Oversight Hearing: Hearing on Reorganizing the Interior Department

Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations Date: Thursday, December 7, 2017 Time: 10:00 AM Location: Longworth House Office Building 1324

OVERSIGHT HEARING ON:

  • “Transforming the Department of the Interior for the 21st Century”

DEMOCRATIC TOPLINE MESSAGES:

  • The Congress and the public are being shut out of what Secretary Zinke has called the “greatest reorganization in the history of the Department of Interior,” even though he is already using the DOI reorganization to justify significant departmental decisions.
  • Secretary Zinke’s stated public justification is to put more Interior employees around the country to be close to the people they serve. But 90% of Interior employees are already stationed outside of DC, raising questions about the Secretary’s real intent.
  • Pushing even more DOI employees out of DC can set back efforts in critical areas like sexual harassment and cybersecurity. Additionally, plans to move FWS headquarters to Denver would move them further from Wildlife Refuges which are primarily in the east and would make the agency more vulnerable to attacks on its mission and budget.
  • This is the latest in a string of hearings in this subcommittee on topics that heavily involve DOI or its bureaus in which an agency witness has not been invited.