatives. A member of the Republican Party, McCarthy represents California's 20th congressional district.
The Gang of Eight is a colloquial term for a set of eight leaders within the United States Congress who are briefed on classified intelligence matters by the executive branch. Specifically, the Gang of Eight includes the leaders of each of the two parties from both the Senate and House of Representatives, and the chairs and ranking minority members of both the Senate Committee and House Committee for intelligence as set forth by
.The 116th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives. It convened in Washington, D.C., on January 3, 2019, and ended on January 3, 2021, during the final two years of Donald Trump's presidency. Senators elected to regular terms in 2014 finished their terms in this Congress, and House seats were apportioned based on the 2010 census.
The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act created the Troubled Asset Relief Program to administer up to $700 billion. Several oversight mechanisms are established by the bill, including the Congressional Oversight Panel, the Special Inspector General for TARP (SIGTARP), the Financial Stability Oversight Board, and additional requirements for the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
The 117th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It convened in Washington, D.C., on January 3, 2021, during the final weeks of Donald Trump's presidency and the first two years of Joe Biden's presidency and ended on January 3, 2023.
The first impeachment of Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021, began on December 18, 2019, during the 116th United States Congress. The House of Representatives adopted two articles of impeachment against Trump: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Trump was acquitted by the Senate on February 5, 2020.
The first impeachment trial of Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States, began in the U.S. Senate on January 16, 2020, and concluded with his acquittal on February 5. After an inquiry between September and November 2019, President Trump was impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives on December 18, 2019; the articles of impeachment charged him with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. It was the third impeachment trial of a U.S. president, preceded by those of Andrew Johnson and of Bill Clinton.
The Families First Coronavirus Response Act is an Act of Congress meant to respond to the economic impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The act provides funding for free coronavirus testing, 14-day paid leave for American workers affected by the pandemic, and increased funding for food stamps.
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, also known as the CARES Act, is a $2.2 trillion economic stimulus bill passed by the 116th U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump on March 27, 2020, in response to the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. The spending primarily includes $300 billion in one-time cash payments to individual people who submit a tax return in America, $260 billion in increased unemployment benefits, the creation of the Paycheck Protection Program that provides forgivable loans to small businesses with an initial $350 billion in funding, $500 billion in loans for corporations, and $339.8 billion to state and local governments.
The United States House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, formerly the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, is a bipartisan United States House of Representatives select subcommittee that Speaker Nancy Pelosi has announced will be created to provide congressional oversight of the Trump administration's response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. The Select Subcommittee was established under H.Res.935 during the 116th Congress. Pelosi announced on April 2, 2020, that the committee will oversee the $2.2 trillion economic stimulus/rescue legislation enacted by Congress. The Act created a $500 billion bailout fund for U.S. industry and is the largest economic emergency legislation in U.S. history. It will be a special investigatory subcommittee under the House Oversight Committee.
Brian D. Miller is an American attorney who serves as the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery (SIGPR). In this role, Miller oversees the United States Department of the Treasury's implementation of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.
The Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC) is an independent oversight committee within the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, created by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act of 2020 to ensure that the $2.2 trillion of the CARES act, plus 5 other pandemic-related pieces of legislation totaling over $5 trillion in government funds, were not misspent.
The Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery (SIGPR) is an Inspector General position created by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act of 2020 to oversee spending of government funds in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. The position was included at the insistence of congressional Democrats. The SIGPR is nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate.
Bharat Ramamurti is an American attorney and political advisor who is serving as a member of the COVID-19 Congressional Oversight Commission, a congressional oversight body tasked with overseeing the Department of the Treasury's and the Federal Reserve Board's management of stimulus and loan programs mandated by the CARES Act. In 2020, he was chosen to serve as Deputy Director of the National Economic Council.
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 is a $2.3 trillion spending bill that combines $900 billion in stimulus relief for the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States with a $1.4 trillion omnibus spending bill for the 2021 federal fiscal year and prevents a government shutdown. The bill is one of the largest spending measures ever enacted, surpassing the $2.2 trillion CARES Act, enacted in March 2020. The legislation is the first bill to address the pandemic since April 2020. According to the Senate Historical Office, at 5,593 pages, the legislation is the longest bill ever passed by Congress.
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, also called the COVID-19 Stimulus Package or American Rescue Plan, is a US$1.9 trillion economic stimulus bill passed by the 117th United States Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden on March 11, 2021, to speed up the country's recovery from the economic and health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing recession. First proposed on January 14, 2021, the package builds upon many of the measures in the CARES Act from March 2020 and in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, from December.
The National Commission to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol Complex, known colloquially as the January 6 commission, was an unsuccessful proposal to create a commission that would have investigated the January 6 United States Capitol attack. On February 15, 2021, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi announced that she planned to create a "9/11-type commission". The details were initially negotiated by Republican John Katko, and would have consisted of an equal number of Democrats and Republicans. A bill forming the commission passed the House of Representatives on May 19, with all Democrats and 35 Republicans voting in support of it. However, it was blocked by Senate Republicans on May 28, with 54 Senators voting in favor and 35 voting against, failing to clear the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster.