Biden Admin Agency Accused of Stonewalling Congressional Oversight Amid Electioneering Claims

Isabella Casillas Guzman is sworn in at the Confirmation Hearing Held For SBA Administrator at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on Feb. 3, 2021. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

Top Republicans on the House and Senate Small Business committees have accused a Biden administration agency of stonewalling congressional oversight efforts in connection with allegations that agency staff have engaged in electioneering on behalf of President Joe Biden, spending taxpayer dollars to benefit a particular political party and candidate.

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Rep. Roger Williams (R-Texas) issued a joint statement on May 15 alleging that the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and its administrator, Isabella Casillas Guzman, have refused to comply with oversight-related document requests and committee investigations.

“The House and Senate Committees on Small Business have a constitutional duty to conduct oversight of the SBA,” Ms. Ernst, ranking member of the Senate Committee on Small Business, and Mr. Williams, chairman of the House Committee on Small Business, said in a joint statement.

“To little surprise, Biden’s SBA has continued to stonewall and ignore legitimate requests from both Committees,“ the lawmakers added. ”We are extremely disappointed that the agency has chosen this path, nevertheless, we’re not stopping our joint efforts to get answers on behalf of the American people.”

The two lawmakers said that their respective committees are focused on ensuring that the SBA is transparent with taxpayers and isn’t using taxpayer dollars for politically motivated travel and that it’s not involved in political activities on behalf of a sitting president.

Ms. Ernst and Mr. Williams have been investigating whether the SBA has been involved in electioneering on behalf of President Biden. The probe was triggered by an undercover recording of Tyler Robinson, special adviser to the chief of staff of Ms. Guzman, who suggested that Ms. Guzman had traveled repeatedly across the country and, under the guise of talking to small business owners, was helping Democrats get elected.

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In light of the video, Ms. Ernst sent a letter to the SBA administrator on April 19, citing Mr. Robinson as saying that Ms. Guzman is “the most traveled member of the cabinet” and that her official travel is intentionally targeted to “indirectly campaign for Joe Biden,” spending taxpayer dollars to benefit a particular political candidate.

“Using taxpayer dollars in an attempt to engage in federal campaign activities is a gross abuse of official agency resources and needs to be further investigated,” Ms. Ernst wrote. “Your alleged travel is particularly questionable in light of the SBA’s recent announcement that it finalized the agency’s ‘first-ever voter registration agreement with Michigan Department of State.’”

More Details

The committee is investigating the circumstances of a first-of-its-kind voter registration agreement that the SBA entered into with the Michigan Department of State in March, which the committee fears may be calibrated to benefit Democrats over Republicans.

The agreement, officially referred to as a memorandum of understanding, involves Michigan officials collaborating with the SBA to drive online visitors to register to vote. It also lets Michigan officials to use the SBA’s Michigan field office to carry out in-person voter registration at the SBA’s small business outreach events.

Mr. Williams issued a subpoena on May 7 to Mr. Robinson to testify in context of the oversight activities, with the lawmaker claiming that the SBA staffer had refused to appear voluntarily.

Ms. Ernst and Mr. Williams said in their May 15 joint statement that Ms. Guzman has not responded to her letter and that the SBA is stonewalling congressional oversight.

“We must ensure the SBA is focused solely on helping America’s small businesses, not working to campaign or swing votes by conducting and participating in outside political activities,” they wrote.

The Epoch Times has reached out repeatedly to the SBA for comment, both on the earlier subpoena and the current allegations of stonewalling, but received no reply.

Electioneering?

Ms. Ernst and Mr. Williams have been investigating the SBA’s involvement and participation in voter registration efforts since President Biden announced his March 2021 Executive Order on Promoting Access to Voting (E.O. 14019).

The executive order states, “The head of each agency shall evaluate ways in which the agency can, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, promote voter registration and voter participation.”

Various government agencies—including the Department of Justice, the Department of Education, and the Department of Agriculture, to name just a few—are carrying out campaigns to sign up new voters in line with the order.

As regards the SBA’s activities in context of the executive order, in addition to entering into the memorandum of understanding with Michigan, the agency said it would also encourage voter registration nationwide. It said it would do this by including voter registration information in the SBA’s marketing materials to the business community, as well as on the SBA’s website, social media channels, and through signage at the agency’s offices and events across the country.

President Biden’s executive order directs federal agencies to find “ways to expand citizens’ opportunities to register to vote.” While on the surface it sounds innocuous, some experts believe that the effort unleashed by the executive order benefits Democrats over Republicans.

“They’re targeting welfare agencies that serve predominantly left-leaning voters,” Stewart Whitson, legal director of the Foundation for Government Accountability, told The Epoch Times in an earlier interview. “It’s targeted voter registration, so you don’t have to worry about turning out more Republican voters if you focus your efforts in places where the vast majority of voters are going to lean left.”

A report by a coalition of progressive groups details their assessment of how well 10 federal agencies are doing in implementing the executive order and where they can do better.

Some of the report’s recommendations include urging the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to sign up new voters in applications for health insurance under Obamacare.

The report also encourages the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to include voter registration for veterans who sign up for VA health benefits and suggests that the Education Department should include voter registration when students apply for federal student aid.

Also, the Bureau of Prisons should work to register eligible convicts, per the recommendations of the report, which praised the Treasury Department for targeting voter registration efforts at “low income clients of its voluntary tex preparation clinics.”

According to the report, groups that back the executive order-fueled voter registration thrust include the American Civil Liberties Union, teachers unions, public employee unions, the Southern Poverty Law Center, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Black Voters Matter Fund, Public Citizen, Planned Parenthood, the League of Women Voters, and the Sierra Club.

Kevin Stocklin contributed to this report.