Issa: IGs, Public Will Get Data

On Election Night, California Republican Darrell Issa, the presumptive chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said he intends to release more data about government operations and authorize federal inspectors general to do the same.

"I'm going to make sure that the 74 primary inspectors general are able to do their job -- and support them," Issa said, adding that he would "absolutely" advocate for granting IGs subpoena power. Only the Defense IG has that authority today.

Current Chairman Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., is expected to relinquish the committee gavel to Issa next year, when Republicans take control of the House of Representatives. And Issa is expected to raise the profile of a watchdog panel that quieted down in the presence of a president from the same side of the aisle.

The anti-bailout, anti-stimulus lawmaker is known for holding the Obama White House to account for claims of being the most transparent administration in history.

Almost daily, he points out apparent secretive acts, such as the alleged use of personal webmail accounts to sidestep federal recordkeeping.

But Issa also chastises the legislative branch and federal agencies for not disclosing enough information to taxpayers.

In March, he co-founded the bipartisan Congressional Transparency Caucus to champion the principles of free, online access to the government's information; publication of the government's information in raw, searchable formats that the masses can scrutinize; providing the public with federal spending data that can be linked to agency performance data; and tracking lawmaker pet projects - so-called earmarks - in the federal budget.

Around midnight, during a call with reporters, Issa said he would make sure that all on the phone line can get the data they need.