Thread by @KlasfeldReports

This great dive by @TimKMak outlines the new Pandemic Response Accountability Committee in the $2 trillion coronavirus package.

In a signing statement, Trump is already trying to weaken that oversight, citing alleged "constitutional concerns." Thread. npr.org/2020/03/27/822…

Trump objects to a requirement for the council of IGs' chair to consult with Congress members on selecting certain roles for the Pandemic Response Accountability Cmte.

Claiming that violates separation of powers, Trump will treat that "as hortatory but not mandatory."

Another clause appoints a Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery to manage audits and investigations.

If agencies stonewall, that IG must report to the Congress "without delay."

Trump claims this requires "presidential supervision."

Trump takes issue with a provision he says conditions the authority of officers to spend or reallocate funds upon consultation with, or the approval of, one or more congressional committees.

Those are an "impermissible forms of congressional aggrandizement," he says.

Context: Constitutional battles like these may sound pretty wonky, but it will determine what oversight there will on a $500 billion fund to corporations.

Listen in full to the committee at stake here:

npr.org/2020/03/27/822…

Four days ago, Trump said of the $500 billion fund: "I'll be the oversight."

The law said, in fact, it will be this new, hard fought-for committee.

Trump's new signing statement is a shot across the bow of an upcoming power struggle.