Pandemic Response Accountability Committee

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. Creation The provision creating the PRAC, Section 15010, was offered by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Chair of the United States House Committee on Oversight and Reform, and Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), Ranking Member of the United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. The CARES Act also specified a new position of Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery within the United States Department of the Treasury. President Donald Trump signed the legislation into law on March 27, 2020, but objected to stipulations that involved congressional oversight citing constitutional concerns regarding separation of powers. The PRAC was created within the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE). On April 1, 2020, the CIGIE released a statement that, "The PRAC will promote transparency and support independent oversight of the funds provided by the CARES Act and two prior emergency spending bills, the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act and the Families First Coronavirus Response Act" and, more generally, "prevent and detect fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement [and] mitigate major risks that cut across program and agency boundaries." History